Oh yeah, that's funny.

So, again, one of the reasons I'm writing this is because of the overwhelming misinformation about obesity in the world.  Fat-shaming and fat "jokes" abound.  Even my favorite, usually thoughtful, comedians fall back on jokes about fat people as an easy target, and boy oh boy, does that piss me off.  The more I respect the comedian, of course, the more frustrating it is.  Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert should know better.  And back when Al Franken was just Al Franken, I read his book Rush Limbaugh is a Big, Fat Idiot.  So much could have been said about what an idiot Rush Limbaugh is, but I fear that the book had more to do with how fat he was. I hope that Senator Al is more sympathetic to people who are struggling now.  But I was pretty turned off by him then.  And I'd always liked Al (in fact, I invoked Stuart Smalley in my last post, I think).

I'm lucky to be in a place where I don't get teased or insulted, and in a mental place where I don't do it to myself either.  Most of the time.  But I still find myself working up an occasional apology for myself.  I've gotten better at requesting what I need, such as a chair without arms in a restaurant or a theater, but I also avoid going to restaurants and theaters most of the time.  I'm eternally attached to my hair stylist, who replaced the trendy tiny chairs in his waiting area with a big luscious leather sofa when I told him I couldn't sit down.  If I couldn't, there were probably a lot of others who couldn't either (and that was a lot of pounds ago).  He even got a larger styling chair for his larger clients after that.  If I ask, I find I usually get what I need, but sometimes it's just too much effort to bother.

But I'm the only one who really says hurtful things to me these days.  And if someone else did it, I'd just consider the source -- an asshole, obviously.  Mostly I don't either anymore, but just sometimes.  I used to point out to other people that I was fat, to try -- I think -- to keep them from assuming that somehow I didn't already know?  I dunno.  But no one, no one, needs to be told they'd be so pretty if they just lost weight, or that it isn't good for them to be heavy.  We're already pretty, and we already know it would be good for us, dammit.  Think about the emotional and physical struggle we're going through, and keep your opinions to yourself.

Thank you for your attention.