Fat is not a bad word.

Let me first establish that the irony that I am writing this post just after putting up a review of Man v Food is not lost on me.

I think that it has been established to all of those who have read my posts and articles that I am frequently annoyed by many different things. I once tried to compile a list of things (aside from food and anything schadenfreude-related) that make me happy; I got to small fluffy animals, sleep, and showers before I gave up.

However, one of the things that offends me the most is when people judge others for the choices that they make in life, especially when it comes to the matter of weight. Being even slightly overweight, and the things that lead to it is something that is constantly being discussed nowadays, and it comes from all angles - the media, the government, people themselves passing judgement... I'm sick of it.

Personally, I've always been bigger than the majority of others, and my God did people let me know about it. I got so much stick at school I considered a variety of stupid things, and was generally a grumpy bitch until I realised that if I was going to be fat I should at least have the good manners to be jolly. However, since coming to university, I've had a bit of a confidence boost. I know what suits me, I know what things a girl of my design should not be wearing - for example, leggings are not trousers, and you should always check how many of your rolls you can see before leaving the house in that t-shirt - and I have also learnt that fat is not a bad word. If it comes up in conversation, I don't say "I'm fat" in the pursuit of compliments, I say it because it's true. I'm fed up of hearing girls exclaiming how fat and disgusting they are - you know what? I'm fat and brilliant. I don't need you trying to sully my frame by having you insult yourself. I'm not necessarily an advocate of "it's what's on the inside that counts", because you only tell people that when they're hideous, but if you're ugly inside, it's definitely obvious. Just saying.

What is astounding is that in many places, the fatter you are, the richer you are presumed to be; this means that in several places, I'm incredibly desirable as I look to be minted. Yet in Britain, the fatter you are, the poorer, less intelligent, and lazy you are presumed to be. It's automatically assumed here that if you are fat, you do nothing but sit on your enlarged backside all day, eating crisps in between occasionally picking up the remote control to flick between daytime television programmes. Whilst I know that there are many people who fulfill this stereotype beautifully, there are far more of us that don't. I work hard, I walk everywhere, I know what is and isn't good for me to eat. I'm not going to make excuses - I occasionally eat rubbish, and I eat too much of it, but I'm also built like the proverbial brick WC, and given the chance I'd make a fine rugby player. I am not built to be small, the same as a lot of the rest of us fatties.

So with all of this in mind, what is it that fuels peoples' distaste? Simply put: the media. It comes in all varieties - but it's especially the television companies that seem to take great delight in persecution a collection of people who look a little different to the 'norm' that's all slender hips and tiny waists - oh, and who promotes that more than anyone? The media. Isn't that funny. We are constantly bombarded with programmes like 'You Are What You Eat' with Gillian McKeith examining poo in tupperware boxes, giving us rubbish about how eating green food is better for you as you'll have more photosynthesis going on in your body (I may only have a GCSE in double award science, but even I can smell that someone is giving off an air of idiocy), Supersize vs Superskinny, The Biggest Loser... These programmes are constantly telling us that we need to be skinnier to be happier, better people, more attractive; and remember, if you're not stereotypically attractive, you are worthless, no matter what other qualities you may have to offer.

Meanwhile, the newest addition to these programmes 'Secret Eaters' on Channel 4, offers you a Big Brother eye view of a group of overweight individuals who claim to eat little, yet be piling on the pounds for no good reason. So now, not only are fat people lazy, feckless and stupid, they're also liars incapable of making a rational decision about what they stick into their gobs, seemingly so excited to be near a pack of open biscuits that they don't even realise how many they've managed to swallow.

My vitriol also extends to those people, and those campaigns that state 'real women have curves'. No, real women have vaginas, and come in all different shapes and sizes. Stop dictating what we should look like, and stop shaping our opinions. Eventually, there's going to be a backlash.

People, do not listen to it. Pay no heed to the rubbish that comes out of the media hole. It's small-minded, it's prejudiced, and it serves only to sell you more empty promises. Embrace what you are, no matter how many pounds and ounces that may be. Okay, so we might not all be individual, special snowflakes - we are just degenerating mounds of flesh - but it is important that we stop going along with the crowd all the time, and take notice of what we really are, regardless of how fat, thin, curvy (or not) we may be.