Being stripped of your right to feel hurt
So, I have to get this out before I go to bed because I’m pretty annoyed right now. Someone over on lj just made a post pretty much along the lines of “I’m lucky to be skinny and stay skinny no matter what, so don’t you dare make me feel bad about that by being offended when I say something offensive about weight, intentionally, or not. Grow up. If it’s such a big issue to you, lose weight or stop whining.” That’s pretty much the gist of the post. The person admits and is fully aware that their attitude is problematic, as well, but makes no move towards correcting it. Practically, feels in the right to have this attitude.
And I just can’t help feeling that this is a very common viewpoint. We’re the ones who who need to grow up and not be offended when someone says something offensive/hurtful about our or generally higher weight. Because being offended equals offending skinny people. This totally ties in with someone else I read here on tumblr recently who pretty much maintained that skinny people should not be robbed of their “inherent skinny-privilege” or something like that. But that’s even a different post and I’m rambling.
But… Do WE need to grow up, or do they? Isn’t it the healthy human reaction to feel bad about having hurt someone’s feelings? Isn’t it the grown up thing to apologise for that whether it was intentional or not?
How many times do we hear that we should grow a thicker skin? When I was younger someone told me that my fat should qualify as this “thicker skin.” Well, contrary to popular belief, our fat does not ward of hurtful comments. But then, who’s to be surprised by this stance in a world where it seems to be perfectly alright to ignore that we are living, breathing and feeling human beings.
**Owners note: No! We shouldn’t have to grow up because those comments shouldn’t be there in the first place. Thick skin my ass. Unless my being overweight directly affects you, it’s none of your business, and you shouldn’t be insulting me about it. Especially if I’m happy with myself, and you already knew that. Who are you to tear me down? It’s no ones business what we want ourselves to look like and, vice versa. Like i said, do what you want with yourself, as long as you’re not hurting/insulting anyone in the process.
Thanks for sharing this with us, sweetie!!Oh don’t get me fucking started…
(via genderbitch)
