So I get up early today for god knows what reason, but I decide to turn it into a bonus and take the opportunity to visit the Farmer's Market. On the drive over, I'm flipping through the radio stations looking for something that doesn't suck when I hear "obese". Now considering that medically speaking I'm an obese woman, I'm always curious about what people are saying about it. So I flipped back to the station and listened.

First Man: "... now if my doctor told me I was obese and needed to lose some weight, I'd be grateful that he dealt with me straight."
Woman: "Well some people like it differently..."
Second Man: "No, here it is, you're FAT! You're unhealthy, you have to get off your ass and lose weight now. Don't complain that your doctor is telling you that you're obese, you are! Do something about it."
Woman & First Man: *laughs*
Music: "You're a pig..."

At which point I flipped elsewhere.

Now let's try something, ok? Let's play swap in the words.

First Man: "... now if my doctor told me I was black and needed to become white, I'd be grateful that he dealt with me straight."
Woman: "Well some people like it differently..."
Second Man: "No, here it is, you're BLACK! You're different; you have to get off your ass and change. Don't complain that your doctor is telling you that you're Black, you are! Do something about it."
Woman & First Man: *laughs*
Music: "You're a monkey..."

Not quite so funny anymore is it? How about another one?

First Man: "... now if my doctor told me I was female and needed to become male, I'd be grateful that he dealt with me straight."
Woman: "Well some people like it differently..."
Second Man: "No, here it is, you're FEMALE! You're different; you have to get off your ass and change. Don't complain that your doctor is telling you that you're Female, you are! Do something about it."
Woman & First Man: *laughs*
Music: "You're a pussy..."

Shit, suddenly it's racist and sexist and would probably get the broadcasters into a deep, deep ocean of trouble. The new acceptable bigotry is weight. Now I've seen this argument before, when compared to gender or skin colour the response is always "You can't change your gender or skin colour, you can always lose weight." I'm not even going to go there because of one simple little thing.

It's a mind-blowing concept. Brace yourself. Are you ready?

My body is none of your business. Her body is none of your business. His body is none of your business.

I don't need to justify why my ass is fat. I don't need to explain to anyone what I eat, how I eat, what I do for exercise. I certainly don't need to flip through radio stations and have obesity be the funny colour commentary for that morning's show. It's not fucking funny, people.

Calling a fat woman a pig is the exact same as calling a black man a monkey or a woman a pussy. They're all dehumanizing, degrading and vile. Dehumanizing a person is not humour; it's ignorance and hate. This bigotry keeps getting more and more accepted as reasonable. It sickens me.

Do we really need someone to consider inferior, to demonize, degrade, to mock? No? Then why do we keep doing it?