"Being marginalized in one area doesn’t negate
your privilege in another."
This quote came from Melissa Fabello's "lets
talk about thin priviledge"
I must say I LOVE this article so much that I will
share it with all of my friends. It opened my eyes in ways that I really
couldn't understand before. I used to always sit down and try to think of how
"fat shaming" and "skinny shaming" were different and she
explained it clearly. I loved how she didn't undermine the struggle of some
skinny people but she made it clear that thin privilege is not about how you
feel about yourself, it is about how society views you. People automatically
see a bigger person and without knowing the person they have all of these
negative assumptions about them. And skinny women being insecure about their
bodies isn't something new because studies show that most women are insecure
about at least one thing on their body. But it’s the fact that you can run down
the block and people won’t judge and watch you. You can stuff a burger and
fries down your throat and people wouldn't care. But if you're bigger all it
takes is eating anything at all to give you attention. Whether you eat a salad,
there's the assumption that you're trying to lose weight, or if you're eating a
burger, there’s the assumption of that being the exact reason you gained
weight. And I hate it so much. I see fat shaming everywhere and it kills me
because people are already insecure about themselves without needing society to
constantly remind them of their 'flaws'. I honestly cannot express how much
that quote has changed my views beyond thin privilege because it extends to so
many other issues and people could learn a lot from it. The different examples
she used in the article made sense because some white people who deny their
white privilege say it is due to the fact that they had to work hard to get to
where they are or ‘where is there privilege because they are still poor?’ And
having privilege in something does not necessarily mean you have a perfect
life. It just means that you being a specific ‘something’ has never been disadvantageous
for you. In our society a white person does not have to worry that the color of
their skin is the reason a cop is suspicious of them. Same way a skinny person
does not have to worry that they did not get a job because they did not look ‘presentable’.
It is really all a matter of perspective and putting yourself in someone’s
shoes without getting defensive. I love this article!
