Why does society hate fat people

[welshcakes4]

For most of my 20s, I struggled with being overweight, mainly because of my unhealthy eating habits and not exercising enough. I definitely turned to food for comfort, especially when I was feeling down. I’ve never really been a drinker, smoker or taken drugs, so food was my go to. I’m 32 now and I’ve completely changed my life around. I’ve adopted a much healthier lifestyle and lost 4 stone, which has made me feel so much happier. Since I’ve slimmed down, I’ve noticed a big difference in how people treat me, especially men, but women too. Their attitudes have shifted, and they seem a lot friendlier now. I know this is a bigger issue, just look online and you’ll see all the nasty comments and jokes about overweight people. I came across one earlier, and it was surprisingly the women who were being vile.

It’s fine to disagree with someone’s choices. I guess the same could be said for alcoholics, drug addicts, etc, but why all the hate and vitriol? Why are we treated like second class citizens? We’re not bad people, we just have our struggles with food. We haven’t killed or harmed anyone. It’s so strange to me that people can get so worked up and angry over someone being overweight. I’ve genuinely never understood this.

I would say society (or certain parts of it) hates women who are skinny or too thin, not those who are just thin.

Not in my experience.

I don't have a list. Google is helpful though:
REVEALED: The Professions Where Tattoos Are Still Taboo. - HR News

You think society 'hates' women who are thin, but not skinny or bony looking or close to being underweight? I find this hard to believe, bearing in mind how 90% of celebrities are thin.

Yes, agreed. I’m skinny and find it so weird and socially inept when people feel the need to comment on my appearance.

I empathise with overweight people. I’ve never understood why people are so angered by it.

Evolution/anthropology.

a) You have eaten more than your share of the food.
b) You are less healthy therefore not a good mate/less useful to the tribe.
c) You are not following group conduct rules.

What do you thing WLI’s are?
Society is absolutely still buying in to being thin.

the survey of a few random doesn't mean tattoos must be covered, when primary school teachers don't hide theirs, neither do corporate and city staff. Tattoos are everywhere.

I can't comment on judges because I haven't been in court in a while 😂

just read threads on this forum, how nasty it turns when posters fall over themselves to mock perfectly normal behaviour and accuse others to be under-eater, or lying or a lot worst not worth repeating.

Something that needs mentioning: I’ve noticed some of the fat-hating people out there seem very annoyed with people using weight loss injections, on the grounds that it’s “cheating”. People enjoy feeling superior and sneering at people for being lazy, and as soon as someone loses the weight it means sneery people no longer have someone to harass, so they have a go at them for their chosen weight loss methods instead because they can no longer tut at them for taking up space.

I have couple of theories -

People are afraid of being fat and feel
that judging and shaming others will ward this off in some way, as it must be the person’s own fault and can therefore never happen to them - a bit like victim-blaming in cases of rape or even scams.

People (consciously or otherwise) associate fatness with self-neglect and find it upsetting or disturbing, a bit like seeing people with no teeth, incredibly thin people, obvious drug or alcohol addicts, or even obviously heavy smokers.

Fat women in fashion and advertising media are usually depicted in a much more sexual way than thinner women, who are depicted in a range of ways. I suspect there may be something in this that affects how people view larger women in general, as ‘too much’ in more ways than one.

People are fed up with ‘body positivity’ as part of what might loosely be called ‘woke’ and feel they need to assert their lack of acceptance in some way.

its obvious that cultural factors are huge, as attitudes to fat people vary enormously across time and place, so I don’t think much of this is as innate as we might like to think, more culturally ingrained.

edited as autocorrect changed ‘fat’ to ‘gay’ 🙄

To be honest, I haven't come across this, and height isn't really within a person's control. However, I spend most mornings with someone encroaching on my seat on the train, and I spent a horrific 13-hour flight with a fat, drunk German guy with awful BO taking over half my seat, which was extremely unpleasant.

This is true. The “fat people are a burden on society/the NHS” brigade really show their arses when they are catty and indignant about WLIs, which are generally self-funded and are a positive choice towards better health. The “it’s cheating” narrative is very telling; these people do indeed feel cheated, because they are losing a very cheap and easy way of feeling better about themselves by running someone else down. If it was ever really about public health and the NHS, they would be applauding anyone who manages to conquer obesity, regardless of the route they take.

Honestly I don't hate overweight people but I am wary.
I'm tired of having to shovel down food quicker than I want because fat friends will help themselves if I'm not quick off the mark. I'm also just as important as they are, and eating slowly, but still expecting half is valid.
I pay as much for a bus ticket or a theatre ticket as they do and I don't see why my space should be encroached on.
I don't want to crawl under the desk to set up the computer just because I can and they can't
I don't want to walk are their pace and miss something because they can't walk any faster.
I don't want to give up my parking space at work because I'm in closest car park and they can't manage the walk from the distant one.
Is that unusual?
And certainly certainly don't want to pretend that I am as stumped as they are when they moan to me about why they are so big and what they might be doing wrong.

"Fat women in fashion and advertising media are usually depicted in a much more sexual way than thinner women"

I haven't noticed this AT ALL.
I think some people object to fat models, but not for that reason.

Your comment reads as pretty hateful tbh.

OK, I have seen some threads when people have been accused of 'competitive under-eating' or anorexic-type behaviour when it doesn't seem to be the case, but it's not a general prejudice in society.

Ooh dear, I am tall, fat and tattooed! Perhaps I should be annihilated for the good of society 🤷‍♂️

I know right? People really need to quit with all this faux concern about the NHS. There’s plenty of fat hate in the USA, which has one of the most expensive and privatised healthcare systems going. There is also a lot of fat hate aimed at the USA from other countries.

Anyway, being thin doesn’t automatically make you healthy. In fact there’s serious medical conditions that can cause weight loss, including cancer.

This is a Western culture thing. I am over 6' tall and have always been obese since a child. I have lived in Africa and also regularly travelled to the Caribbean to stay with friends. In the UK I always had lots of male friends but was always firmly in the friend zone. On my Caribbean holidays, my slim friends were totally ignored and I had constant attention. In Africa I had several serious marriages proposals from male friends. There are societies/ cultures who see large women as very desirable. Western culture definitely has an issue with weight, however I have not been treated as negatively as some on this thread, maybe because I am also very tall.

I think you’re onto something @Keepsmiling2948. Society associates obesity with (self) neglect and laziness, so if you can’t be bothered to look after yourself, will you bother to do your work properly?

Of course, it’s not a fair assumption at all.

I don't want to crawl under the desk to set up the computer just because I can and they can't

😂😂

Spot on, I'd say.

Hmm or maybe some people are just cunts?

You are being too kind. most of us would do absolutely nothing of the sort.

It is unusual to have to make so much allowance. I wouldn't give my parking space (if I had one, I wish), I need it more, I run more, my legs are tired 😂

you are right, that was my point, it's not "society", just jealous and bitter people.