Absolutely. It really bothers me when someone makes fun of another person for any reason. Your friend is taking pictures? I'd report her to the gym! I also wouldn't be able to call someone like that a friend.

Well to be frank, taking pictures at the gym without peoples' knowledge or consent is REALLY CREEPY!

If she was a dude she would have been jailed already LOL

I hate it when anyone makes fun of anyone else. It makes my heart sad. In elementary school, I was always made fun of and though I was young it hurt. It hurts now when I get poked fun at, and I can't imagine it's different for others. I definitely don't participate in that.

I think "making fun" of people is prevalent in today's society. What we find humorous has expanded throughout the years. What was funny in a sitcom from the 1970's might not be viewed as funny today. If it were, The Brady Bunch never would have gone off the air! AND YET! - I still laugh my butt off at I Love Lucy re-runs. I guess it's all in the funny bone... ?? :^:

I remember as a child, watching Don Rickles on television, thinking "how mean!!!" - and yet, I've grown up with that type of "humor" all around me. My brothers & cousins ... we all made fun of each other. Now I'm immune to it. I no longer think of it as mean; and it's not "making fun" of someone anymore, it's "ragg'n" (on somebody) & it is humorous in so many social circles.

Now that I think about it, I don't know of a current sit-com that doesn't rag on somebody in some form or another. The way someone dresses, dances, talks (people rag on me all the time for my hick-ville southern accent...can't tell you how many times somebody has called me "Ellie May"... all in fun, of course) - being too stupid (Joey on Friends) or too smart (Big Bang Theory); too pretty or not pretty enough (Ugly Betty), fat/thin (Kevin James on King of Queens) male/female (who doesn't make fun of the opposite sex?) gay/straight (Chandler's parents on Friends), black/white altho more so today is the asian/spanish thing (Carlos Mencia rags on everybody for everything) - we get ragg'd on about the TV shows or music that we like (ever hear somebody knocking people for liking Nickelback or the Twilight movies?), etc. While some comedians DO still pull the "Don Rickles" type of humor, I have found that most of them are not necessarily mean spirited, but more of the sarcastic type, & yes, there is a difference.

That said, no I don't like it when people make fun of fat people. I find it in poor taste.

And yet, let some spaz with a mullet & wife-beater t-shirt out on the dance floor with his 1978 disco moves, & I'll be laugh'n my big-boned'ed butt off!!!

I think a lot of people are scared of becoming fat, since it's something we can all be, regardless, race or religion or social class etc.

Your friend is probably taking these pictures more out of desperation, trying to persuade herself to never become fat again. It's very disrespectful and I wouldn't associate with someone doing that tbh. But I doubt she's doing it out of malice, just afraid.

I am of the mindset that people shouldn't be made fun of for any reason.

This is slightly OT, but still ties in w/the overall message--

I'm facing a delimma w/Disney/Pixar. I love most of their movies, and we watch them as a family. Lately I've been considering "banning" Toy Story 3 from our watch list because of the scene where Potato Head calls Big Baby "Mongo."

I know it's not a big moment in the movie, but it just REALLY REALLY bothers me. Why is that even in a Pixar movie?

But then, I just think maybe I'm being overly PC.

Back to your friend. I don't know if I'd be upset with her only for making fun of fat people--where does she get off taking pictures of ANYONE in the gym. That's gross, disgusting (on her part) and a complete invasion of privacy. I realize the gym is a public place (just like Wal-Mart), but people usually go there for a specific reason--and that reason is to get hot, sweaty-looking, and over-all not their best. She's strange.

Yes, it does bother me, because my father (and the whole side of his family) are very judgmental when it comes to women and weight. An overweight woman is more or less a complete failure at life and though I know he's proud of me and loves me, I know he'd be even more proud were I a size 2.

