in which i rant about body image on facebook

the following is shamelessly copied and pasted from a comment i made on a dear friend's facebook status update, in which she mentioned that people who haven't seen her in a while often compliment her by telling her she's lost weight, when in fact, she hasn't. my response:

 

People feel the need to give meaningless "compliments" to women. It is sexism and sizism at their most annoyingly polite and it's infuriating. The other day a woman stopped me in the grocery store to tell me that I'm beautiful. I was surprised, not bc I was unaware, but bc she seemed compelled to tell me this. Then she kept gushing, and finished with "I mean it ... You have a beautiful face!" I somehow managed to turn away without slapping her and without telling her that my ass is also amazing or offering to kiss it. Here's the thing: There is no need to pay me a compliment on my appearance whatsoever. I happen to know that I look amazing, and also that I am fat ... And unlike the rest of America, I don't consider those two facts to be mutually exclusive. I am also aware that being pretty, and being fat, do not represent my character or personality. People are generally superficial, shallow assholes, and I'm tired of pretending that they can't help it. I feel I should apologize for the rant, but I'm not remotely sorry. This shit right here is a big part of what's wrong with our society and its attitude toward women. How dare I be fat, when I'm so pretty, and obviously could be a benefit to aforesaid society, if only I didn't take up so much space.