Stereotypes Part 1: Fat People

For the next two posts I will be addressing common stereotypes related to my topic of fat feminism. This post is about stereotypes associated with fat people. Angry.net (a website whose sole purpose is to offer a place for people to rant) provided many people’s stereotypes of fat people. 

1.     Are never active/ never exercise

The author of the article I linked seems to think losing weight should be a fat person’s biggest goal in life. And if they are not losing weight, it must be because they are not exercising. But there are heavier people who love exercising/ being active just as there are thin people who hate exercising. The size of someone’s body is not always connected to their participation in physical activity. Even Olympic athlete bodies come in a large range of sizes.

2.     Never eat healthy/ constantly eating

Just like with exercising, size is not always related the amount of food a person eats. Metabolism plays a large role in how someone’s everyday diet effects weight gain. People can watch portion sizes and calorie intake and still be larger than someone with a naturally thin person that eats whatever they want because they have a faster metabolism.

3.     Suffer from poor health

Photo Source

Some people like to believe that they can look at someone and be able to accurately assess that person’s health. However judging someone’s outward appearance does not make one a doctor. Poor health affects all people. A person is not automatically unhealthy because they are overweight and a person is not automatically healthy because they are thin. 

“The only thing that anyone can diagnose, with any certainty, by looking at a fat person, is their own level of stereotype and prejudice toward fat people.”
-Marilyn Wann, “Fat Studies: An Invitation to Revolution”

4.     Smell bad

This stereotype is certainly the most childish misconception a person can have about fat people. Size is in no way connected to the amount of body odor someone produces or how they handle their personal hygiene.

5.     Desperate for sex/ easy/ kinky/ into fetishes

This is probably one of the more harmful misconceptions about fat people. Fat women are often stereotyped as being desperate for sex because they go unloved for so long because of their weight. Some men seem to think that getting a fat woman in bed will be an easy task. It is also rumored that fat women give better blow jobs because they eat so much. These are just misogynistic views of fat women by men who see them as nothing but sex objects. Expecting sex of any woman, regardless of size, is objectification.

6.     Fat people are fat because they are not disciplined and are lazy

Weight gain happens for a myriad of reasons. Some people gain weight because of injuries/ surgeries that leave then bedridden or unable to move and exercise as they did previously. Other health problems unrelated to being overweight or obese can cause weight gain. Medications can sometimes cause an increase in appetite and can make losing weight difficult. To automatically assume that someone is overweight because they are simply lazy is ignorant of possible health problems that are beyond their control.