Respect, Just Because

What is it about “public accommodation” that Fatso doesn’t understand?

Fat Woman Knows She Can’t Fit Into Harry Potter Ride’s Seats But Tries to Do So Anyway So That She Can Complain About Fat Exclusion

—Ace of Spades

Full story in Huffington Post, this by way of Ace of Spades.

My dear friend Ruha — who has been a guest on my “Woman of Size” podcast about the discrimination against fat women’s bodies — wrote: “Heads up. I was kicked off the Hogwarts ride because I didn’t fit. It was humiliating but they gave me front of the line passes to rest of the rides at Universal. Just be aware.”

Woof. I’d been investigating size-based discrimination for several months, interviewing and publishing conversations with women in my life who have experienced body shame, injustice and inequity around their size, gender, race and presence. Clearly, our world would prefer that women who look like the Fat Lady painting that guards Gryffindor Tower just … disappear. “Evanesco,” the spell in Harry Potter that causes an object, animate or inanimate, to vanish into non-being, is not just fictional sorcery to women of size. It’s a very real experience that we often shoulder so that sizeist-ass muggles can sleep comfortably at night knowing they’ll never catch the fat we’ve been told we’re spreading.

But like the Fat Lady, I am big and loud and demanding…

This is some kind of roller coaster ride. For some strange reason the designers, operators of the venue seem to feel that it is desirable for riders to remain in the car for the duration of the ride. With that goal in mind, they designed seating that generally conformed to an average body and supplemented the seat design with a safety bar, that clamps into place.

The size of the seat is not arbitrary. It has to hold a person securely while working in concert with the other safety devices. Since it is a money-making proposition it also has to accommodate the widest range of body types while still remaining safe for all body types within that range.

Fat Stuff failed to mention, but I’m sure it was there the dreaded yardstick.  A sign that was the bane of eight-year-olds that stated: “In order to get on this ride you must be this tall.” Fat Shaming is a walk in the park compared to being the only one in your group that couldn’t get on the ride. First, your peers called you baby. Then to reinforce that statement you had to standby with your mother as she held your hand. The hand holding had nothing to do with motherly nurturance. It was the opening hold leading to a body slam and culminating in a full nelson, should you attempt to escape.

Have it your way. “Huge tub of fat advocates removal of safety devices on a roller coaster. Children flung to their death, just one of those things that makes fat people happy.”

Next, fatso will be complaining about not being allowed to join the wet t-shirt or mud wrestling contest. During her last trip to the beach, fifty volunteers kept pushing her back into the water.