Let me get this out of the way immediately. I'm beyond angry at United Airlines for their announcement that they will start charging obese passengers for two seats depending on how full the plane is. This policy applies to tickets purchased on or after March 4, 2009, for travel on or after April 15, 2009 and specifically concerns passengers who “are unable to fit into a single seat in the ticketed cabin; are unable to properly buckle the seat belt using a single seat belt extender; and/or are unable to put the seat's armrests down when seated.”
It seems our skinnier counterparts cannot bear the thought of someone in a 21-inch seat touching their body in any way. They don't seem to care that we have to listen to their children scream and fuss and kick our seats for a 3-hour flights; they don't seem to care that quite honestly, they're touching me as much as I'm touching them..hello, who can fit into those seats?; and they don't seem to care that this is downright discriminatory and cruel. The notice about the United policy change is in their "Customers with Special Needs" subsection on their website. It was posted six weeks ago..very quietly. No press release and no notice to frequent fliers. Gosh United, if I didn't know better, I'd say you were trying to hide this until you started slapping large passengers with extra hefty ticket prices and humiliating and embarrassing them as they were ready to board flights. After all, won't a fat person be filled with shame and not really willing to speak up no matter how embarrassed or inconvenienced? It's the price we pay as fatties isn't it? No voice? The general mindset of fat bigots is that Fat = miserable; Fat = not living; Fat = not speaking up.
Well, fuck that. I read about the United policy initially on the CNN website and immediately went to the replies that people had posted. The cruelty and meanness of people who are able to facelessly post to something like that astonishes me. Apparently there are people who are so perfect that they are willing to easily dismiss and judge people only because of their size. These magical folks deem people to be less than their own selves based on numbers, size of thighs, presence of cellulite. Wow - it must be nice to be so sure of your own perfection. I mean really, are we just judging people on this now? Does it not matter to you that people are kind and loving and have full lives that require them to move around the world just like a smaller person? Why are fat people expected to live lives that are so much "less than"? Why is that considered ok? Why is it expected?
So - in the vein of having no voice I would say that if you are sitting next to me on a plane and feel I should be charged double, you'd better fucking say it to my face. Because it's so easy to be faceless on a computer isn't it? Never having to put your petty cruelty and bigotry right out there. Wow, you're brave. Let's see you do this if your mother is fat. Or your sister. Perhaps your wife or husband. Or your child. Tell them they should have to pay double as they're getting on a plane and see how well that goes over. Voiceless my ass.
Check out Kate Harding's thoughts on this (and her appearance on CNN). She rocks totally. http://kateharding.net/
This has made me think alot about my personal space and how people may or may not deem that I am so large within my space. Last summer I went to the Minnesota State Fair. On a VERY crowded day, I was really struck by the number of strollers; if you looked down the street it was a sea of strollers. People with children everywhere. And they were maniacal about it. They'd wheel right up behind you and bump your legs..they'd be in lines with their kids and strollers and it didn't matter. They seemed to feel they always had the right of way and were entitled to all of their space. Did the people with strollers have to pay more? Was there a stroller surcharge? Of course not, they are entitled to their space. But then I am entitled to my space too. Whether I'm a size 2...22..or 44. That's the deal people. You don't get to pick and choose who's space is more legitimate.
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