What the…..

I am overweight.  No secrets there.  I am on the waiting list for a Gastric Sleeve procedure in the next 12 weeks – but this post isn’t about my choice to do this.  My sister Fiona has had the procedure – very successfully -and this post isn’t about her choice either.  It is about good old fashioned respect.

Earlier this morning my sister sent me this video: 23928807

I’m not sure if I’m disgusted or embarrassed by it – but I’m certainly upset one way or the other.  Now let’s be clear -I’m aware these are actors in this case but I have seen this kind of thing happen over and over again.

Why does our society think it is okay to pass judgement or even just comment on the way another person looks or what they choose to eat because they are overweight?

This video upsets me not because I’m an obese woman and I sympathise with what happened but because it’s wrong to disrespect people because of the way they look.Why do people think it is okay to humiliate obese people – especially obese women – with words or actions?  Does their obesity – whatever caused it – justify a lack of basic decency and respect?

If my slim friend buys an ice-cream nobody bats an eyelid -if I buy an ice-cream I get treated to disapproving glares, stage-whispered comments, and even at times outright condemnation from people I don’t even know.  If my slim friend goes on a diet everyone is very respectful of her tuna salad – if I go on a diet everyone is offering me chocolate or cake.

What IS that about guys?  Seriously – what makes it okay to tell people they need to lose weight, then to humiliate them and finally to actively sabotage them when they try to make changes?