This is what was sent to me…
Nobody wants to be fat and ugly. We do not mean a dozen of extra kilograms that turn a skinny person into a plump one. We speak of scores and scores of kilograms that turn people into hideous creatures whose bodies are repulsive and whose lives are hopeless.
There are many things that annoy me about this email but two things stand out:
1) how on earth do they know that the person they are sending it to is overweight? As far as I’m aware I haven’t logged onto a website that gives my weight or any indication that I may be anything other than skinny.
2) everybody knows that people don’t choose to be overweight and many who are will have low self esteem, not everyone of course, but many do, so actually saying that overweight people are hideous repulsive creatives who have hopeless lives is something I can’t get my head around!
I’ve written a book about three fat single ladies, and it’s an amusing comedy, but in no way does it belittle overweight people or tap into the new ‘fat shaming’ stuff currently doing the rounds.
I am so shocked and annoyed that someone can write this stuff and get away with it. I didn’t want to click any links in the email in case they contained viruses so had to go to the site where it came from, which I won’t mention here, to complain. I’ve sent an email saying that I hope they’ve been hacked and gave them a short sentence of what I think of the email…didn’t really want to give them any more of my time.
But I do want to rant here!
I have massive problems with low self esteem and low self worth, exacerbated by my having been severely overweight for so many years. I was morbidly obese before and after giving birth to my amazing child, but was my life hopeless? No. Losing weight sometimes felt it, and still does when trying to get into the ‘normal’ bracket of BMI, a fight I’ve been battling for seven years now, but hopeless? No.
Am I a repulsive and hideous creature? No.
Is anyone who is overweight a hideous and repulsive creative? No.
Can we believe that we are? Yes.
Is this wrong? YES, YES, YES.
Being overweight is hard for so many reasons; unhealthy, shorter lives, discomfort, can’t wear the fashion etc. The last thing anyone needs who is unhappy in their body, be it deemed too big or too small, is someone to point this out and to label them.
No one can be meaner to someone with low self worth than the person themselves…but comments like this can add fuel to the fire.
I have no intention of taking any of these comments on board but I pray that everyone else who has received a similar email feels the same way.
Don’t put up with this crap. xx
