Just in case anyone wants to try me today.
This isn’t “overreacting” or “making a big deal out of nothing” this is a genuine problem and I’m tired of skinny people deciding what is and isn’t offensive to fat people. White people don’t get to declare what is racist, Straight people don’t get to decide what is homophobic, and Cis people don’t get to decide what is transphobic.
So, that being said, your skinny idealized-by-society selves do not get to decide when fat people are experiencing fatphobia.
My entire god damn life has been a fat joke, I would walk down halls and people would make jokes like “fatty want a donut” and while waiting outside the classroom for the teacher to show up would say “try not to eat us.”
I watch shows, listen to music, read comics and books to escape; not to see one of the very few characters representing me to be subjected to the same fucking stereotype placed upon me by society.
The stereotype that; because I’m fat my only motivation, my only goal, and my only desire in life, is food. That my only passion is to cook. That my only source of happiness comes from eating.
And it’s fucking upsetting, and even more so when it’s brushed off as not being an issue.
Skinny characters get multifacted personalities. The jokester who is self-conscious. The reserved loner who has a temper but is actually vulnerable and going through an identity crisis and experiences racism. The geek who is seen as calculated and a walking wikipedia but actually has feelings and is missing their loved ones and learns what true friendship is. The delicate princess that is so dainty and light yet embraces those things and learns to fight and kill a man with her bare hands if she so desired.
But what do fat people get?
Either tall hulking brute that is overly agressive and overpowered. Or the super soft and squishy fat guy that loves everyone and is obsessed with food. Maybe, just maybe, sometimes we will get the tolerable asshole who makes dick jokes and is overly cocky but secretly kind (90% of the time they’re gamers).
So to see a character that could also have a family he misses, or has lost. A character that could also relate with racial issues. A character motivated by his teamates, that used to be nauseous just riding in his lion that now blows up ships just for tailgaiting and is strong enough to probably carry multiple people by himself, that would sacrifice himself in a heartbeat to save a stranger let alone those he loves…
Boiled down to a shitty joke where he frantically chases the smell of a pie to get to the center of a maze as motivation.
Makes me want to fucking cry, because my one safe space, my one escape; is using the same type of shitty jokes that kids used while shoving me in locker rooms and snapping rubber bands against my skin in class.
Though I’m so sorry for “over reacting” and inconveniencing you.
I’m so sorry for speaking out about a character that you don’t care about.
But more than anything, I’m sorry that you’re truly that heartless to tell hundreds of people who are being genuinely hurt to basically “get over it.”