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Fat Shaming Dispute Goes Viral

This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at OSU chapter.

If you have been on facebook, you probably have seen or heard of the newly released repulsive video by Nicole Arbour called, “Dear Fat People.” First of all, the title of the video automatically instills disgust in almost everyone. While self-love and acceptance has been a popular topic spreading throughout social media and around the world, her video seems out of place and quite vile in generating such confidence in every human being.

At the very beginning of the video she explaims in a careless voice, “People are already mad at this video. What are you going to do fat people? Are you going to chase me?” While she thinks of it as comedically appropiate, most all viewers, of any size, would rather chase her for being so offensive. For anyone who didn’t know, her boss was equally offended as the rest of us. He actually fired her because of it!

Many people probably wanted to counteract her erroneous comments, but the beautiful and brilliant woman, Whitney Way Thore did just that.

Nicole Arbour talks about fat shaming as not existing among racism, homophobia and ableism. Does she think it is okay to bully a bigger sized person and not count it as immoral and wrong? Whitney chimes in and says ‘yes, it is!’ noting it as body shaming. Body shaming is a rather important issue today, such as certain magazines editting real peoples’ bodies to create ‘the perfect body image,’ which is not a real thing. Many people start to hate their own bodies, thinking of themselves as ugly or far from perfect. Well, Nicole Arbour’s video does just that – causing people to feel just as much hurt when viewing their own body in accordance to her comments. Whitney states that, “fat shaming actually has the opposite affect on what is intended. It causes people to gain more weight!” This shows that it has a worse affect on them mentally and physically.

Whitney continues to say that no one can judge someone else from just looking at a person. No one knows what others have done or are going through. She states, “Do you know I am recovered from an eating disorder that I suffered from for seven years?”

Whitney also responds to Nicole Arbour’s comment, “You really think if you hashtag something it makes it okay?” Whitney went on to say, what about spreading hashtags “#Ilovemyself, #Imworthit” rather than her hurtful advice to bigger people. To end her video she exclaims, “This is what I want to say to fat people- you are loved, worthy; you are capable of so much more than you think and a number, whether it be on a scale or a measuring tape cannot quantify the value that you have. It cannot count all the ways that this world needs you; it cannot define your health or project your success. Your weight does not measure your worth.” She couldn’t have said it better. Everyone is beautiful and everyone is worth it, no matter one’s weight or size. Sorry Nicole.

Check out Whitney Way Thore’s full video!

I just recently transferred to OSU and am currently a sophomore studying English. Already being surrounded by all that OSU has to offer in such a short time has made me realize I made the right choice. I see limitless opportunities around me waiting to be accessed and experienced. I plan to make the most out of my time here at The Ohio State University.