Also in my particular case I think one of the triggers was the constant equivocation of fatness with omg obesity epidemic with the idea that this is the reason why the American healthcare system is fucked up. Um, no – I’m a socialist and happen to think that our healthcare system is fucked up because we lack the nationalised healthcare that every other first world nation has. Blaming the mess American healthcare is in and it’s rising costs on fat people is just such a transparent attempt at shifting the focus that it makes me want to throw things.

Also, for women of any size who’ve ever suffered from eating disorders this place feels like a rare safe haven. The internet spaces where it isn’t just assumed that all women should be a size 2 or die trying are few and far between. Plus the commentariat is smart and funny and generally awesome.

And yeah, while it can be hard to find clothes that fit you as an extremely thin person (especially since most thin people are different from fit models in some way besides simply thinness), it’s a question of degree. As FJ pointed out, I can at least find clothes to try on, even if I often end up leaving stores empty-handed. That’s worlds better than what fatter people have to go through.

But I’ll be entirely honest here: buying clothes at a size 2, a size 4, and later a size 6 was a hell of a lot easier than buying clothes at my present size of 12-16 depending on the store. A killer combination of lack of height, disproportionate breasts and shoulders, and a pouchy tummy means that *every single thing* was designed for a woman a foot taller and 50 pounds lighter than me.

When I was a size 2, I worried about being fat, but I didn’t worry about my boobs popping out of my shirt or my stomach fat sticking out from the strained seams of a shirt that fit my waist but not my hips and stomach or pants that keep falling down because the widest part of me is *not* my freaking hips but my stupid stomach.

At best, I can pull off the “potato sack” look and bolt my boobs to my chest with the tightest bra known to man in order to meet the social guidelines of “acceptable cleavage”, but 98% of clothes still make me look like an oompa loompa. Even though I’m far from the social idea of “hot”, I look better naked than in clothes designed to fit people that look absolutely nothing like me.

I felt like crap on the inside, but when I was thin nobody told me that I shouldn’t be “wearing that” and all the clothes fit me without my bits falling out and seams ripping and cloth wearing out from too much friction and enough cleavage to outdo Pamela Anderson.

I seriously want to take every stupid designer that refuses to construct clothing for anybody other than tall thin people and rake them over hot coals. Maybe run them over with something heavy.

Incidentally, as a woman who has been both stare-and-speculate thin and point-and-laugh ugly, I have noticed that (with some charming exceptions, naturally) people don’t feel quite such a right to tell thin ugly women that they’re unfuckable. Fat seems to be categorised as its own special form of unattractive that requires more reminding. I’m not sure whether it’s just the world trying to shame people into thinness, and ties in with the assumption of responsibility, but it’s definitely there. The pretty/fat exchange rate is clearly a complex beast which will require explanation by rich men in suits before I can wrap my unpretty little head around it.

I’m really glad everyone’s here. Just as I appreciate men who care about sexism, and straight people who care about homophobia, its great to see thin people care about fat stuff. And I do think it makes for a better world in the end for them too.

I’m just impressed though, by how much thin supporters there are here – it is an interesting and funny blog of course. Maybe I’m feeling a bit guilty. Taking another type of privilege – I’m white, and I do care about racism. I’ve challenged it when it happens in front of me, and I’ve gone on marches against racist groups in the UK. I also feel that a non-racist society would also be a better society for me. But as I don’t experience racism directed against me its not a daily concern and I don’t think about it so much as it might deserve.

So when I asked why thin people are here regularly I am trying to be welcoming. Its just I like to know what keeps the solidarity so strong. I think the answers mostly support what I guessed, that the arguments of fat acceptance are also useful for general self acceptance and sticking up for yourself when society wants to judge you and your body.