It annoys me when I'm thrown into stereotypes of any sort, but especially with my weight. I didn't get this big by eating nothing but McDonald's. Sure, that didn't help, but a lot of the weight I put on was from "normal" foods in excess. It doesn't matter how active you are - if you're eating more than you're burning, you'll gain weight, and that was my problem. I was active as a teenager (until about age 17 anyway) but I was still over-eating because everyone in my family does.

I think making fun of and discriminating against overweight people is one of the few remaining, socially acceptable, forms of discrimination. We can't openly make fun of race, religion, or sexual orientation, without someone being offended, but fat people are fair game. It's not even just the sitcoms or comedians that do this. Look at magazines, news shows, etc. Who's fat in Hollywood, who gained weight, Celebrity Fit Club, etc. etc. Look at the backlash Jessica Simpson had aimed at her over those jeans? Look how much weight Jennifer Hudson has lost (they even did a Dateline segment with her!).

So yes, it does bother me. I don't know why other forms of "comedy" don't bother me, but jokes about race, religion, sexual orientation, and obesity bother me.

It does bother me when people make fun of other people (to their face or behind their backs) regardless of the reason they are mocking them. I actively avoid people like that. I don't need that negativity around me.

Good discussion.

A couple "highlights": your friend who is taking unauthorized pictures of other people in the gym might be asked to rescind her membership. I believe that is illegal.

As an older person who has mixed feelings about the whole social media thing primarily because of what many of you are discussing here: immature, cowardly people using the internet to cyber bully or harass unasked for taunting. I just wonder how much of this would go on if they were face to face with that person.

Now, that I have lost nearly 60 pounds, look twenty years younger than my actual age, and still need to use a cane to be vertically mobile (I have both advanced arthritis and shaking tremors -gotten from being over-medicated on anti-depressants 25 years ago), I no longer get that "she's so fat she has to use a cane to get around" looks that I used to get. I now fit five separate areas to be discriminated against: obesity, needing to use a cane and other aids, age, being low income and struggling with 50+ years of chronic depression. If someone wants to diss you, they can always find something---anything.

I am glad though that there is the general awareness among the rest of us that this behavior is wrong and unacceptable. I also believe in karma, " what goes around will eventually come around." ;) Their turn is coming.

Is your friend about 13 years old? Because it sounds like she is. How catty can you get? And of course it would bother me. Bullying always bothers me.

I hate hate hate the whole making fun of fat thing. I remember even when I was younger, before I was overweight at all, at the time Liz Taylor had retired and pictures of her were published where it was evident she had gained weight. The comedians had a field day and were sooo cruel and vicious in their "jokes". I remember Delta Burke getting the same treatment. And these were absolutely gorgeous women!!! (Not that it would be ok otherwise but geez!!) Editing to add- same thing happened to Kirstie Alley.

One of my absolute pet peeves is men bagging on overweight women WHEN THE MAN HIMSELF is also overweight! I always feel like saying, "Do you own a mirror?"

But it's this attitude that it is a woman's duty to be sexually attractive to ALL MEN, even the most repulsive specimens imaginable.

There is social permission to deride whatever popular/media/government perception perceives to be contrary to the norm. Right now there is such a worldwide condemnation of obesity that you constantly see it being criticised and the myriad of news articles, magazine articles, television documentaries and other public portrayals means that the stage is set for anyone and everyone to pick up and run with it.

Everyone has been given permission to victimise and depersonalise fat people, so they do.

At one time, and still to an extent, they were given permission to do this with smokers.

So fat people are made into a sub-class that can be bullied and humiliated and, unfortunately, we (that is fat people like me and allegedly you) are conditioned to believe that we are a sub-class, that we do feel we are slightly disgusting and we do behave, at times, like victims.

How many of you, when you go to a nice restaurant, notice that some people watch to see what you get on your plate ... so you end up ordering the salad when you would rather have the lobster thermidor? How many of us try to pull in our tummies when people seem to be looking, or catch a glimpse of ourselves in the store window as we pass and try to step out as if we are thinner, or breathe so very carefully so we dont look as if we are out of breath after walking? These `cover up' responses are so that we don't get perceived as fat. They are response to external, critical stimuli.

