to think that all the fat bashing threads should have their own topic so that i can hide them?

[gymboywalton]

how many hand wringing threads do we need?

how did we get so fat? oh i can't believe how many fat people there are! fat people should pay more tax and it goes on and on and on and on......

it's dull ffs!!! find something else to be shocked by!

Do you know anyone who is fat and happy though? I do - really content with her shape and she is massively overweight (size 30+)

To each her own!

Your body is not just your own concern if you aren't able to look after and have limited mobility, disease and dis-ability to work because you have sickened it from overeating. It belongs to a NHS budget, and the care it can afford.

Right. And how many people in a size 14/16/18 swimsuit does that describe?

Shona im sorry to hear that you've been ill and hope you are better now.

Im one of the ones getting "touchy" But I lost ten stone going from a 28 down to a 12. I put 4 stone back on due to personal problems and in the last year have lost 2 stone 9 going from a 22 down to a 16.

So I don't fit into the neat little box there.

The reason I get "touchy" is because im bloody sick of this being "the safe prejudice"

VenusDeWillendorf, and you are perfect? Far from it I'd say, going by the lack of understanding and lack of empathy displayed in your post. Do you feel all smug now?

Venus - I could write a big long list of Things I am Not Happy To Spend My Taxes On.

But that's not how it works. If I am not happy with how my tax money is being spent, I can lobby my local politicians for change, work with pressure groups, etc.

Abusing or mocking people on the internet changes nothing.

By making " your fat body is my business whoever you are." What does that mean? Being a keyboard warrior? Abusing people in the street? Please do tell us what exactly making other people's bodies your business actually entails?

As for health, do you want to know the biggest killer, the greatest cause of morbidity and mortality?

It's poverty. Being poor is lethal. Do you get so outraged about that? Or do you honestly believe it's all about people's personal choices?

so fat from greed that they need two nurses to heave them up and wipe their massive arses

This strange lurid slathering about largely imaginary but highly specific scenarios is very peculiar.

But Venus, would you consider all cancer patients to be equally deserving of rapid diagnosis and prompt treatment? After all, many of those will have smoked, consumed alcohol, worked with chemicals, eaten processed meats, consumed saccharin or made one or several of many other lifestyle choices which have been demonstrated to make cancer more likely.

I don't so much think that you're fat-ist as that you are rather crass and de-humanising in your attitudes to people and their oh so messy lives.

Just look at the numbers of people who are obese and you'll see what I mean. I'm not making these numbers up.

Read the reports of people who work in healthcare describing the enormous people they have to heave around everyday, a d the health and safety issues with that.
Read the reports about how many children who are overweight believe they have no problem, and they are heading for an early grave, after a short, sick life.

I'm not perfect, but I take responsibility for my health, and am fit and healthy.

That's total BS gosh, I've been very poor (30£ a month for food) in my life and I always ate well, using fresh food and cooking from scratch. I've never heard such crap that you can't eat well if you're poor.
It's choosing to eat sugary crap that gets people fat.

Just look at the obesity figures, and you'll see I'm right. We're heading for a global epidemic. Dress that up in a venn diagram and congratulate yourself with cake all you like, doesn't change the facts.

EXACTLY Gosh there are proven links between poverty and obesity. But you also usually find that the fatty bashers are the most right wing.

I'm not perfect, but I take responsibility for my health, and am fit and healthy.

You're not very kind though are you? Was no emphasis ever put on kindness in your upbringing?

Not very bright either, are you Venus? This is quite obviously a thread where people have had ENOUGH of the constant fat-shaming, fat-hating and fat-bashing that goes on on Mumsnet.

Obviously the perfect place to you to spout your hateful views.

I think there has to be a happy medium here

I think people need to stop the fat bashing threads (that they normally do a cowardly name change to start) and people need to stop taking sensible discussions about the obesity epidemic so personally.

I want to see the goady fat bashers dealt with, but I don't want to see anyone who sensibly discusses this issue, labelled as a fat basher by people who assume a general discussion is nothing but a dig at them and their weight when it isn't.

And bore off about what you don't want your taxes spent on. Is this the comments section of the Mail Online? I don't think so.

Venus what are the flowers for?

