The Unbelievably Cruel Words Fat Women Hear on the Street

February 1, 2015 / empathize this

Originally posted on Empathize This and cross-posted with their permission.

(Content Warning: Fatphobia, sizeist slurs, mention of rape.)

We need to talk about a horrific and common form of street harassment: the cruel way people treat fat women who are doing nothing more than existing in public.

You may know about how fatphobia shows up in examples like healthcare and clothing, but here’s a comic with a clear picture of how one woman suffers from the vicious treatment she gets whenever she goes out.

Let’s let this woman’s story remind us: There’s no wrong way to have a body.

With Love,
The Editors at Everyday Feminism

Click for the Transcript

[Panel 1: White words on a black background that read “I’m obese. I’m fat. Words I never hear? ‘You’re not really fat.'”]

[Panel 2: Text in a banner at the top reads: “Instead, I get random strangers telling me I’m fat.” A woman (presumably representing the author) is in the foreground with a worried look on her face while two masculine-presenting people sneer and yell out “Hey fattie!” and “Oink oink oink!”]

[Panel 3: Text in a banner at the top reads: “At the bar…” A masculine-presenting person is frowning deeply and is saying “Ew. The only way a fattie like you will get laid is if you’re raped.”]

[Panel 4: Text in a banner at the top reads: “Or mid-day, on the street…” The author is in the foreground looking to her right while on her left a car filled with 3 masculine-presenting people yell “Hey! You’re a cow!”, “I’ll pity fuck you if you pay me right now!”, and “hahahahahaha.”]

[Panel 5: Text in a banner at the top reads: “I once had a man follow me…” The author’s back is facing the reader as she is walking down a street and a silhouetted figure in the foreground behind the author yells “Hey fattie!” A banner at the bottom of this panel also spills into the next panel and reads “…for about 2 blocks spewing hate.”]

[Panel 6: The silhouetted figure is now revealed to be a masculine-presenting person in a suit saying “Whatcha doing in public? You’re unfit to be seen!” as the author continues walking, her arms folded in front of her.]

[Panel 7: White text on a black background reads: “It’s somehow ok to say these things to a fat woman. She can be dressed up, active, feel good about herself, having a great time. But you can destroy all of that so easily that she’ll spend the night crying.” At the bottom of the panel the author is shown crying into her hands while kneeling down and resting her elbows on the side of a bathtub.]

[Panel 8: The author is in the foreground with a distressed look on her face and behind her is the memory of the person in the suit who followed her on the street earlier. This person is shown with an angry/aggressive expression on their face, their index finger pointing down at the author, while they say “You’re a fucking burden to society. Our insurance is higher cause of fatsos like you! You need to hurry up and die!“]

[Panel 9: The author continues to cry over the side of the bathtub, this time her tears visibly streaming down her cheek. Text at the bottom of the comic reads: “Have another beer, buddy.”]

[Panel 10: Black text on a white background reads: “It’s why I avoid going out, or I make sure I’m accompanied if I do. Most of the time I’m fine with myself. But when I go out alone, the world seems SO DETERMINED to tell me that I should have problems with myself. And if it looks like I’m happy about myself, people get right up in my face to make sure I know I’m not acceptable. Some days, fat is all I am… even in my own head.” Below the text there is a simple line drawing of a fat person with fat written all over each part of their body. Text at the bottom of the panel reads: “It’s all anyone sees about me, right? … fat..”]

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Empathize This develops comics based on audience-submitted stories about how prejudice and hardship affect their lives. They believe that a visual element helps some people understand a story better, that having the comic can help drive the narrative’s point home. Please follow them on twitter at @empathizethis.