If you’ve been on social media anytime over the past few weeks, you’re sure to have heard of Nicole Arbour, the YouTuber who has been making headlines thanks to her controversial video, “Dear Fat People.” This six-minute video of extreme fat shaming has over 18 million views on social media and has been facing criticism from people all over the world.
From the start, Arbor acknowledges she is aware that people will be angry about her video. Impersonating the monster Frankenstein she says, “What you gonna do about it? What are you gonna do? You gonna chase me, really? I can get away from you by walking at a reasonable pace.”
Later in the video she states, “Fat shaming is not a thing. Fat people made that up. That’s a race card with no race. ‘Yeah, but I couldn’t fit into a store, that’s discrimination.’ Um, no, that means you’re too fat, you should stop eating.”
In the last minute of the video she says, “I’m not saying all this to be an asshole. I’m saying this because your friends should be saying this to you. Think of me as one of your ride-or-dies.”
I’m sorry, but if any of my friends ever said any of that to me, I would not consider them one of my ride-or-dies and I would not be their friend for much longer. I have a huge problem with this video. In a culture where women and girls are constantly torn down, told they’re not good enough, and held to entirely unrealistic societal ideas of what they should look like, videos like this one are so unnecessary, not to mention harmful.
As Whitney Way Thore, star of TLC’s “My Big Fat Fabulous Life” said in response to this video, “Fat-shaming is a thing; it’s a really big thing, no pun intended. It is the really nasty spawn of a larger parent problem called body-shaming, which I’m fairly certain everyone on the planet, especially women, has experienced.”
As women, it’s important that we stick together and support each other. Instead of tearing other women down, build them up. Don’t look at another woman and point out her flaws to make yourself feel better; look at her and see what makes her beautiful, while recognizing the beauty that is inside of you at the same time.
As the saying goes, “You can always tell who the strong women are. They are the ones you see building one another up, instead of tearing each other down.”