Sizeism

Ever met up with a Sizeist?   You know what a Sizeist is.  It's someone who is prejudice against people's size.  They exist, people, and they're everywhere.

We're not being oversensitive here.  We're also not stupid.

Do any of these people sound familiar?:

• The person who is chummy with everyone in the room but can't look YOU in the eye.
• The person at a store counter who deliberately looks past you to the next customer.
• The person who looks at you up and down first before shooing you away (like when you're applying for a job, maybe?).

These people are Sizeists.  They've made up their mind about you without even attempting to know who you are, and they've decided they don't like you because of your size.  It happens every day to all of us who are Big.

Of course, the same happens to people who are of a different skin color, or a different sexual orientation, among other factors.  The only difference is that society admits that those prejudices are wrong.  So far, Sizeism is barely recognized at all.

It's a battle we're never going to win.  The sad part is, it hurts.  That person I see every day who can't look me in the eye -- it hurts.