So anyone with the IQ of a gnat has a free-for-all on fat people because they are being allowed to by the authorities they think protect them. And the authorities want them to do it because it is a cruel, but effective, way to enforce a programme under which we will mend our ways.

During the anti-smoking blitz there was the outcry that you must be stupid to smoke ... clearly you will die and cause other people, especially innocent babies caught in the secondary smoke to die ... horribly. It was a guilt trip. Plus of course they enforced that you, your clothes, and your home smelled like a sewer because of smoke and dripped with sickly yellow nicotine from floor to ceiling. So you are caught on many fronts, you stink, you are stupid and you are a murderer.

So, likewise, the message is ... you are fat ... you are stupid, you will die and make anyone and everyone around you suffer. You are getting fat-related illnesses, you are using up all the hospital space and clinics and health support because you are stupid and fat and therefore other people... and little babies, too, will suffer because someone is looking after you so that they don't get health attention. Therefore you are a murderer and you stink because you sweat more than thin people and you take up too much space and you are slow.

See what I mean. You are not a person you are a depersonalised blob of fat and blobs have no feelings so everyone can be spiteful. Stupid, fat, murdering blobs.

And yes, I have been called "blob".

The prisoner shouted "I am not a number, I am a man" and likewise I get to shout "I am not a fat blob, I am a woman".

My doctor does not like fat people. I am fat. You can imagine how it goes. She is covert in her criticism and she is otherwise a brilliant doctor. I know she is a caring, devoted mother, she is kind to animals and she is a pillar of support and genuinely concerned about the community and her work. She is a nice person ... but still sometimes she cannot help herself and her dislike leaks through.

We are our own worst critics. We take in all the criticisms that are levelled at us and we make ourselves into a subclass that deserves to be deriled ... we make fun of ourselves. We ... we ... we... just saying that makes us a `we' class, definable by our fat. If we do that, and we do need each other so very much for support and encouragement, then someone looking at us also makes us separate and definable by our appearance.

You know what, it is okay to be seen as fat. What is not okay is all the rubbish that is caught up in that perception, like we eat too much, we dont exercise, and from that ripples spread out ... like, you eat enough in one meal to keep a village in Africa alive for a week, you cannot fit into a shower stall so I am taking you to the sheep dip ... you know the cruel implications of all that.

People make fun of and are cruel to fat people because the misperceptions of obesity and causes of obesity are being publically deriled by authoritarian enforcers ... because those enforcers believe that this is the way to combat obesity. That this depersonalises, humiliates and victimises part of society is simply a side effect. They are hoping that by doing this they encourage people to be more healthy, productive and socially responsible. In short the means justifies the end.

And this is why it sucks ... they are selling it and people are buying it and it is plain wrong.

Sinoia, I think your post is spot on (and well written). :cp:

With all due respect, can we give this trope about "the last acceptable prejudice" a rest? It's a common lament among people who feel strongly about real or perceived criticism of their identity or trait (Catholicism/other conservative Christianity, Mormon faith, atheism, mental illness, weight, Irish travelers, "gingers" [i.e., redheads] ...) while feeling that other identity/trait groups are handled with kid gloves. But human nature being what it is, people will find something to be prejudiced about, and if fat were perceived as the desirable norm in our society (at one time it was since it meant you had plenty to eat!), no doubt people would log-on to 3 Skinny Chicks Trying to Bulk Up complaining about skinny-ism. Read these links:
http://truth-unleashed.blogspot.com/...prejudice.html
http://lastacceptableprejudice.wordpress.com/

That's a new one- there's a prejudice against Irish travelers? Really?

EDIT: Never mind, I see that "Irish Travelers" doesn't actually mean Irish citizens traveling abroad but rather is a pejorative term somewhat akin to "gypsy" or "trailer trash". Never heard of 'em until today. For a minute I thought people actually didn't like Irish citizens traveling and I thought, "What craziness is the world coming to now?" Haha.