This is a thread about fat-bashing, now you have come here, fat-bashing.

Are you genuinely concerned about the obesity epidemic? Why not do some more reading about it. Your individualist perspective is pretty out of date- you aren't going to solve the obesity crisis shaming and blaming individuals and that is increasingly recognized within public health circles.

I am not sure you do want to solve it though. Who would you feel superior to, if not fat people?

Well, Worra, when Mumsnet has chewed over the obesity crisis for the nth time and come up with a solution, can you let me know please?

Meanwhile, perhaps those who are interested in discussing it like adults could stick to one thread in a sensible topic like General Health?

Children often don't get much of a say in what they get fed. Fat children who, usually, become fat adults, have a heck of a lot of undoing to do in terms of diet quality, portion control and even undoing myths that they've been brought up with about being "big boned" before they can even begin to appreciate that they have a problem that they can fix.

Many people work hard at keeping their weight at a healthy level all their lives then it all goes to pot when life circumstances put that effort on the back burner or a connective tissue disorder they've kept on top of all their lives deteriorates with age/wear and tear/hormonal changes, limiting the exercise they can do or they start to take drugs which have weight gain as a side effect or something goes wrong hormonally.

If you see a fat person and instinctively think "greedy fucker should make some effort to lose weight" as your first thought, then you are sadly lacking in imagination and empathy.

Name me any national or worldwide crisis that MN has come up with a solution for Mintyy

The subject of obesity will throw up many different problems for different people and they won't all be suited to the general health topic.

It's far better to stop the goady fuckers and massively over offended people from derailing what can occasionally be a very measured discussion, that's not actually digging at anyone...instead of allowing it to become a bun fight.

And by 'massively over offended', I mean people who crash into a thread with intelligent and well thought out posts discussing obesity, without being insulting...and post things like "Oh yes, perhaps all fat people should not be allowed to leave their houses so as not to offend the delicate eyes of slim people" etc...

That imo causes just as many bun fights and attempts to close down, intelligent well thought out discussions because that person has taken it personally.

YY Worra.

Venus, when you post, do you ever consider how your post may make another person feel? Do you not care? Or do you get a kick out of it?

The thing is, people who support a sensible debate do say sometimes say offensive things to that don't just cause offence to those who react personally to everything. And then act like it was all part of a sensible debate. It's not just the offended people who cause the descent into bunfight land.

Venus - You still haven't said exactly what it is you are going to do. I take it that being a keyboard warrior/unpleasant on the internet is your weapon on choice.

I am pleased that being on a low income did not negatively impact your health. However, you may wish to google the Black Report to see proven evidence of the links between poverty and ill health. This link may be from wiki, but is well referenced with mentions of the several subsequent reports which came to very similar conclusions: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Report

I think Mintyy's point about having a thread in General Health is a good one.

Totally agree with worra. I've never fat bashed in my life, have a few pounds to shift myself. But we can't censor a topic that affects everybody on the grounds that people might be hurt or offended.

There is a debate to be had. Unpleasant or goady people can be reported and banned, but the rest of us can discuss what we like within guidelines.

I would like to think Venus didn't actually read my post, where I said "I see a thread on obesity, and it makes me wish I was dead - as if I don't deserve even the smallest corner of this world. It makes me start thinking of, and hating myself for, all my bad food decisions. I wish people could see what is in my head, and feel my emotions - not for long - it is horrible being me - but just for a moment, so they could see I am a person, not just a lump-of-lard failure who is eating herself to death." before she posted her sanctimonious lecture, and hasn't, in fact seen any of the posts about how hurtful and damaging the fat-shaming threads and posts are.

I want to believe this, because the alternative is that she read all these things, understood how damaging her opinions would be, and how inappropriate they were on this thread, but decided she didn't give a shit about the real feelings of actual human beings, and that posting her shit was more important.

Sadly I suspect she did exactly that.

Tbh, I would rather be me - fat but empathetic, kind, generous, caring - than someone well-toned but without an ounce of compassion or empathy in them.

Morris - I don't think people want it censored - they want it in one topic so that those of us who don't have the emotional strength and self worth to read them, or who just don't want to, can hide the topic.

I know I don't have to read the threads, but I do have to read the titles, and they are bad enough.