Twitch streamer fanfan drew backlash on Wednesday, after advocating for 'morbidly obese' people to be forced to stand in separate sections at airports and hotels, as a means of shaming them for being unhealthy. The suggestion of public shaming by segregation predictably drew the ire of the internet.
The streamer argued: "You go to a hotel and they have a roped-off area for a smoking, like a dedicated smoking area in airports. . . Like, why don't they have that for obese people?. . . Why do we not shame people who are morbidly obese? It's bad for them!"
Her stream chat immediately had a negative reaction to the dehumanizing suggestion, with many calling her comments fat-shaming.
The clip also went viral, receiving over 11,000 upvotes on r/livestreamfail and prompting nearly 3000 comments. Many of the comments pointed out that the reason smoking sections exist is because of second-hand smoke, not because we are trying to shame smokers, so the comparison falls flat. They also condemned the suggestion that we abuse fat-people.
She later attempted to clarify her comments in response to the backlash in her chat and on Reddit, saying, "I was trying to explain the fact that morbidly obese people should not be glorified, because it can cause health issues, while also understanding there are people with medical problems that make them obese. But morbidly obese people should not be glorified, you should not walk past a morbidly obese person and think 'wow this person is so brave.'"
Fanfan claimed that her comparison to smoking was meant to be a funny example to illustrate her point, and said that her comments were taken out of context, while continuing to stand by her stance that society should abuse obese people in order to shame them into a 'healthier' lifestyle.
She concluded her clarification with no apology, saying, "I stand by my f*cking point."
Fat-shaming has been a common form of internet abuse for many years. Reddit even had a popular subreddit called r/fatshaming, which was dedicated to insulting and mocking larger people. That subreddit was eventually shut down by the platform due to its abusive nature. According to the Mayo Clinic, obesity is a disease with many causes, ranging from stress, to genetics, to lifestyle choices, to particular medical problems that contribute to weight gain.
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