RE: Freewrite Day 461 In The Limelight
People do not notice or see fat people. They look right through you (or around you) - wow! How about a #FatLivesMatter campaign? The discrimination against *millions of people goes on daily, year after year, with overweight people passed up for jobs and "Swiped Left" on dating apps. This is a fantastic post, @fitinfun, with so many great insights. The shock of being "in the limelight" after being "invisible" (love the concert anecdote) is fascinating. This: it was terrifying. People LOOKED at me. I’m over it now. But it took a few years. I've never been popular or sought-after and I'm now more comfortable as a recluse, even though I should get out of the house. Well, there's one insight you got wrong: "old white woman" is not the term for a strong, wise survivor!
Currently 40% of Americans are obese and 40% are overweight. Those are actually old stats and I think it is worse now. I don't try for acceptance of fat - I try for change. Fat people are made fun of all day long and I do not see this changing.
Your comment reminds me of my horrific 6 month failed attempt at online dating. I did it a couple years after I lost the weight. I thought I was time to "find someone." I was in the best shape ever due to 3X a week swimming.
I had 4 dates in person. The longest was one hour. The rest were 20 minutes each. All of the men said I was the first woman they met who was the weight they said they were - all the others they went on dates with had been fat even though their profile said they were thin.
I never knew how much I used and valued my invisibility until it was gone. It was all I could do to not get fat again to push back the fear. But I had two roles models who warned me this would happen. I would never be able to go though the change from fat to thin a second time so I just stay thin now.
I'm a hermit myself, but I still have to go out to shop and for errands lol.