It Happened to Me

Fat shaming. Cyber bullying. You see posts and articles and blogs and videos about this stuff all the time. I did. And my reaction to them was mostly along the lines of "Who would do that?" or "Why would somebody hate enough to bother harassing strangers online?"

Well, this morning I woke up and found out who.

Meet Brighton Whytock: a man who describes himself as "anti-feminist and patriarchal."

"I am a anti feminist, I am very much white and patriarchal."
How lovely.

When I woke up this morning, I had a notification saying he had commented on a post. Assuming it would be positive, I opened up my Twitter and started in. Thus began the following interaction:

My original tweet (from over 4 months ago) was meant to have a positive impact.

" Thin women are not the only ones who deserve to have their bodies spoken of with respect. #FatFeminist #HappyInternationalWomensDay "

But it turned into a platform for an anti-feminist patriarchist to start fat-shaming.

For the record, I am overweight. By a whole 10 pounds. So according to this unqualified man's
diagnosis, I'm going to die before I'm 50 if I don't fix that. Which would take about a month.

In the end, I reported him and I blocked his sorry carcass. I would encourage anybody who is experiencing similar harassment to follow the same simple measures, to block them and report their behavior. This is not acceptable, it is not right, and it is not something you have to put up with. Stick up for yourself in an appropriate way. Social media should be a tool for you to enjoy the thoughts of friends and family, and for you to express yourself without fear of mistreatment.