Fat discrimination is a gateway to other forms of discrimination

[AnxiousApocalypse]

I'm morbidly obese and have struggled with extreme weight gain due to psychiatric medication I'm on. Currently a UK size 26/28, I put up with a lot of rude, ignorant comments about my weight. I want to start taking a weight loss injection such as Semaglutide or Tirzepatide but am worried about being able to afford the higher dosages when the time comes to increase the dosage. People at work can't seem to get enough of commenting on how fat I am. I've just watched the BBC Panorama documentary about the undercover journalist in the Met Police at Charing Cross. One of the police officers was extremely rude about a fat woman he met off the internet. I also watched a clip of a misogynistic podcaster called Myron who says fat people should be rounded up. People struggle with their weight for a whole variety of reasons, but society deems it acceptable to kick someone when they're already down. I know I'm fat and I want to change that but it doesn't help having people treat you as subhuman.

Different MH diagnoses for me but yeah I was on antipsychotics including Olanzapine which saw me gain 4 stone in a year. I was also in survival mode at lot of the time. I ended up 27 stone at my heaviest .

Some will say the difference is that it isn't a legally protected characteristic, but it's still awful to judge. Imagine being the person who's been struggling with cancer (on a lot of medications) and finally getting medical clearance to have a holiday, and people say things. Or the (previously superfit) man who put on 5 stone after being diagnosed with a brain tumour a couple of years ago. And there's lots of other reasons-some previously slim people struggle after certain life events, some people are dealing with a whole lot of stuff.
It's not ok to make mean remarks about anyone, whether it's someone bullying a person to change their beliefs, their weight, or anything else. Some people like to put others down, and it's sad. I don't know if I'd agree it was a gateway, as you say, because people who say mean things tend to pick on a range of people they see as different from them. I bet I'm not the only one who used to eat a crazy amount and yet still stay a size 8 (like most of the people in my extended family, teenagers especially). Does that make us think we're morally superior, or that we can talk down to anyone? No.

What's that got to do with it?

I wonder if the examples shared here of what can contribute to weight gain (medication etc ...) has made any of the individuals on here who judge people for not taking control re-evaluate their position. I doubt it.

I wonder what has contributed to people being so mean. Perhaps some childhood trauma or parents who were mean to them.