This is British writer Tanya Gold and she thinks the answer to this question is yes.
This week it emerged in the UK that overweight women are more likely to be fired
from their jobs than other women. They are also more likely to be a
victim of crime and more likely to be bereaved.
Fed up with being
pitied, patronised and blamed, this
self-confessed larger lady, Tanya has written a defiant blast against our obsession with slimness and what she sees as a persecution of fat people.
“For many months now, it has been clear that I’m at war with
society. Or rather, that society is at war with me. Call me paranoid if
you must but everywhere I look, I am denounced, oppressed and scolded.
This week alone, it emerged that I am more likely to be fired from my
job than other women. I am also more likely to be a victim of crime and
more likely to be bereaved.
According to the advertising
industry, I am unattractive; men don’t want me. Or if they do, they
certainly won’t tell their friends about it. Clothing shops don’t cater
for me. In fact, they detest me. In Bond Street, I am literally waved
away from the racks of precious clothes.
I will probably be a bad mother, I am
told. I am stared at on the Tube, as if I have two heads. Even those
who pride themselves on their compassion are happy to join in my public
torment.
In the newspaper this week, a columnist called people like
me losers and suspected that we have feelings of ‘worthlessness’ and
wondered if we have suffered ‘traumatic life events’.
And what is
my terrible crime? What have I done to deserve this outpouring of scorn
and opprobrium? Eaten too much, that’s all. I have breached one of the
boundaries of polite society with my giant bottom. Yes, ladies and
gentleman, I am fat.
You want to know how fat? OK, I am a size 16 and I weigh 14 stone. And at the moment, most of that is rage.
I
have written about my yo-yoing weight many times in this newspaper. I
have written fashion pieces and health pieces and reports about diets I
have tried. I have done juice fasts, yoghurt fasts, and a diet where I
had to chew a lot (I chewed so much my jaw muscles bulged out of my
head).
Top Comments
Shameless plug for my blog! I wrote about this issue last week and would love to hear what fellow mamamia fans think: http://threepiecesuite.blogspot.com/2009/03/were-here-were-fat-get-used-to-it.html
The wieght issue is very much another of those overhyped ones, IMHO.
I am a size 14, go to the gym 3 or 4 times a week, walk everywhere that I can get to inside of an hour, and have had 2 children.
But, according to my BMI, I am overweight. I freely admit, I could lose my spare tyre (put on when I was unable to do a damn thing due to illness) but I am working on that. At a healthy rate, and with my doctor's supervision.
Should I be penalised because I am no longer the svelte Size 8 I was prior to pregnancy and menopause? I'd like to see someone try. The advantage of my extra weight is that I have more to throw at someone who offends me (just ask my husband how that goes)!