Some Idiot Made A Joke About A Fat Girl Running So She Wrote An Open Letter To Society

An open letter to the idiot who thought it was ok to heckle me with fat jokes on my run yesterday,

Your comment was a clear indication of both your incredibly witty repartee and a feat of observational comedy. I am indeed a big girl, and I am indeed beautiful. Thanks for noticing. I’m not sure who you were telling I was fat, you clearly have eyes, and the only other people present were me and my boyfriend. I assure you that despite your concern I do own a mirror, and my boyfriend has seen my fat body as he too has eyes. Don’t tell anyone but I think he might even like it.

Normally I don’t get militant about these things, idiots are idiots. However, I can see why comments like these might put a person less confident than me off from running, and that is shameful. Everyone starts somewhere.

Let me make one thing very clear, I am not ashamed of my body. It has never stopped me from doing anything I want. My fat body has done things that you, hanging out of the window of your babe-magnet white van could only ever dream of. My fat body has been swimming in crystal clear Thai seas that you have probably only ever seen on TV. It has lived in countries you wouldn’t dream of visiting and been a part of cultures you are too small minded to appreciate. My fat legs have carried me up mountains on more than one occasion. My fat brain speaks languages you probably don’t see the point of learning, which is why you spend your time hanging out of van windows since you have nothing better to occupy it with.

Recently I made the decision to get fit as I thought it would be a fun thing to do, and good for my health. Not that I have to justify my body to you, but I have a goal to run 10k, and I will get there. I’m a stone lighter than I was, and can do a whole host of things I couldn’t do before. It baffles me that anyone would try to discourage that kind of effort. Excuse me if my assumptions about you are wrong, but I only have your actions to go by. If my fat arse running (quite slowly I might add, I was bloody shattered) offends you and spoils your journey, try driving with your eyes closed, into a lamp post.

But in all seriousness, now I have written this, I feel sorry for you. Your behaviour is not normal, and your manners are well below par. Most importantly though, I forgive you. Here’s hoping that anyone with a goal, fat or thin, isn’t put off by this kind of thing. I know I haven’t been.

Engage your brain before opening your mouth.

Lindsey.


This story puts me in a tough position. On one hand, the guy leaning out the window to yell at a random, fat stranger is truly an asshole. I don't really think there is any debating that. I mean, yeah, the song he was singing is titled 'Big Girl (You Are Beautiful)' but it doesn't take too many brain cells to figure out it was sung out the window in an attempt to mock and shame this big ol' woman training for her 10K. Alas, it's not fun to debate the obvious. For example, we all know this guy is an insecure douche with a tiny penis, so let's talk about something more polarizing, like this woman that wrote an open letter to the, well the world I guess, when she was the victim of one fat joke. 

You know the best way to show that you don't care when someone makes a disparaging joke about you? By doing nothing. In fact, sitting down and scripting a full length letter for the world to see is just a bout the worst way possible to prove you don't care. Generally I don't spend an entire afternoon volunteering to discuss things I don't care about with the rest of the worldwide web (well, sometimes I do, but generally I don't).  So while you may not think such remarks make you 'militant', I am pretty sure telling someone to "try driving with your eyes closed, in to a lamp post" is the most blatant display of militance I have ever laid eyes on. We get it, you're smart and well traveled, and that's praiseworthy. However, how hard you are working to take our attention away from the fact that you are overweight really shows how much it bothers you. You can't really talk about how much you love your body directly after finishing an exercise thats done in an attempt to get healthy and change your body. Running isn't fun sweetheart. Especially when the person that's running is packing a little too much luggage. I applaud your efforts to lose weight, and I don't think you should let one close minded dickhead effect those efforts, but you also shouldn't waste your time addressing said dickhead. At the end of the day, he wanted to make you mad, and that's what he did. When he undoubtedly sees this letter he is going to realize he was successful, and probably get a nice little laugh out of it as he ignores 95% of what you wrote. 

Its not the first time someone was a disrespectful, judgmental dickhead, and it won't be the last, so let's save the public service announcements for more pressing matters.