By: Elaine Wang

At Deep Hollow Ranch on Friday, a ranch employee laughed at TikTok star Remi Bader after being denied access to ride a horse for weighing over 240 lbs. This treatment towards obese people is becoming increasingly more common, and we need to raise awareness about fat-shaming, as it is unnecessary and further prolongs the period of recovery from obesity.

Bader claimed she has ridden horses in the past, and stated that she would never wish for the horses to be harmed. Not being allowed to ride the horses was not the reason she felt so offended. “I get it, some places have weight requirements…[but] the way I was spoken [to] and laughed at…and the way I was treated overall… made [it] very clear that they did not want me there because of my weight and that’s very disappointing,” she said.

And it’s not only Bader who is being judged by her weight. Obesity is becoming increasingly common in the United States, with 20% of Americans aged 2 to 19 with a BMI of 30 or higher.

In a study conducted in 2021, Swiss and German researchers who interviewed 30 obese adults found one of the main reasons why they avoided certain types of exercise was because they had some strong negative experience which they still remember that deters them from working out.

The New York Times further proves this by stating, “Research has found that, understandably, being spoken to in a way that draws negative attention to the fact that someone is obese affects their willingness to participate in sports.” This shows that criticizing obese people’s weight causes them to be more reluctant to exercise.

To prove that many are not educated on the importance of anti-fat-shaming, the New York Times additionally states in an article regarding the unjust treatment of obese Americans, “Those who think they are being helpful and justify fat-shaming as a means of motivation for weight loss are completely misguided. Instead, fat-shaming is harmful to its victims’ health. When fat-shaming turns into weight-based discrimination, it’s associated with low self-esteem, anxiety, depression and eating disorders.” This highlights that fat-shaming increases the likelihood of its victims having mental illnesses, and does not benefit them at all.

Therefore, I find fat-shaming very cruel, especially because there are many more obese Americans recently than any other time. They know they are overweight already, so teasing them because of that only makes their struggles even harder.

Link to article: https://s3.amazonaws.com/appforest_uf/f1655655781268x446462367221439800/Tik-Tok%20influencer%20Remi%20Bader%20horse%20ranch%20incident%20over%20weight%20has%20an%20even%20darker%20side.pdf