02-16-2010
12:10 AM
WOW, the fat-hate is pretty intense.
As an overweight woman who still fits into one seat with the armrests down and no seatbelt-extenders necessary, I nevertheless have horribly anxious fits every time I have to go near an airport. Randomly enforced discrimination against people of size has changed the way I travel. I generally avoid sizeist shitbag airlines like Southwest. In addition I now book earlier flights (in case I am publicly humiliated by an airline employee and forced off a flight), take an extra credit card (in case I am forced to buy a second seat rather than completely cancel my trip), and pop an anti-anxiety pill--not because I am afraid to fly, but because I am more or less paralyzed with fear by the time I have to board a plane. Why? Because more and more, it seems like any airline employee who felt like it could have me ejected from a flight based on the visual observation that I'm large. Not too large for one seat, not "too fat to fly" (a term I find detestable), but larger than your average airline attendant.
I'm not sure what airlines such as Southwest gain by sending us all back to the high school hallway for a little public humiliation and classic emotional abuse. I'm hardly a legitimate "safety" concern. I'm certainly not a danger to anyone trying to get in or out of a plane. I don't squish the people next to me. I'm not going to eat the baby seated in my row or magically make the person across the aisle from me fat by the time we get across the country. I'm bigger than a lot of other women, but I'm not subhuman. And guess what? No fat person is.
I'm also not sure what the many, many anonymous jerks on this website get for screaming at us fatty fat fatties other than off on their misguided sense of power and righteousness. I don't eat whole supermarket aisles. I get exercise. I dress well, take pride in my appearance, and get along just fine in the world (as many other people of size do). I take care of myself. Guess what? I'm still fat. It's not a moral failing to be built differently, no matter how many jerks on this blog or airlines like Southwest attempt to make it seem so. And no matter how many names you call us or how much you try to shame us off the earth, fat people won't just curl up and die out of some misguided sense of inferiority. You may be able to humiliate us in a moment or two, here and there, but you can't kill us by hating us to death. We're different. Not worse. Just different. I pity the hatemongerers. It must be hard to live with yourself day after day when all that seems to keep you going is bile and anger.
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