Ok so this is pretty much just going to be a rant, but you can't imagine how happy I am that I found you guys. You are the reason I got (some) of my faith in humanity back.Â
So just a bit of a back story; I am 21, attend university, am 5'9 at the proud weight of 134 lbs after losing 50 lbs through hard work and discipline. Since middle school I've always been on the chubby side and always felt insecure about my looks. I haven't been bullied (at least not for my weight, more for the fact I am poor and was born in Russia). Still I would stand in front of the mirror and feel absolutely horrible about my looks. Honestly, I probably could've lost that weight way earlier, but I was just too lazy and sitting around pitying myself was far easier than standing up and doing something. One year back I met my current bf though, who was also on the chubbier side. We attend the same university and he is the best guy I could wish for and together we decided to get fit and help each other stay motivated. We made it and are happy as one could be. Now, everything was going fine in my privat life, in uni .... then, last semester a .. well human female being named Sarah transferred to one of my lectures and I had the sheer luck to be paired up with her for a project that would last the whole semester.Â
You have to know, Sarah is also 21, is about 5'4 at the proud weight of around 260 pounds, radical feminist and a fierce follower of TITP. Now when I first got to know her I never even heard of something like Thin Privilege and boy Sarah was so happy she could start educating me on what a horrible person I was for merely existing and daring to take up less space than her. Now don't get me wrong, I don't care if someone is fat, thin, tall or short. I just care how you act towards other people and me, but obviously all I ever said and did was doomed to be full of bigotry. After Sarah got to know that I actually lost weight she actually started harrassing me on a daily basis and not only in the 1 1/2 hours I was forced to sit beside her.
She started following me around campus, harrassing and insulting me, pointing out thin privilege in everything I did or say. I wasn't even safe when I met my bf on campus, she even started telling him that he deserved a real woman, winking at him and doing some kind of mating dance around him (we guess she tried hypnotizing him, I've never in my life wanted to laugh and cry at the same time so much after seeing that).
This last semester has been horrible. No matter to whom I spoke, trying to get away from that monster was impossible. I practically did all the work for the project while she just came to every of our meetings with a bag full of chips and takeaway, devouring it and lecturing me about thin privilege while I really tried staying civil because I just knew .. no matter what I said or did, how many sources I would find or counter arguments, she would turn them around in her head making them sound like I'm fatphobic. She shamed me constantly for my decision to lose weight, but not so my bf. Instead she tried flirting with him (and failing) and got mad whenever he shot her down, telling her he was completely happy with me, so she started calling him a sexist pig who loved digging in the dirt till he found some bones he could chew on.Â
So I started reading TITP and felt devastated there really were people like that, even adult people, acting like that and brainwashing and blaming everyone around them for their failures and insecurities. But thanks to their blog I found this one and never have I been more happy. I just wanted to get this stuff about Sarah off my soul because I've just been so frustrated and thank all you wonderful people and especially the mods on this site for staying normal and able to think properly. Thank you guys, you're all awesome.
PS: Sorry if my grammar isn't the best, english is my third language.