plus-size fat shaming
photo: Twitter/roo_jenna

In 2019, fat-shamers and people trying to police how women dress are still alive and well, unfortunately. One young woman took to Twitter to share a very emotional video of another woman telling her she's too fat to wear shorts to a church function. Through tears, she defended herself against the other woman who berated her in the church bathroom. 

Although clearly shaken, she was able to communicate to the naysayer that she feels just fine about how her body looks. The videotaped moment touched hearts all over Twitter, and naturally people on the platform rallied around her with support. Many even thanked her for standing up to the bully despite how distressed she sounded. 

What began as a traumatic bathroom moment that so many plus-size people have experienced in one way or another transformed into an uplifting body-positive moment online.

The young lady is named Jenna. This is the disgusting video of the woman telling her in a church bathroom that she's "too fat" to wear jean shorts.

"This [woman] followed me into the bathroom and attacked me calling me 'fat' and that I couldn’t wear jean shorts because I was too fat," Jenna wrote along with a video of the terrible encounter.

In the video, the woman can be heard telling Jenna that she needs to wear longer apparel. "So you're sitting here calling me fat?" Jenna asked the woman. "Oh, you don't think you are?" the naysayer responded. "I [redacted] love who I am. Get the [redacted] out of my face," Jenna told the fat-shaming church-goer. 

Through tears, Jenna was able to tell the woman, "Who are you to tell me what I'm supposed to do? Get the [redacted] out of my face. I am not two years old." 

Dang straight, Jenna! 

Jenna also shared a photo of herself wearing the clothes that the woman told her she was too fat to wear.

"I just want to say that I know I am not perfect!!! But I would never attack someone and tear someone down like what she did to me.... Thank God she said it to me and honestly and not to some who is suicidal," Jenna also wrote on Twitter. "Because if she would have said that to me two years ago when I was in therapy for suicide, I honestly don’t think I would be here today... I suffer with depression, anxiety, and ADD, and I can be very impulsive but what she did was straight-up rude." 

Jenna also revealed that the woman approached her when she was already feeling "vulnerable."

"Something I did not say originally is why I went to the bathroom," she wrote. "I currently have a family member in the hospital with a brain aneurysm and I was checking to see if there were any updates, she caught me a very vulnerable time." 

And this is the part where I have to iterate that this is why it's important to treat plus-size people like what they are: HUMANS. No matter what size anyone is, we're all going through things in our personal lives. If everyone simply treated plus-size people like human beings who are living lives just like everyone else, then perhaps these kinds of traumatic events wouldn't happen. 

Jenna didn't deserve to be approached like that in a bathroom by an older woman. No one does. It's also incredibly sad that the woman who attacked her is also a plus-size woman herself and the only way she knows how to embrace that is by making another curvy girl feel bad about her body by imposing disgusting "rules" about how a "fat" person should dress. Yuck!

Thankfully, Jenna's church did not let the woman go unpunished for targeting her.

“It has come to our attention that great harm has been done in an incident that occurred this past Sunday where a faithful and very gifted young lady and worship leader was body-shamed for her appearance. We are shocked and saddened by this act," the church shared in a statement. "The Church is supposed to be a place of safety, love, and acceptance… We are currently working to assure nothing like this will happen again and will update the church on specific next steps we are taking soon.”
Jenna also confirmed that the woman resigned from her leadership role and apologized to her with a card.

Twitter immediately rallied around Jenna and showered her with loads of love. 

Celebrities and regular tweets alike made sure to stand with her and congratulate her for standing up for herself. "I’m so sorry you had to go through this. SHE KNOWS NOTHING," one person wrote. "You are beyond beautiful and any man/woman would be lucky to have you by their side the rest of their life now go on and keep standing up for your beautiful self!!! TELL EM GIRRRRLLLL!!"

They want her to know they appreciate how strong she was. 

"I am so so so so so incredibly sorry this happened. You deserve a million times better and this woman is DISGUSTING. You’re pulling off that outfit like NOTHING ELSE. Keep being unapologetically you because your strong and beautiful," another person said.

They want her to know how brave she is. 

"I heard your voice quiver. But you kept going. You kept going. That is bravery like few can muster. Good for you. It’ll get stronger every time," another person encouraged her.

Let's hope that everyone takes this as a lesson: You don't get to tell plus-size people what they can and cannot wear. You especially shouldn't do it in the very environment that was created to be a safe space for everyone. Kudos to Jenna for standing up for herself during such an unfortunate moment.