Fat
Ever since I was able to identify with the word, it's been a pretty lethal word to me. Ive sometimes used it to describe myself, I'm sure there's plenty of posts on this blog that back it up. That being said it isn't a term I welcome or am comfortable with, like I said, it's a lethal word, venomous and painful. I believe when I've used it to refer to myself Ive sub-(or just plain)consciously tried to hurt myself.
For some overweight people, the lucky few, the word fat doesn't have such a negative connotation, it's just a word. But for me it's much more powerful than just a word, and I feel like a lot of the overweight can relate to how hurtful, painful, and uncomfortable it can be to hear. I think there is enough fat-shaming going on in the world without the need for it to come from within those affected, easier said I suppose. Because of societies incredible tolerance of fat-shaming, I've learned to hate myself, and my image because of my weight. The same is true for a lot more people. That's why the very word can have some pretty powerful psychological effects on me, and other people. It's destructive. Earlier I watched a video on YouTube by BuzzFeed titled "Men's Standards Of Beauty Around The World" that show the idea of what individual countries find to be the ideal man. First thing I noticed was of course they were all thin, there was some other depressing facts as well, but that one was the big one for me. If those were the standards or ideals, than I'm the exact opposite.
This year I really got into watching weight loss bloggers on YouTube, it's been a pretty strong presence throughout my journey. Recently one of the youtubers I watched started making dance videos, he weighs over 570 pounds, he has been uploading dance, and weight loss videos weekly for about a month.. The title of his dance videos are "A Fat Guy Dancing" and I immediately had a problem with the title, it caused me to detach from the mostly positive message behind it. On one hand it's great to see someone in my size range out there being brave and doing something as simple as dancing, because to be our size it is brave, but on the other hand by titling it the way he did I feel like he is pandering to the fat-shamming sensationalist. The comments are almost entirely positive, but the point is who I think it's trying to target. The title makes me think of the pictures and videos taken of people unknowingly, (go viral) posted on social media and shaming them for being over weight, wearing an outfit too small, sweating, or some type of mocking and ridicule involving the obese. I think the purpose is to maybe drive traffic from people who wanted to see something funny.
I've been using MyFitnessPal regularly, and a couple days ago, I went to the message board, or community forum section of the app. There I found a thread covering success stories, and within that thread a man had become very popular for his weight loss. He was doing a Ask Me Anything Q&A for the community. He lost a ton of weight and people had a lot of questions for him. He answered quite a lot, laced through a lot of his replies were subtle fat-shaming. He would say things like, he'd rather have loose skin than be fat, or being healthy is better than being fat. There was this nothing is worse than fat rhetoric. I often got the impression maybe he didn't realize a lot of these people were still overweight and had problems with there self esteem. I thought it was careless, and detached from the post completely. There was something also quite smug about him too.
Something I notice between a lot of people that lose a lot of weight, is the tendency to offer generic advice or to say things like "all you have to do is" or "you can do it if you just." One day I hope to lose so much weight that I can give advice, but I hope to never trivialize any part of the process. I also hope I don't lose my empathy, and once I'm no longer overweight, to never use the word fat with venom again.
This year I really got into watching weight loss bloggers on YouTube, it's been a pretty strong presence throughout my journey. Recently one of the youtubers I watched started making dance videos, he weighs over 570 pounds, he has been uploading dance, and weight loss videos weekly for about a month.. The title of his dance videos are "A Fat Guy Dancing" and I immediately had a problem with the title, it caused me to detach from the mostly positive message behind it. On one hand it's great to see someone in my size range out there being brave and doing something as simple as dancing, because to be our size it is brave, but on the other hand by titling it the way he did I feel like he is pandering to the fat-shamming sensationalist. The comments are almost entirely positive, but the point is who I think it's trying to target. The title makes me think of the pictures and videos taken of people unknowingly, (go viral) posted on social media and shaming them for being over weight, wearing an outfit too small, sweating, or some type of mocking and ridicule involving the obese. I think the purpose is to maybe drive traffic from people who wanted to see something funny.
I've been using MyFitnessPal regularly, and a couple days ago, I went to the message board, or community forum section of the app. There I found a thread covering success stories, and within that thread a man had become very popular for his weight loss. He was doing a Ask Me Anything Q&A for the community. He lost a ton of weight and people had a lot of questions for him. He answered quite a lot, laced through a lot of his replies were subtle fat-shaming. He would say things like, he'd rather have loose skin than be fat, or being healthy is better than being fat. There was this nothing is worse than fat rhetoric. I often got the impression maybe he didn't realize a lot of these people were still overweight and had problems with there self esteem. I thought it was careless, and detached from the post completely. There was something also quite smug about him too.
Something I notice between a lot of people that lose a lot of weight, is the tendency to offer generic advice or to say things like "all you have to do is" or "you can do it if you just." One day I hope to lose so much weight that I can give advice, but I hope to never trivialize any part of the process. I also hope I don't lose my empathy, and once I'm no longer overweight, to never use the word fat with venom again.
