Is it really funny to say I’m scared to pass her because she might eat me?
Is it ok to say she is so fat we took a picture of her last Christmas and its still printing?
Is it really funny to say she is so fat even Dora can’t explore her?
Some of these jokes may even have you cracking up at the moment but my question to you is
Is laughter a disease that must be cured by using even the most sensitive subjects that may offend someone and cause them misery?
Have you ever heard a fat joke or seen a fat image that causes you to laugh so hard you burst out in tears? I certainly have and I too am guilty
of laughing when I come in contact with these images and jokes; but recently due to the study of the Fat bodies I have considered the subjects I regard as jokes and the things I laugh at. It is becoming very popular for jokes to be targeted at fat people, and this is justified with the use of humor. I often hear people say because it is funny it should not be taken offensive. My mother always told me “what is joke to you may be death to another” We are all different individuals possessing different features and backgrounds, we are unaware of what people are dealing with; so what maybe the funniest ten seconds of our day maybe misery for another person for the rest of their life.
This ideal “beautiful body” portrayed by the media causes many people to struggle with accepting their bodies because the ideal beautiful body is not a realistic thing for many people to achieve because of human variation. They are people who are big boned and thick skinned not because of their choices but because of genes therefore, the ideal beautiful body portrayed by the media which is a size one Victoria Secret model is not possible for them to achieve. People who are fat are often forced into thinking they don’t meet the ideal beautiful body, which by the way is unknown to man because no one knows beauty itself. They are being forced to feel less beautiful than a slim person because society caters mostly for these ideal beautiful bodies, and this in its self is a struggle for many people because it is one thing for the media to portray an image and call it a the ideal beauty but it’s another thing when it society starts changing and excluding other people which puts a strain on their comfort of just existing.
So why is it that we feel we must make other people struggles’ our enjoyment?
There are subjects that are very sensitive in our society today; one such is the use of the N word which many people refrain from saying because of the negative connotations it has and the fear it may offend another. Humor is not used to justify this because it’s extremely sensitive, and just as fat is human variation so is the race which the N word falls under to distinguish a specific group. So why is it not ok to use the N word weather as a joke or literally but it is ok to make fat jokes or call a person fat using humor and it becomes acceptable? Both are offensive, both are human variation, and both takes away power from a specific group? Why do we do it? Are they not people with emotions? Are they not people beautiful as they are? We all have the freedom to say what we want but don’t be the reason someone lives in misery because of 10 seconds of your laughter.
Unruly Bodies 
I agree that jokes that use people’s weight as the punch line are hurtful and offensive, but I have to say that I am really uncomfortable with the comparison between the word “fat” and the N-word. The N-word has a centuries-long history of slavery, racism, exploitation, and violence associated with it, and I think it is reductive to place the N-word and “fat” in the same category of “offensive” words because it overlooks the systemic oppression associated with the N-word.
I understand your concern and I was not trying to take away from the N-word’s meaning. I understand that there is a deep history behind that word and being a Black person myself, I understand the pain associated with the word. I was simply using it to explain that one type of derogatory term or phrase should not be accepted as normal or ok as opposed to another.