Let them eat cake! No chance, said fellow fat person

Mike Donachie

Few things are better than showing courage and standing up for yourself. Cake is one of them. I cheered inwardly when I read of fellow fat person Vega Blossom who, when fat-shamed in a bakery, won a sweet victory. Queueing for discounted cupcakes, she heard someone behind her mutter a judgmental, insulting remark about her size, sarcastically expressing a hope that she wouldn’t buy all the cupcakes.

So she did. It cost $54 and, even better, she asked her tormenter to hold the door open because she was carrying too many cakes to do it herself. What a hero.

It’s a funny story, but gets less funny when you find out that Vega, who is a UK size 22, is also 19 years old. I expect she’s perfectly aware she isn’t skinny, and that she made choices that led to her putting on weight but it’s a nasty thing to put someone through, especially when they’re so young.

I describe myself as fat. In fact, I like to joke that I’m a card-carrying fat person, and the cards are made of bacon.

Only we real fatties get issued with them, and we keep needing to replace them.

That’s the sort of humour people use as a defence mechanism when they don’t want to address the real issues, so let’s be blunt here. Yes, we know we’re fat. Yes, we know it’s bad for us. Yes, we know whose fault it is.

And, no, you don’t get to make yourself feel better by making evil remarks at our expense.

Nobody hides their size, so mentioning it can be OK, but using it against to score points is just plain wrong.

This happens to big people a lot, because our weakness is visible, and our problems look simple. “Just eat less,” we’re told, or, “Exercise.” Yeah, I understand that, but food, and related issues of physical and mental health, are complicated.

So, if you feel the need to shame a fat person, think of your own problems and show some compassion.

And remember the courageous teenager Vega Blossom, who kept her pride … and got lots of cake, too.

I like to joke that I’m a card-carrying fat person ...