Circus Fat Men 100 Years Ago page 10

[Piscator]

I get it, but we don't have entire movies mocking their appearance and making them the butt of jokes.

But maybe we should - of course, I wouldn't need to go see such a movie as I get to live it everyday. As far as making someone feel unwelcome in a public place - I think it's perfectly acceptable sometimes - with the drug addict, for example. But I wasn't making such a reference to fat people.

[Piscator]

The house finally burned down. Here's a picture of it going up in smoke

And you took the time to crack open a cold one and enjoy the show! That is my dream.

[JoanieL]

Fat people are the last socially acceptable brunt of jokes. Away from the anonymity of the internet, racists are smart enough to only make jokes with their rascist friends, homophobes the same. But just about everyone shuts up if someone makes a fat joke.

I was way older than Magnolia when my weight went over 200 pounds, so while people didn't moo, I did feel invisible. Funny how the smaller I got, the more people could see me. It's a cruel world. If I could afford it, I'd most likely become a shut-in.

[magnolia1973]

People seem to be making an erroneous jump though from "I don't support the fat acceptance movement" to "I want fat people to die in a fire while we all point and laugh."

I don't know, maybe things are better for fat chicks now. But they don't deserve the abuse hurled at them because let's face it, they aren't hurting anyone else (like say, a meth lab owner). I guess if you think it is OK for adult aged people to throw stuff at a fat person and call her a cow while she is trying to do work because she "needs to lose weight since she will cost us medical bills" or any other one of the other justifications, then well, there ya are. I think the people of the Fat Acceptance movement are more about ending that kind of stuff then trying to make us think fat people are sexy and healthy. I don't support the idea of thinking it is OK for your health to be obese. But I support the idea that the obese should be able to pursue life without dealing with cruelty.

[Scott F]

And you took the time to crack open a cold one and enjoy the show! That is my dream.

You could always make your dream come true.

[SentWest]

Fat people are the last socially acceptable brunt of jokes.

Unless you're a conservative, or red-haired, or a drug addict.

[Piscator]

You could always make your dream come true.

Life in a cell doesn't suit my ambitions. Although... I did just start on the Convict Conditioning exercises

[AmyMac703]

I'm not advocating cruelty or making fun of anyone because of their weight. And magnolia1973, I'm sorry those things happened to you.
I understand the medical/healthcare argument from a logical perspective, but everyone's guilty of making a personal choice to do something that could result in lots of medical expenses. I need to stop climbing mountains and riding my bicycle without a helmet because I'll cost someone money someday. Yeah ... but this isn't the socio-political nerd rage thread so I'll leave that at that
It's the reactionary [to the people who call fat girls cows, etc] extremists who are most vocal that tend to irritate me. The ones who try to demonize "society" for making them feel bad about themselves and call anyone who doesn't want to date them "shallow" or "superficial." The ones who say that people shouldn't try to improve themselves. Then again, the people who I've actually met who are like this are vegans/vegetarians, so maybe they're just pissed off/mentally unstable because they're not getting enough protein and fat?

[Scott F]

Life in a cell doesn't suit my ambitions. Although... I did just start on the Convict Conditioning exercises

The owners' actually gave this house to the fire dept as a practice burn but the sheriff's dept told me early on, "you know that house needs a lightning strike....don't ya."

[magnolia1973]

I'm not advocating cruelty or making fun of anyone because of their weight. And magnolia1973, I'm sorry those things happened to you.

Yeah, but just know that it isn't just me. It has probably happened to every woman between the ages of 12 and 25 that had to go to the Lane Bryant to buy clothes. I look back on it and I never said anything. And it got really, really ugly including someone writing Mag has an immense ass on my supply locker. It was like that the whole year. Imagine some writing Mags is a nigger. Pretty sure someone would have done something. I really never told anyone how I was treated because I was ashamed of myself. I do now, only because I am a socially acceptable size 12.

I see some parallels to how homosexuals, african americans and fat people are treated. Except it is not acceptable to treat african americans like that anymore, quickly becoming unacceptable to treat homosexuals that way (thank god), but still OK to treat fat people like that. I'm glad to hear that fat women are getting a voice and getting mad about how they are treated. I was not aware that there were fat people running around complaining about people not wanting to date them. I checked out their website and a lot of it was concern over cruelty at school and in the work place, and some medical issues.

I feel like if you are overweight, you should expect some limitations and that not everyone will find you attractive or be able to accomodate you. But you should be able to pursue what you can pursue without being harassed. I think people are often unaware of the harassment that goes on and how it affects people.

And yeah- there are still blonde jokes, conservative jokes, redhead jokes.... a lot of people get made fun of. But when it is direct harassment, it hurts. It's a little different for me to see the dumb blonde on TV vs. listening to a classmate tell me about breaking my horses back because I was so fat in front of a teacher (who said nothing).