“Fat” is usually the first insult a girl throws at another girl when she wants to hurt her
I mean, is ‘fat’ really the worst thing a human being can be? Is ‘fat’ worse than ‘vindictive’, ‘jealous’, ‘shallow’, ‘vain’, ‘boring’ or ‘cruel’? Not to me; but then, you might retort, what do I know about the pressure to be skinny? I’m not in the business of being judged on my looks, what with being a writer and earning my living by using my brain…
I went to the British Book Awards that evening. After the award ceremony I bumped into a woman I hadn’t seen for nearly three years. The first thing she said to me? ‘You’ve lost a lot of weight since the last time I saw you!’
‘Well,’ I said, slightly nonplussed, ‘the last time you saw me I’d just had a baby.’
What I felt like saying was, ‘I’ve produced my third child and my sixth novel since I last saw you. Aren’t either of those things more important, more interesting, than my size?’ But no – my waist looked smaller! Forget the kid and the book: finally, something to celebrate!
I’d rather they were independent, interesting, idealistic, kind, opinionated, original, funny – a thousand things, before ‘thin’. And frankly, I’d rather they didn’t give a gust of stinking chihuahua flatulence whether the woman standing next to them has fleshier knees than they do. Let my girls be Hermiones, rather than Pansy Parkinsons.
J.K. Rowling (via feministpizza)
NB I usually find that *men* use fat as an insult, women use “have you lost weight” as a (back handed) compliment. rarely have I seen it vice versa.
Don’t be thinking it is all female competition in here.
Though you’ll find that “fat” is applied as a random insult to women of all sizes. Because it is a lazy, lazy, insult that relies on the years of media attention and peer pressure most western women face. It really is one of those insults that says more about the insulter than insultee as it is so ubiquitous in online shaming.
