Discussion Thread: I Was Fat-Shamed

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

Yesterday, I wrote a post in which I shared an experience of being fat-shamed in public. One of the things that crops up in my inbox, in comments here, and in comments elsewhere, when I or another author shares an experience of being fat-shamed, is the surprise at how blatant and how frequent fat-shaming can be.

There are also vanishingly few spaces where people can share stories of being fat-shamed without fear of ridicule and/or victim-blaming—which is a tragic deficiency, since the telling of shaming stories we bury in a leaky vault somewhere beneath our sternums can be an important catharsis, a relief from the oppressive burden that is carrying around anguishing secrets. It's difficult not to succumb to fat-shaming that one internalizes without release.

So. Let us share our stories, for ourselves, and toward the goal of challenging that particular piece of thin privilege that is ignorance to the ubiquity and effects of private and public fat-shaming.

The companion thread with a discussion of engaging in fat shaming is here.

[Commenting Guidelines: Fat hatred, including admonishments to lose weight and/or suggestions about how to lose weight, is off-limits, as it is in any other thread, and will be removed and its purveyors banned. This thread is specific to fat-shaming and fat hatred; it is not a general body policing thread. However, fat-shaming is not just used against fat women and men, so thin and in-betweenie women and men who have been fat-shamed are welcome and encouraged to participate.]