Why have people shifted their opinions to be an absolute disdain for fat women?

[ForTealBee]

I’m not talking about Mumsnet, but places like Reddit.

im fairly active on weight loss subs on Reddit. I find they have some great tips and a good community. But the second you mention it outside of those communities you get bombarded with comments and messages about being fat. I just don’t understand why the message has shifted so much in the last few months it seems? And it’s only ever towards women

I’m fat and currently on a strict diet/exercise programme.

I’ve not seen much fat hate online - but I’ve been called fat touch by strangers on the past 15 years or so out in the street. It’s horrible.

But to be honest - far more people say nothing at all about my weight.

I’ve also heard mean called fat c* etc - but they’re expected to take it on the chin much more than women

DOUBLE STANDARDS !!!!!!!!

Last few months? It's been present online, and very much on reddit, for years.

Reddit was my main fuel for my eating disorder in 2016. There was a particular subreddit called "fatlogic" that I'd use to remind myself everyone hated me fat - but it was everywhere.

Why on earth would grown adults start something like FatHate?

Dear God

Shifted?

Its always been that way?

I got the subreddit wrong, it was "fatlogic". I've edited my post now.

Basically is just fathate though. Thinly veiled behind trying to find fault with the things fat people say or something.

Maybe it’s just me, but I’ve noticed over the last few months it’s shifted from mentioning you’re on weight loss injections and getting genuinely curious people asking about them to pure hatred

Why on earth would you seek that out if you’re sensitive about your weight?

It’s got 400k users, that’s barely anything.

This is bloody awful

I’ve just looked at this and it’s not actually a hate forum. It’s just pointing out the inconsistency in a lot of “logical” talking points

It’s not recent. Fat hate has always been the norm and especially focused on women as women’s worth is linked to their looks more than it is for men.

You actually remember a time where people didn't hate fat women? Or do you mean on Reddit in particular?

As I’ve just said. I can remember when I wouldn’t get met with such hatred when I’d say I was fat/on WLI

I have no direct experience of the groups but my gut feeling is it is injections. But within this there is a duality of hatred: hate that you can take effective drugs and lose weight; and hate that effective drugs exist but you are still fat.

People are weird and hate-filled (in general but also on this issue)

I wasn't aware they had, but then I don't waste time on Reddit, which seems to have more than its fair share of ignorant and unpleasant people.

Probably best to just stay away.

This is the 'new' version of that subreddit. When Reddit purged a bunch of 'hate' subs several years back, the older one got purged.

r/fatlogic absolutely does engage in fat hate as well.

The UK is (unfortunately) much more toleratant of fat people than most countries in the world, and much more tolerant than it was 20 years ago. Its a result of Americanisation (essentially Americans are fat, therefore they tried to convince the world that being fat is okay)

Try being fat in Eastern Europe/China/Korea/etc and see how that works out for you

Like I said, it might just be me. But the reaction over the last few months has definitely changed to downright vitriolic

@ForTealBee Anecdotally, I agree with you, and I saw an article at the weekend about how catwalks have massively backtracked on using plus size models. I suspect it's part of a wider cultural shift (again this is from observation) which has come about as a result of the political shift in the US. For a decade or so, there's been a sort of SM culture of self-deprecation and laughing at oneself and one's "weaknesses", be it weight, fitness, MH, ND, being poor etc. That seems to be flipping. I'm seeing much less of it. I suspect we're entering a "be a winner" era. As I said though, observational and anecdotal.

The internet has always been a terrible place for fat people in general because being thin has a higher social value, though worse for women because how dare women be anything other than a hot, agreeable object of desire?

It'll be interesting to see how weight loss jabs affect this though once being thin is more 'accessible'

OP is seeing abuse of overweight women on reddit, not men.

DOUBLE STANDARDS !!!!!!!!

I was on Twitter yesterday and there was a clip of a woman starting her day. The man who posted it headlined it, "How could things go so wrong at 31." Obviously trying to encourage others to humiliate and demean her as she was overweight.

I'm sure you can imagine what followed. IMO she's a woman and she's fair game. Large women aren't worthy because they're not attractive to men so let's all degrade them.

It's just bullying behaviour and doesn't say anything about the victim.

Yes, I do think men operate double standards when calling women fat and when calling each other fat. The latter is often part of an exchange of mutual insults and 'banter' so is assumed to be taken as non malicious joking. It may of course hurt the overweight man, who should perhaps choose a different friendship group if he finds the culture unpleasant. Whereas when men call women fat it's almost always an unsolicited and malicious attack rooted in misogyny. Double standards in how men treat each other and how they treat women is nothing new though.

Yes - absolutely!! Totally agree with you if that’s the case!

I think that the weight loss injections have made it worse.
There is no "excuse" to be fat now
I don't believe this, I am fat myself but when high profile celebs can seemingly just have a few injections and drop so much weight so easily then why can't everyone?