By: Tianhao Chen

On Saturday, June 11th, at Deep Hollow Ranch, TikTok influencer Remi Bader was prohibited from riding a horse because she weighed over 240 pounds. What happened next was even more shocking. She spoke out about how she was “laughed at” by the workers and how an employee created a TikTok video saying “when you’re not a fat b—-, you can ride at Deep Hollow Ranch.”

Bader understood the weight requirement that some places enforce. The policy on Deep Hollow Ranch’s website says that horses can’t comfortably withstand carrying over 20% of their body weight. She also mentioned the fact that she would “never want to hurt the horses.” Bader decided to publicize this incident because of the worker’s actions. As a result of the employee’s video, Deep Hollow Ranch apologized, iterating that the TikTok “in no way represents nor is aligned with” the viewpoint of the ranch owners.

This is just another instance of weight-based shaming that over 40% of American adults experience and how damaging it can be. While some think that they are motivating others to lose weight by fat-shaming, it does quite the opposite. Weight-based discrimination is detrimental to one’s health, as it’s shown to be correlated with eating disorders, anxiety, low self-esteem, and depression. Moreover, it can cause behavioral changes connected to weight gain, such as binge-eating disorder, something that Bader has struggled with.

A situation involving weight-based discrimination can also deter a person from doing physical activity. In 2021, Swiss and German researchers conducted interviews with 30 obese adults and found out the three main reasons that they don’t participate in certain exercises: they had a memorable negative experience, self-stigma of lacking physical ability, and fear of stigma. The study found that people will limit what exercises they will do as they try to avoid a certain activity which is linked to a negative experience.

Unfortunately, there are also environmental stigmas all around us that limit the activities that some people can do. For example, public seats are not designed for obese people to use. Some individuals can’t use gym equipment and facilities because of lack of accommodation. In addition, there is a lack of “plus-size” workout clothing or team uniforms.

People who are overweight are faced with many obstacles when trying to stay active, and it doesn’t help when others are hurling mean comments toward them.

Link to Article: https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/tik-tok-influencer-remi-bader-horse-ranch-incident-weight-even-darker-rcna33991