This one’s going to need some insight. So I had a very interesting topic pop up in a conversation the other day which makes me wonder: Is it rude to call someone fat? And does the circumstance change if the person is or isn’t fat? My friend’s opinion on the topic was: “You can call me fat. It’s a fact of life. It’s neither rude nor derogatory”. I could see where he was coming from but I still had a little trouble fully digesting this point of view because my stance on the issue is that it’s rude to call anyone fat, whether the person is or isn’t. My reasoning is that many overweight people, if not most overweight people, are sensitive to their weight. I have seen a lot of friends who are have been struggling with weight loss their entire lives and being called fat doesn’t really seem to do anything except perhaps hurt someone’s feeling or remind them of something in their lives that makes them upset. If someone called me fat back when I was binge eating during exam time, I would be taken aback and also pretty offended. I guess it’s a little different if you’ve reached a certain level of comfort with someone and you guys are open to that sort of communication.
“You fat.”
“Yeah, I know. But so is your mom. ”
I’m not a person to talk to my friends that way but it’s not like I have a problem letting people know that they’ve gained or lost weight. There are a lot of people that I bump into after a few months or years have gone by and if their weight is noticeable different, I will bring it up in conversation.
“You gained a little bit of weight, didn’t you?”
Of course, I only say this when there has been a very drastic difference that’s worth mentioning. Now, to me, there’s a difference between pointing out that someone’s gained weight and calling someone fat. Unlike the former statement, calling someone fat is usually used derogatorily, it would be very likely that it would be taken as so, and it slaps a label on a person. Of course, that’s just what I think, at least.
It was very fitting that Donald J. Trump posted this yesterday:
I had this question in my mind when I wrote my second latest post in which I call someone old and fat. Mind you, I wrote it. It wanted to convey a sense of hostility against them but I would never have the balls to say that to anyone’s face, even for the purpose of joking with a friend. What’s your view on all this? Let me know in the comments.