Stop Fat Talk

So I know usually our blog posts consist of us finding articles or other forms of media that empower or mock the feminist movement - but this week for me at least, it is going to unfortunately be a bit of a rant.

This week I had the displeasure of having an elder man (walker in-hand) call me and another friend fat. Unbelievable I know! Unfortunately it was very very real. I, along with Alpha Delta Pi, the women of Theta, and SLU mental health facilities have dedicated our time this past week to "Stop Fat Talk" in preparation for our Developing Strong Women Fair that is tomorrow. Stop Fat Talk is a week long devotion to aiding women and uniting all in stopping the constant mental and physical abuse that women place on themselves and others. It is meant to empower girls to feel confident in their bodies and stop with the constant negativity. Ending eating disorders, petty "I'm so fat" comments, and girls trashing other girls is the goal of Stop Fat Talk.

I, along with dozens of others sat all week long in the BSC tabling a booth that provided information about the mission of Stop Fat Talk, statistics about media effects and other information about the average girls view of self-worth, were provided at this booth. Also at the booth was a pledge that all were welcome to sign. The pledge stated that whoever signed it would dedicate themselves to stopping fat talk. On Friday I tabled with two other girls. Everything was going great until an old math professor (name unknown) decided to stop by for a little chat...

Immediately off the bat the man began grilling us and explaining that we were disgraceful for wanting fat talk to stop, stating that if someone is fat they should most definitely feel ashamed of themselves and that the goal of our booth was idiotic. Obviously obesity is a serious issue in our society and that help and awareness should be provided to those who suffer from obesity is needed - this was not our goal. We tried explaining that we were not promoting obesity but rather that we wanted to promote a healthy mental and physical awareness for women and men. We wanted to build the self-confidence of individuals and end the constant negativity and self-worthlessness. This explanation however enraged the man who went on to say that this had nothing to do with mental or physical health but was in fact a complete waste of time. Determined to get our message across we sat with this elderingly individual for over 20 minutes. He would not budge. We were at the point that we honestly were upset but thought it a waste of time trying to convince an old man of our cause. Everything finally seemed to be quieting down when he said, "the ironic thing at least is that one of you at this table is actual fit! ha!" As he said this he cryptically looked me and another member at the table up and down. Stunned I didn't know what to say. After this comment and displeasure with my appearance he walked away.

Self-worth and self-image is a serious subject and having someone not understand the importance of that is disheartening but having someone openly discredit it is unacceptable. I have grown up around severe eat disorders as it is very present in my family generational; from my grandmother's decades of anorexity, an aunt's anorexia, another's 30 odd years of bulimia, cousins' countless calorie counting which has lead to the early stages of anorexia, and two others massive obesity. I take these matters so extremely seriously. Now here I have an old man calling me fat and telling me and 20-something year old friends that we are making a mockery out of ourselves by caring about such a senseless cause. I was enraged, and am enraged simply by writing this.

The saddest part is that the other girl this old man (who had a potbelly of his own) labelled as fat is in fact a full figured beautifully curved young women. She was visibly upset by the experience and came to me privately the next morning saying she was still upset by the experience.

I was the oldest tabling at the time, among two underclassman, and yes - I was caught off guard by what this old man said, I wish I could have done something more. I realized that while I was at this booth that was encouraging girls to end the constant negativity they surround themselves with, I was in fact feeling awful about myself and my self image. Honestly there are things I thought to say at the time but didn't because I wanted to keep cool, calm, and collected as I was representing ADPi, but I realized now I was wrong. What I should have said, and would give anything to say to this old man, is that if he didn't agree with what we were saying he should leave because he obviously must have been loosing his sight and couldn't see that three amazing beautiful, strong, empowered young women were standing before him.