By: Angelina Yang
Remi Bader is a Tik-Tok star with 2 million followers. Remi is used to receiving public criticism, as she has been faced with plenty of hate comments about her body figure. Recently, Remi Bader’s incident on June 11 at the horse ranch has become another hotbed for critique.
Remi was denied access to riding a horse for weighing over 240 pounds; she said she was “laughed at” by one of the employees on the ranch and that one employee posted a
TikTok video with very hurtful comments such as “when you’re not a fat b—-, you can ride at Deep Hollow Ranch.”
The guidelines at the ranch were reasonable since, according to a veterinary study from Ohio State University’s Agricultural Technical Institute, horses can’t comfortably bear more than 20% of their weight. Remi stated that she has in fact ridden horses in the past and said that she’d “never want to hurt the horses.”
“I get it, some places have weight requirements.” She also addressed the reason she publicized her experience was not that she had been denied the chance to ride. This shows the she is in fact being quite reasonable. Sometimes standing is someone else’s shoes is just what you need.
Remi isn’t the only one who has been mistreated because of their weight. In fact, the CDC found that 41.9% of adult Americans are obese, with 1 in 5 Americans aged 2 to 19 is classified as obese. Sadly what Remi has gone through is a typical example of the mistreatment that many overweight Americans suffer from. There are a group of people who believe that they are being helpful and justify fat-shaming as a means of motivation for weight loss. Little do they know that their mindless comment might just ruin someone’s mental and physical health.
When fat-shaming turns into weight-based discrimination, it’s associated with low self-esteem, anxiety, depression, and eating disorders. Furthermore, this discrimination causes stress and, in turn, behavior changes that are linked to weight gain. Please be mindful of your words and actions. It might not seem like much but each word you say does make an impact, good or bad.