Skinny privilege

[Chatterbox98]

Like most people my weight has gone up and down. I am currently bigger than I am happy with ( working on changing this) however I have noticed that people do look and seem to treat you differently when slightly bigger. I never believed skinny privilege was a thing but I think it absolutely is.

Just wondered others thoughts or am just sensitive as currently not happy with how I feel and look.

yabu - its not a thing get over yourself
yanbu - it is a thing

100% yes. I’ve been an 8 and I’ve been an 18. Anything over a 12 and I become invisible. At a 16 I’ve had people make rude comments about my weight and treat me with barely concealed disgust in shops, and at my largest I watched my super skinny final interviewer dismiss me before I’d even opened my mouth for a job I’d basically been promised. It’s most obvious with men. I’ll never get over how marked it is and definitely not in my head. Agree ‘privilege’ is probably not quite the right word but it’s definitely a thing.

My weight has gone up and down. I haven't noticed any difference I how people have treated me

I think it relates to how well you carry the extra weight, your own outlook towards the extra weight, how confident and in control you are with it.

…and then you’ll either be ignored, patronised and / or have loads of unwanted advice thrown at you.

Absolutely not a thing. When I was younger I was naturally skinny, as was my best friend - and we were constantly insulted for it - called flat-chested, told to eat a burger, told we weren't feminine; a guy in a pub told my mother I was too thin and men dont like such thin women and asked her if I had an eating disorder. The so-called body-positivity movement tells you constantly that "real women have curves", but we didn't. We ended up seeking advice on how to gain weight, and my friend ended up succumbing to pressure from everyone including her husband and got breast implants.

YES!

It is definitely a thing! I remember within a six month period, I had put on so much weight, I wasn't physically attractive anymore to some people. Wtf

Definitely a thing. Particularly for those who are very obese.
my family member is obese and life is definitely harder to

I agree! ☝️ have put on a lot of weight due to hormones and menopause despite healthy eating and exercise, I definitely have found people have treated me differently since the weight gain, like I’m a fat old woman who doesn’t deserve manners or respect.

Absolutely. I've been a size 10 and fluctuated all my life between size 10 and 18.
I am treated so much better when I'm thinner.

The definition of “privilege”, literally:

“a special right, advantage, or immunity granted or available only to a particular person or group.”

So yes, it’s the same thing.

I've lost 7.5 stone, went from a size 12 before the pandemic to a 16 but likely could of fitted an 18 (I'm tall so for some reason a stone didn't equal a dress size like I've read a lot), down to an 8 and I'd defo agree with you. I'm treated so differently in general by people the size i am now compared to when I was bigger.

It’s your attitude that makes the difference. If you’re less confident / have a chip on your shoulder when overweight people will treat you accordingly.

Surprised at people who think pretty privilege isn't a thing when it absolutely is.
I say that with a very neutral view and have no feelings either way, it just is a thing.

My mother was also ridiculed as a teen for being skinny and flat chested. Slim and healthy with curves is desired, not skinny.

No it isn't. The definition you gave includes the phrase "available only to a particular group". A healthy BMI is available to everyone.

A plain advantage is a much better way of describing it.

I'm not sure.

On one hand, I think people who are very obese are treated differently to people who are slim. On the other hand, being overweight is actually the norm/default now, so can you really claim to be the victim of something like this when you're in the majority?

Overall though I don't think the term 'privilege' is the one to use here. Privilege is regarding something that you can't change. It's frankly insulting to people who experience prejudice due to their skin colour or sexuality to claim you're being discriminated against for something you could easily change in a few months. If the skinny privilege/fat oppression was so bad, you'd lose weight to gain that 'privilege'.

Not to mention that having the resources and time to eat so much excess food you're literally obese shows such an amount of financial privilege it's hard to claim oppression. If you're obese you're one of the most fortunate humans on the entire planet. Not many people on a global scale can afford to eat more than their share of food, again and again over years.

What a deluded and unpleasant post. You really dislike bigger people, don't you.

Have you never heard of pretty privilege. It's a recognised thing

I’ve been overweight all my life, and up until now, happy with it. I have found during my working life that people associate overweight with being slow and dumb. It made me furious. It’s happening again now with age. My children especially think I’m old so fading 😡

It's not deluded, it's the truth. There's a reason why obesity rates first started climbing in the Western world, full of rich countries, and are so low in Africa, with many of the world's poorest. Being able to eat and drink so many calories is very much a "1st world problem".

And of course now there are (often western) corporations selling their ultra processed rubbish to the whole world, exporting obesity with it.

I have found it to be so. Most of my life skinny then for all sorts of reasons I’m very fat. The difference in treatment is staggering. It’s awful

Reading these replies, I actually think it's probably about pretty privilege more than thinness per say.

If you're pretty and thin - but carry weight badly and are unattractive bigger - then yes it's a thing.

If you're unattractive but skinny or fat, probably gaining weight won't make much difference to how you're treated.