Expanding A Bit On Fat Shaming with A Dash of Fit Shaming (I Guess?)

About a week ago – unless you are reading this two or more weeks from now – I wrote a post about that atrocious woman and her fat shaming video. I mostly wanted to breakdown some parts of her video and vent. She really ticked me off. It wasn’t that she was hurting my feelings. It was that she was hurting other people’s feelings with ignorant and incendiary commentary. All in the name of stroking her juggernaut of an ego.

Although, her opinions shouldn’t really hurt anyones feelings. Unless that family on the plane, if they truly exist, realizes who was sitting on the plane in the adjacent seat. Otherwise she is basically a fictional character who is tactless, tasteless, and has no idea what she is talking about or who she is speaking to. Of course ignoring her comments is easier said than done.

All of that said, I have had a few comments about my previous post and stance. Some thought that I may be lowering the bar. Saying “Hey, it is fine to be unhealthy. Just feed your kids McDonald’s.” That wasn’t necessarily what I meant. In fact, I think people should take care of themselves. Everyday they should attempt to be their very best. That is a real amorphous concept. My best is different from everyone else’s best and everyone else’s best is different from everyone else’s best.

What I am really trying to say and how I truly feel about the situation is that people should love themselves and their bodies the way they are. At the same time, we should all be trying to improve. What is the end goal? To be healthier than we were before. Does that mean that everyone is going to be ripped and skinny? Nope. That ain’t going to happen.

Here is one thing I want to make absolutely clear. People’s bodies vary. Metabolisms are different. If you got a fast one and need to work out minimally other than to hone your rusty pipes or bangin’ ass, good for you. I am so fucking happy for you! I am beside myself with joy! If you are like me, you can eat well enough and still gain weight. Exercising like crazy has helped me, but I am not anywhere near ready for the cover of Men’s Fitness. Besides, I don’t think I want to be.

In closing: love your body and love yourself. Take good care of yourself. Try to be better with each passing day. And for all that is good in the world, eat a goddamn donut! Especially when people bring them into the office. Don’t bitch about how it is going to make you fat or how you are going to have to go the gym after. Just, fucking, eat it. Your soul will thank you!

Fat Shaming A-Go-Go: Arbour, more like Abhor!

A few days ago, Nicole Arbour, a “comedian” I had never heard of before, but now unfortunately have, uploaded a video that has since had a zillion hits. She said it broke the internet. What really happened was google censored her. Which in all actuality, it probably should have.

By now, I am certain you have seen the video. A skinny blonde woman who, by society’s definition, is attractive. She states that fat shaming isn’t a thing and then proceeds to fat shame the ever loving shit out of overweight people. Kind of like eating a burrito and saying it isn’t a burrito. She has some tasteless colloquialism about sitting on a plane next to an overweight person. She goes on to say that fat people need to eat less, love their bodies, and several other things that only someone who is nowhere near empathetic and fully sentient would say. Which is completely contrarian to her statement about her having a brain.

I have battled my weight all my life. I have been working really hard and I guess could now be considered skinny-ish. Maybe I have a “little cushion for the pushin’” as she calls it. I am one of the ones who wanted to do something about it and was lucky enough to get results. There are others who aren’t so lucky, even though they work out just has hard and eat just as well. There are many people that can’t do anything about it at all. Others that aren’t as wading pool shallow as she and don’t let their size rule their lives. There are some people that live in food deserts or don’t have the funds to buy healthy foods. There are some people that simply can’t help it.

Even though she said that if people have a health issue that is causing them to be overweight, her video wasn’t aimed at them. It was. It was aimed at everyone with a weight issue and people don’t necessarily have to be visibly overweight to have a weight issue. Which is something she obviously didn’t consider, along with everything else.

I have written about fat shaming and how socially acceptable it is. If her little rant didn’t prove that I was right, I don’t know what will. If she had replaced fat people with any other demographic, religion, orientation – which she kind of did and was still offensive – a different group of people would be pissed off.

There has got to be nothing worse than some skinny woman telling people they are not all that great, that they are a problem and that they will die. Except for when that woman says all that and snarkily adds something to the extent of I will love you regardless, but I hope this truth bomb makes you want to be healthy. So we can all enjoy you as a human being longer on this planet. Does she not consider overweight people human beings by default? All of this as she somehow praises herself for giving the hard truth. Could this be one of the first documented cases of mass cyberbullying?