Discussion Thread: I Fat-Shamed Someone

[Trigger warning for fat-shaming and discussions of body image and body policing.]

Part of coming to Fat Acceptance, whether one is hirself fat or thin, is teasing out internalized fat hatred for examination and dismantlement. For most of us, fat or thin, that process includes revisiting times when we have expressed narratives of fat hatred, or fat-shamed other people—sometimes intentionally and cruelly, sometimes unknowingly, sometimes in a desperate bid for self-preservation lest a group fat-shaming turn on us.

Like telling stories of having been fat-shamed, confessing stories of having fat-shamed someone else is an important part of awareness-raising about the endemic bullying that is fat-shaming. And it's also part of the personal process of letting go of judgments—of self, of others.

So. Let us share our stories, for ourselves, and toward the goal of creating a new understanding of what fat-shaming actually is: Not a "helpful" expression of "concern," but dehumanizing bullying that robs fat people of their dignity and self-esteem.

The companion thread with a discussion of having been fat shamed is here.

[Commenting Guidelines: Engaging in fat-shaming and fat hatred here is off-limits, as it is in any other thread, and will be removed and its purveyors banned. This thread is for people who want to be engaged with ending fat-shaming, not for people interested in perpetrating it.]