This Is Thin Privilege (Thanks, David Garson!)

If your New Year's Resolutions include going to the gym and losing weight, you are a selfish, entitled, hateful piece of garbage. Why bother trying to "get healthy" and "improve yourself" when you can just be angry and bitter about your body on the Internet??

This is Thin Privilege is a Tumblr blog that asks people to submit examples of the preferential treatment thin people take for granted, and the tyranny they wield over fat people ("fat" is their word of choice, as "overweight" and "obese" are deemed problematic slurs). Any talk of weight loss is affixed with a trigger warning, because it could be considered offensive or traumatic. And don't even think about mentioning R*ch*rd S*mm*ns.

The site's aggressive moderators, one of whom is named "Fatanarchy," actively encourage people not to trust their doctors, because who are those eggheads to tell us what is and isn't "healthy"???

In my opinion the modern conception of 'health' is bullshit. It's an ever-changing, largely arbitrary definition that seems to serve a single purpose: to blame modern ills on so-called 'unhealthy' people then define so-called 'unhealthy' people as unpopular social 'deviants' like fat people, poor people, and the disabled. The philosophy of vaunting the modern notion of 'health' to some kind of societal/moral imperative is called healthism.

Alas, the scourge of "healthism" is but a small part of the discrimination fat people must grapple with every day. This is Thin Privilege will open your eyes to the prejudice of physics, the bigotry of dogs, and the shame of being personally insulted by the online equivalent of a fortune cookie.

These negative nelllies blame fatness for every evil that has ever besieged them, no matter how petty. Conversely, being thin is assumed to be a magical state of being that gets you into all the cool clubs, makes boys like you and gets you straight A's on all your homework. Wow, sounds like a good deal!

So, what is thin privilege?

• Thin privilege is having great mental health, because only fat people suffer from mental problems. On an unrelated note, how come you only ever hear about thin people shooting up schools? Just saying, some representation would be nice.
• Thin privilege is being able to choose whatever career you want. Clearly, weight is the sole determinator of opportunity, and all other socioeconomic factors are completely irrelevant. Who knew?
• Thin privilege is not having to deal with people unfollowing your blog. I know, it's hard to believe such blatant discrimination still persists in this day and age. Gandhi wouldn't have stood for this shit.
• Thin privilege is getting cursed at when you criticize a blog's lack of civility. Keep in mind, Tumblr doesn't force you to publicly respond to every "ask" you receive, so it's weird to accuse someone of seeking a spotlight while also granting them that spotlight.
• Thin privilege is being ignorant about the deplorable lack of plus-sized statues in downtown Colorado Springs. Oh, and I bet you weren't implicity bodyshamed by Disney's Gargoyles, were you? Typical.
• Thin privilege is receiving compliments from your friends. Do fat people get compliments? Heck no! Well, except when they do, and when they do, it's bad. Gah, they just can't win, can they?
• Thin privilege is ... getting date-raped, apparently?
  

Thin privilege is not, when finding out that one of your friends recently had her drink spiked at a nightclub, being told that it's something you'll never have to worry about, because "who'd want to spike a fat, ugly bitch's drink?" After all, fat girls aren't at risk of sexual assault.

Yup, somehow the fat person is the victim here, not the friend who's been roofied. Fat people just want to feel included, is all.

– Adam "rubber cat" Jameson (@robbercat)