A Fat Shaming Story

In my last post, I told you that I would share my fat shaming stories, well I will share one today.

So, I am a nurse. I graduated about a year ago. While in school there was this lady who I am fairly certain has FFGS. She has been a healthy weight since I have known her, but the way her body is shaped, her obsession with working out, and her horrible constant fat shaming makes me think there is more to the story than meets the eye. My nursing class consisted of 36 students, and THREE of us were overweight. Most of our fellow students were great, but this one....

Junior year came and it was time for honors papers. One day in class she blurts out, "I think I want to write my thesis on how INEFFECTIVE fat nurses are." I will just go ahead and let that sink in.

Has it sunk in yet? Maybe just another second?

She went on to ask how can a nurse tell a patient who is obese to eat better, if they are obese and are not healthy themselves.  Once she went on to clarify, I could see her argument. It is a case of, "do as I say, not as I do." To put it a different way, you cannot tell someone to quit smoking as you light up and smoke in front of them. In the end, I got her message but her delivery was extremely offending.

Before she clarified herself, the whole classroom became uncomfortable. It was probably from the three of us who were overweight. I was so angry that day. Some of the most skilled and most compassionate nurses I have had were overweight. To say that they were bad nurses because they were overweight...Ohh my blood boiled. Well, that little comment has stuck with me since she said it. From that moment on I doubted my choice in profession because of her comment. I was afraid of patients like her. A nurse should never have to feel that way. Nurses are so important to the safety of patients, they should not have to worry about what people are thinking about their weight.

For anyone wondering, her thesis topic changed and evolved into something great. I saw her recently, and she made a nice comment about my weight loss. We will probably never be BFFs though.