Dear Editor,
One Saturday night, while taking a walk down McKinley Avenue with my friend, I saw a car full of drunk girls speed by.
"Hey fat-ass baby," one screamed out the window.
I have heard comments like this many times before, and not a week goes by without some idiot yelling out his window to "Go to Weight Watchers" or something equally demeaning - but it still hurts every time.
A recent hot topic in the Daily News and around campus has been the racist comments and actions directed toward black students. They have been harassed on the streets and sidewalks, and there have even been anti-black remarks made at sporting events. When most students hear about this, they are amazed at the closed mindedness of some people and surprised that it is happening on a college campus in 2006.
Unfortunately, fat people have to suffer from many of the same injustices as ethnic minorities - both on campus and throughout the United States - but it is not nearly as recognized.
Fat people are consistently looked down upon because of their appearances.
We are seen as socially unacceptable due to the fact that our bodies do not meet the ideal marketed by the media, and instead of being accepted as human beings, we are seen as threats to public health and unproductive for humanity.
Discrimination and hate speech have become common for the overweight and obese. Fat women are often unwanted by most men, and heavy males face constant teasing from their peers. Few overweight actors get leading roles in movies and even fewer show up on "reality" television.
Even on Facebook, there is a group titled, "Fat People Disgust Me," and its description explains the repulsion: "Stop f---ing eating! You took away Double Stuft Oreos and Supersized McDonalds. For what? Go f---ing exercise!"
What have fat people done to deserve this bad image?
After lectures from doctors about diabetes and heart disease, constant invitations from friends to work out and revolted looks from strangers while trying to eat dinner, fat people would rather starve than draw any more attention to themselves.
Very few will actually succeed in looking the same as those who have abused them, but the majority will fail time and time again, trying desperately to avoid the snide remarks and dirty glances.
I just want people to know that overweight and obese people - just like blacks, gays and other minorities - are people as well, and we should start getting the same considerations and respect. People have been telling us our whole lives we are too fat, and it has not worked, so someone making nasty comments is not considered a public service or a favor to us.
All I ask is for you to stop and think before you judge a person solely on his appearance.
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