*What does the word "fat" mean to you?*

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Ouinon - We fat people don't really serve as a threat, really. If anything, we boost the economy by spending lots of money in the diet & exercise industry.

Strictly as an outsider without the insight others here have I'd like to ad something that's maybe obvious. Most people think (wrongly) that fatness is always caused by sedentarism and eating badly (and too much) - junk food, not enough fresh fruit and vegetable, not cooking etc - and these are associated not even so much with poverty and lack of control, but also stupidity, ignorance and laziness. I remember feeling disgust and even anger myself when seeing the way some people feed very young children - if I thought "fatness" in everybody reflects such habits, the next step could be feeling disgusted by all "fat" people.

*Disclaimer: I'm just commenting on things I've noticed - this doesn't reflect my own feelings and thoughts.

True beauty comes from within. My prejudice has always been about skinny model types: people who devote so much time and attention to their outward appearance must be pretty darn shallow on the inside. If I was stuck on a desert island for the rest of my life and could pick one partner, I would rather have someone with whom I could have an intelligent conversation because superficial beauty does not last. The skin deteriorates in time, hormone systems change in time, and metabolism changes over time. The brain however, has the ability to increase in agility over time.

To the OP's question, "fat" to me means a superficial value judgment that does not go past the skin and I, therefore, tend to ignore such labels. If a person wants to make themself more attractive, I suggest cultivating their inner character. The negative connotation of fatness is relatively recent. Past cultures have valued curvy, voluptuous types. IMHO, there is nothing sexier than a curvy voluptuous woman brimming with self confidence.

I have never seen people who have weight issues in the light that they project and believe that others feel about them. I don't know who tells them that or gives them the ideas they have. Some of it to some extent I think is self inflicted and projected on others a lot of the time. It has been projected on me enough times and I know for a fact that I don't feel that way or even think that way about them but I'm at a point where if I'm going to have a group of people throwing this garbage at me, fine. There, now you have it, now you can accuse me of all your nonsense like you accuse everyone simply because you hate yourself and think everyone else does too. I have hard feelings when people are hurtful enough time about a certain thing and take it out on others all the time. Weight is not a real problem as far as I can see. It's a problem in the mind of the beholder. I know our society conditions us to think one thing is better than another, or one thing is even bad, but I have never held the judgments myself so why have I been accused of it and even beaten up on by big, fat people both physically and verbally.

The way that some people who are built or made to be larger, others are smaller and can't do anything about that either. I have experienced a lot of animosity in my life from the larger set and have some hard feelings about it by now. It's hard for me to have compassion for people who have so much projected animosity at everyone who isn't the same as they are. Accept yourselves like the rest of us have to, love yourself, fat is not an excuse, and stop projecting all the negativity because in that way you really only bring it upon yourself. Thin is no longer popular. Will it ever be enough though to make you happy and make you know that the whole world doesn't hate you because you're fat.

When I hear "fat", I think about the substance that keeps us insulated and provides long-term storage of nutrition for use in respiration.

However, if you mean the adjective, it brings to my mind ideas of unattractiveness and unhealthiness. I just don't find overweight people particularly attractive. They either have a bad diet or bad genes, neither of which is an attractive quality.

You have an absolute right to express your thoughts and feelings; you do not have a right to an audience, nor a right to be free of the social consequences for that expression.