It’s Nothing but Racist Revulsion for the Bodies of Fat People
It’s hard to find the words to describe the disgust I have when I see complete and absolute hatred of a person by a fellow human being. My initial desire is to bring the venom-spitting goon to his or her knees by any means possible with less-than-elegant names and a few punches until I feel better. I admit that taking the provocateur down a few rings would satisfy my desire to knock some sense into their hardened heart. But I’m not a violent person.
When I read about a trainer in St. Louis who posted a photo of a fat woman at Busch Stadium on his company’s Facebook page, I was disgusted by his display of smugness and condescension.
“Where individuals like the one I posted are impeding other people’s ability to enjoy a baseball game, a flight, a seat at the movie,” Keath Hausher stated and further described this patron’s intake of food as “unhealthy and never ok.” He went on to state that having manners wouldn’t work with this type of person. “The customary way to respond to this now is to want to hug someone and tell them ‘no matter what size you are, that’s great.’ But in reality it’s not great.”
No doubt he thought posting a photo of the woman from behind onto his company’s business webpage was a cute, fun thing to do. The girl was nothing more than some big fat chick with rolls-a-plenty to be plastered for the public to see. She’d never see it and even if she did, doesn’t everyone make fun of fat people? She’d never say anything because the fat girl (or boy) would be so ashamed that they’d run and hide while the bully stands in the righteous light with a smirk on his face. The bully knows what he did was right and correct and thinks that, just maybe, the fatso got the message and might decide to lose weight because, after all, isn’t that the best possible outcome in the end?
Wrong on every level. Bully’s like Mr. Hausher use the goal of “healthy living” (including weight loss through diet and exercise) as a shield by disguising their own prejudicial hatred for a particular type of person. In this case, fat people. Mr. Hausher stands on his self-righteous pulpit and preaches his vitriolic contempt for the obese with a racist-revulsion against the bodies of fat people by simply stating, “It is a public health issue.”
Really? So this guy Keath is standing up and proclaiming himself Sentinel of Health and body shaming this woman is justified because he cares about society so strongly that he just has to shame another to make his point.
This method of fat shaming has been a standard method of proclaiming the hatred for the bodies of chubby people in the guise of “health” and “concern” and the “love” for our fellow human being. But it’s not about any of those things, as good and lovely as the goal of a healthy society may be. Mr. Hausher’s only goal was to show an example of a fat, disgusting person to boost his business by stating (through example), Don’t let this happen to you.
Mr. Hausher added, “I didn’t name her, or show her face. It is raising awareness to say it’s okay to not stand for that.” Everyone has the right to stand up for what they believe, but no one has the right to diminish the humanity of another regardless of how “right” they believe they may be.
The big woman who sat in front of Keath had every right to be there, in public, and eat whatever she wanted and as much as she desired. I hope she took delight with each bite and savored all the glorious taste that comes with ballpark food. And when she got home, I hope her partner got lost in each bountiful roll of delectable flesh and kissed each stretchmark with lust-filled passion. And I hope she has season tickets in that seat in front of Mr. Keath Hausher forcing him to see her big, beautiful body at every game.
