Dec 28 2008
Fat in a Skinny World
As a larger person, I do not blame my weight on anyone but myself. I succumb to temptation on a daily basis and I rarely put one foot in front of the other and get exercise. I don’t need special seat belts but I do have too much padding on a sturdy frame.
My real question is, do skinny people really understand what it is like for a fat person to live in what I believe is the skinny world?
Forget about airplanes or movie theaters, proverbially small, cramped seating for just about anyone, but what about sporting events such as football games? The average football fan is not prancing around in his size 32 jeans and medium jersey, they are busting out of an xxl with a belt that is straining on the last hole. Why is it that football stadium seats are 18 inches across at most? As a larger person, you can’t even jump up to cheer without taking the seats with you.
Public restrooms? Forget it. I can’t speak for men’s rooms, but in women’s rooms the stalls can be so small that it is difficult to squeeze through to the toilet. Never mind when the door pushes into the stall and you have to suck in your gut just to get around the door and get it closed. We are told to wash our hands after leaving the bathroom, but how do we clean off the rest of our body that just brushed every free surface of the bathroom stall? I always use the handicapped bathroom, although I don’t have a specific handicap. If they gave out little blue placards for the bathroom, I’d be one of the first to sign up for one.
Does a skinny person understand what it is like for the overweight woman and the shopping mall? Not only is it impossible to find a suit that is not made of polyester, but try finding a dress that your grandmother wouldn’t want to share with you. You can’t win at the mall as a larger person and generally you will probably buy a lot of shoes if you haven’t been reduced to tears in the dressing room already. I know that I am not going to look hot and sexy, but I would like to look clean and presentable at the very least. Please, clothing manufacturers, stop putting flower patterns and teddy bear prints on everything over size 14.
Never mind all of the fad diets, the skinny jeans and the anorexic supermodels. How is a fat person, or even a chubby person expected to have any self respect with the constant barrage of information that we are wrong, gross, or otherwise inept? Maybe as a society we need to start focusing on what really matters, like intelligence, kindness and maybe some empathy. If we stopped looking in the mirror and started to look around at each other maybe we wouldn’t be so focused on the little things that we can’t change anyway about ourselves and start changing the things we can.
Thank you. I need clothes that fit me right and look good, not stretch pants and polyester suits. They don’t make anything in tall-chubby, I’ve asked ;).
Well, if it makes you feel any better, the “handicap” stalls in restrooms are not “reserved” for handicapped individuals. Those stalls are marked so marked to inform everyone that the stalls have been designed as “handicapped accessible” with the required five foot turning radius, higher-mounted seat and the hand railings. All customers can use them.
Yes, I’m aware. I always laugh when people stand in line for the bathroom but don’t go in the handicap stall, leaving it empty while there is a line forming. It’s not like we need a placard - imagine? Who would decide who would be able to get a handicap bathroom use placard?
Thank you for sharing your thoughts!
I got a laugh outta some of it and really relate to most of it. I have been a plus sized mom since I began having kids almost 20 years ago. I WAS once a little thing that weighed only 108… but now I tip the scales at over 200#!
I have been losing the extra baggage lately… Since August ‘08, when my truck died, I’ve had no other option but to walk to work, which is 1 mile each way. I have dropped 65# as of 12/30/08!
I will continue to lose, but I will always know that there once was a plus sized momma!
Thank you for sharing your thoughts!
I was once a little thing that weighed only 108 too, it was just in about seventh grade. I tip the scales as well, and then I kick them as far as I can, destroying them to little bits.
Congrats on the 65 pounds. I think I know where it went.