“You’re not fat. You have fat.”
I got a lot of messages like that when I called myself fat in a selfie I posted a few days ago. I appreciate the intention, but try as I might I can’t bring myself to care about the message simply because I don’t get it. What’s so wrong with using the adjective fat? Is it so bad that we have to skirt around the truth and structure sentences so we can distance ourselves from it as much as we can?
Fat is just a word. It’s an adjective and a noun. We all have fat but not all of us are fat, which is why saying I have fat is not the same as saying I am fat. I understand that the whole ‘you have fat’ idea is trying to achieve something positive, but I think it’s also contributing to our fixation on the word fat and reinforcing the negativity we have come to associate with it. Fat is not an insult, but in the end it’s up to you if you’ll take it as one. But here’s what I suggest: If you’re fat, be comfortable with saying you’re fat because I bet Dany’s dragons that it’s not the only thing you are. You’re smart, funny, talented, brave, thoughtful, kind, loyal, and a dozen other things that having a fat body won’t change.
P.S. Anyone who thinks fat=ugly clearly hasn’t seen Rebel Wilson in leather.
