Just a few weeks ago hardly anyone had heard of Nicole Arbour and now she has sent a wave of mixed emotions across the internet and upped her subscriber count greatly. Some applaud her apparent 'brutal' honesty and others question her motives of supposedly trying to inspire overweight people into losing a few pounds. I personally do not think there were any compassionate motives with this as there is an enormous difference between tough love and mockery. You can't pull all of the 'yo mama so fat' jokes out of the hat and expect everyone to want to be your friend. You can't outright laugh at someone so brazenly and then genuinely think that people; inspired by your tenacity to the cause, will start going to the gym!
This is not the first example I've seen of digs made about weight regardless of the spectrum. Slim men have their masculinity questioned when they don't have a 6 pack #DoYouEvenLiftBro style. Overweight people are filmed on the treadmill for purely malicious purposes. Many times i've questioned why I even follow Gym Memes on Facebook, because of the odd things that come through causing a judgemental stir that i'm not necessarily comfortable with. The labels fat shaming and skinny shaming get thrown about whenever a debate of this nature comes into the limelight. Being overweight in our society is bloody hard and I've never even experienced it. I feel for those who are judged for their 'excess' weight, because everyone questions and scrutinises their life choices, as though they are instantly better human beings for being a size 10 rather than a 18.
The fact of the matter is, we are all built differently and think differently too. We process failure and success, heartache and joy uniquely. It is not fair to assume and generalise everyone over a size 16 is a lazy, gluttonous 'drain on society'. What do you know about the intricacies of that person's life and what they maybe are going through other than assumptions. Without meaning to be callous, would you mock a girl with Anorexia? No.
For me the issue is a bit deeper than what's been discussed by others who have approached this topic and this eediyat of a woman's video. If obesity is a problem why are we not doing more to encourage change for health and support those who are having difficulties, instead of throwing them in virtual stocks and pelting them with tomatoes. Why does society apparently only feel sympathy and compassion to people suffering with eating disorders at the skinnier end of the spectrum? Yup that is a sweeping statement I know, but hear me out:
When parents or doctors find out that their child is battling Anorexia, their immediate response is to rally around to support and nurture that child. They are afraid and confused. Now replicate that situation but with a child who is a size 16 at 14 years old. Maybe quite unbeknownst to the parents, their child is struggling with chronic depression further fuelled by the likes of the 'Nicole Arbours' of the world or a binge eating disorder. They may even shrug it off because 'my child eats a lot and is a growing girl/boy'. The support network is not as noticeably there in my opinion. The child in question then recedes deeper into themselves because no one is noticing anything but the initial visible difference, and everyone is criticising them at school and on the internet. Surely an eating disorder is serious whichever form it takes and we should be trying to support those who are going through Anorexia AND binge eating disorders equally!
Another thing people seem overwhelmed by is the fact that some of their fellow humans enjoy being the weight they are and like food! They enjoy being slim or they enjoy having a larger frame. If everyone wasn't so freaking critical, a lot of the people who get judged for yoyo dieting probably wouldn't be yoyo dieting in the first place!! They've been shamed into thinking their bodies are wrong for whatever reason and so do things to fit the norm they've been told to adjust themselves to. We get one life. Who are we to judge a size 4 or a size 24?
We all know a skinny person who eats like a horse and doesn't gain weight. They too are judged, told to eat a burger and made to feel ashamed for the way their body processes things. This in itself is a big problem but comments of this nature appear to stem from jealously rather than socially orchestrated hatred or disgust. Maybe; just maybe, if we invested more time in creating a support network for those who are struggling with their weight at both ends of the scale, we would have a society more equipped to manage these situations with care rather than social outrage. Also, if we tried to have a bit of self censorship before making sweeping assumptions about people we don't know, maybe the world would be a less catty place.
To sum up my response to this video in one sentence all I will say is this: Go Home Nicole Arbleugh You're Drunk because if you haven't got anything nice to say don't say it at all!
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