Does it bother you? I don't mean that "F" word, I mean the word FAT. I know we're all here @ 3FC.com, but the clothing thread made me wonder about this.
It used to really bother me as a younger kid. But as I got older, I realized it was a descriptive word, nothing wrong w/it. After I kinda "claimed" the word as my own, I began to use it more, asking friends about stores I'd never been to: "Do they have fat people clothes there?", etc. I mean, big deal, it's just a word, IMHO.
But the look on that manager's face in the back office of Lane Bryant that day told me that it was also a loaded word, and that not everyone had come to terms w/using such a word so freely.
So what do you think? Does it bother you?
Oh & another thing: Do your friends describe someone else as a "fatty" w/you sitting right there? I never know what to say to that. (Although the girl doing the describing is the same one who asked me if I'd ever considered the "Carnie Wilson surgery", so it might just be the person, not people in general.)
I have to share this - one of my "come-backs" when a skinny person is being mean about someone else being "HEAVY," I say, "How do you know she is heavy? Have you picked her up?"
Actually, the word fat never really bothered me. The word obese will make me madder than a wet hen. I just don't like that word.
Haven't figured out why yet.
good topic!
I dont usually use the word fat talking about someone else. For example, if someone lost weight- I will say she used to be "big" but she has lost a lot of weight. Its almost as if saying fat is an insult. I guess because it's usually used in a negative way. You hear jerks say "look at that fat chick" or something like that-it's a judgement.
The 'f' word is sort of like the 'n' word. We don't mind calling ourselves that but don't let someone else use that word!
I have to say that I am fat. To say that I am overweight does not convey how much I weigh. I think when the term obese is used it makes us feel that we are in serious medical trouble (which we may be someday in the future).
I do get upset when someone describes me as fat. The little girl next door once said while standing in her backyard that she could see the fat lady next door. I don't think I have ever felt worse about myself than I did right then. Of course I was several months pregnant at the time too, she probably didn't know that being so young.
There's nothing like looking at a BMI chart at your doctor's and seeing that you fall into the morbidly obese category! I hate that term! Why not, voluptuously overweight as a new term?
I think the terms obese and especially morbidly obese make it sound like you just don't care. For some reason, it seems to reinforce the stereotype that fat people are unintelligent, lazy, slobs. I don't know why, it just denotes that to me. Of course that's not true, but I think a lot of people who have never struggled with weight sort of think that. If fat people just worked harder and ate less, they wouldn't be fat. There's a lot of truth to that but it's not quite so simple. I'm not looking for excuses but if losing weight was easy, there wouldn't be a billion dollar diet industry or sites like these.
Carrying all this weight around for me is the one thing I can't hide. The world sees my "challenge" that I have to face every single day. I stick out literally and figuratively wherever I go. Sigh.
Hmmmm. I don't really use the word fat. Maybe only when am venting about myself "I feel so fat!!" Something like that...
I don't know many ppl who use the term fat either. When describing someone...the words chunky, chubby, overweight, bigger.
Honestly...
I have been shopping in Lane Bryant and have felt VERY uncomfortable when the terms "fat clothes" are used. 2 girls came in once while I was shopping. One was a plus size, the other was probably a size 12 or so. Too small to fit into any of the clothes. She was following her friend around the store and whyning, that the clothes were all so nice, but they were all fat clothes and she couldn't wear anything. This went on for about 10 minutes, before i paid for my things and left. But I wanted to deck her. She was acting like a child and made everyone in there uncomfortable. She was not a child, perhaps older than me. But the terms "fat clothes, fat lady clothes" makes me cringe. Plus sizes or larger sizes is much more appropriate.
I would never think to walk into a store and start whyning out loud that they only carry "anorexic, barbie doll, bulemic, Ally McBeal, built like a 10 yr old, no hips, no boo-tay clothes"
Never would I say that. So, I don't expect ppl to make me feel bad because they "think" am wearing "fat lady clothes"...since afterall..I look better then them anyways.
My 2 cents..
PS..And some of my "plus size" friends have made these stupid comments while shopping to. I give them the look, and say "Don't make this harder than it has to be. They are larger sizes. I am not a fat lady. I am a woman."
The word fat doesn't bother me, depending on how it's used, and who is using it.
I really like the idea of that phrase "voluptiously" something or other. But best of all I like to, and often do, refer to myself as "round and soft." Round and soft is NOT the worst thing a woman can be!
I prefer the term "REAL Women's Sizes" because real women aren't a size 0 with 34Ds on them. I also tend to try and find other terms to describe people... like "brown hair, brown eyes." And, I do agree that the "f" word is similar to the "n" word. They both shouldn't be used as insults ever, in my opinion.
The "F" Word
