14 painful examples of everyday fat-shaming

If you've ever doubted that fat-shaming is something that happens every day, just listen to the hundreds of Twitter users who shared their stories last week.Blogger Melissa McEwan created the #FatMicroagressions hashtag to start a conversation about the inappropriate and hurtful comments directed at overweight people on a regular basis. Microaggression, a term coined by Professor Chester Middlebrook Pierce in 1970, refers to small acts of aggression towards people of a certain group -- usually those of non-privileged races, classes or ethnicities.Fat acceptance blogger Living~400lbs posits that overweight people are particularly susceptible to microaggressions because it is acceptable to be openly prejudiced against fat. In a January 2009 blog post she explained: "The problem is that many people figure fat people are not 'really' people, or at least don’t deserve to be treated like people."Fat microaggressions can be subtle, which is why others -- especially those with thin privilege -- may not be quick to notice or object to them. And in a culture so obsessed with a thin beauty ideal, the idea of accepting and loving a larger body is still somewhat radical."The thing about living in a marginalized body is that it means there are lots and lots of people with the juxtaposed privilege who are deeply invested in defining my value," Melissa McEwan wrote in a Dec. 12 blog post. "And many of them react very badly to any evidence that I reject the value which has been imposed on me."(huffingtonpost.com) ANN.Az