"I like having my hair and face done, but I'm not going to lose weight because someone tells me to." - Adele
I never used to worry about my weight, it just wasn't on my agenda. It was only when a man close to me remarked about how I should probably lose a dress size before buying clothes that it hit me. I was smaller then so I stuck to my guns. I didn't lose the weight.
Now, that was a good few years in a forgotten era but it still stings. I have gained weight since that time and even though it has never really impacted on the way I live my life, how people view me or my ability to attract someone sexy, it still lingers in my head.
What I find remarkable is how common it is for people to discuss others weight. Newspapers, magazines and websites are crammed full of women, and sometimes men, taking swipes at how "chunky". "flabby" or just plain "fat" a celebrity or another woman, is. This culture of the bitchiness has seeped into real life where you can be subjected to a fitness check up whilst just going about your daily business. Whilst working in an office, where a good 2/3 of the staff was on a diet, I dared to eat chocolate. I was given lectures about calories, my overall fitness and told "well you could do with being healthier and losing some weight" It's important to remember that just because a person has a few more inches around their waist than the "ideal" doesn't mean that they are unfit. The main person who gave me this lecture was a good shot over 15st herself. I definitely recommend that when judging you should at least have a higher ground to peer down from.
During my time working in this office I was also informed that fat women should be grateful when men pay them attention as "they don't have room to be choosy" and should settle for the first man who can keep calm and carry on despite your fatty fat. This is unacceptable. Ladies, never settle. Any man who lords around thinking you're not the most awesome sexbombiest ladyface alive should be kicked to the curb post-haste. Women who hold the view fat ladies should settle should be verbally bitch-slapped.
Since that job, weight has become a bigger issue for me. I hate to admit it but now I weigh myself more than ever and food has gone from being a joy to a chore. I miss the days when I didn't care.
This http://bit.ly/R8IODw, a comment from www.everydaysexism.com is the main reason all of the above needs to be stopped. This is the lessons we are teaching our children, this is the legacy we are leaving, the idea that your looks determine your worth and value and that, my friends, is wrong.