It’s very easy to cherry pick reality these days. It’s very easy to ignore what’s inconvenient or what doesn’t matter or apply to you. In the curvy and plus size community, we deride “thin privilege” but we have less conversations about “skinny shaming”–picking on someone because they are “too thin”. How many times have you thought “that person should eat a cheeseburger”, not even knowing them?
There’s at least two sides to every issue and while we as plus sized people do suffer from “thin privilege” we pay very little credence to how thin shaming hurts everyone too. I recently discussed this in depth with Lacretia Lyon on her Mrs. Brightside show. Lacretia and I both had relatives that could not put on weight no matter what they ate and we discussed how that impacts them and our perceptions and relationships with them.
One thing we have to remember when we discuss the human body is that human bodies are human. Picking on people hurts them. Being picked on hurts and damages. Unacknowledged bias hurts and impacts people. One of my new mantras going forward is “no shame”. No thin shaming, no fat shaming…no shaming period. If we extend a little more love, respect and compassion for others, perhaps we’ll start to become the change in the world we want to see.
Kristin West 