Judgmental crusaders

Making top story on news.com.au today was an opinion piece by an author who asks "WHY are we suddenly lavishing love on the larger ladies given that half of all Australians are overweight, and one-fifth of us are morbidly obese?"



She rails against a new trend to have bigger girls on catwalks and in magazines, saying that although having bigger, yet healthier models is ok, if they tip the scales too much, it only adds to an acceptance of obesity.

"So it just doesn't make any sense to also be sending the message that it's not only OK to be fat, it's a sign of self-empowerment.

Let's face it, Australians - like Americans - do not need any encouragement or permission from role models in the media to put on weight.

Alarmingly, a new Australian study of more than 30,000 people shows obese and morbidly obese men are less depressed and less suicidal than those of a normal weight."

I absolutely hate stories like this. It’s an argument that constantly criticizes obese people, that treats them as anyone but human just because we can’t

Sure, it is not healthy to be obese. But I would think the majority of bigger people do not want to be in the situation they are in.

They should not be judged on it. They should not be made to feel as if they are hurting society somehow by being what some think is a blight on our international image (Australia is becoming the most obese nation etc etc).

We don’t judge people for their other unhealthy habits – the people who binge drink every weekend or smoke a pack a day. Occasionally we will warn that this isn’t healthy, but because it often doesn’t lead to such extreme changes in their body image (depending on how bad the habit), we refrain from the hurtful comments we direct towards bigger people.

When it comes to bigger people, suddenly its ok to judge them, calling them fatties, making them feel as if they were the scum of the earth. I detest it.

One of my best friends in high school used to make hurtful remarks about other people’s mothers, saying that they had put on weight, that they still looked pregnant.

I would always feel really embarrassed and ashamed that I didn’t have the conviction to actually stand up to her and disagree.

I was even more ashamed because my mother is bigger. I always loved her for it because she gives the best cuddles in the world. When I was little I told her I never wanted her to loose weight because I liked lying on her stomach.

It’s sad that adults don’t see these little rays of light that children do.

Another thing I hate is the disproportionate focus on women if they are bigger.

I was previously a size 12-14 in 2007 and after adopting a few lifestyle changes (going to gym because my close friend was doing it) dropped down to a size 10.

Immediately I saw the difference in how people perceived me, especially boys. It was as if I had developed some form of extra character trait that suddenly made people like me more. I was suddenly getting so many compliments, from many who didn’t seem to believe the “transformation”.

I felt more confident in my own skin, but that was only because I was finally fulfilling the societal conventions that were expected of me.

As a girl, I had to look a certain way and be a certain weight to be accepted (although I should note this is on university res, where girls tend to sleep in five beds a week and boys happily oblige).

In comparison, in 2006 I moved into a house that had no full-length mirrors. It was pretty much one of the happiest times of my life.

I ate what I wanted and I wore what I wanted.

When I went home, everyone called me fat. I was a size 14.

I was so distressed by the reaction I immediately went on a diet. I felt like everyone was looking at me and laughing at me. This doesn’t even come close to feeling how bigger people feel when they go out on the street.

Making them feel worse by opining against certain things that finally place them in a popular light in pop culture is despicable to me.

People shouldn’t be made to lose weight because of society’s poking and pestering, they should do it because they want to, out of cosmetic, health or any other reason.

It’s all about choice. We can spare the judgement.