Despite the rise of the body positivity movement and increasing representation of plus-size women, society still has a long way to go when it comes to unpicking the toxicity of diet culture and fatphobia.

From the stigma plus-size women face for simply eating in public to the fat-phobic messaging which remains rife in the fitness industry, women with bigger bodies are still regularly met with unnecessary comments about their weight, health and diet choices, as a recent Instagram post by the model Tess Holliday highlights.

Recalling a recent interaction she had with an older woman while waiting for a doctor’s appointment, the Eff Your Beauty Standards creator revealed how the woman had started by complimenting her, only to pivot the conversation onto Holliday’s weight. 

“She says, ‘You are so pretty. You have a beautiful face and you have beautiful hair’,” Holliday told fans in a video recorded from her car. “And I mean, I look like this, and my face is covered, but I’m like, ‘Oh, thank you!’ But she couldn’t just leave it there – she then proceeded to tell me, ‘Why don’t you just lose a little bit of weight?’”

Explaining that she’s “no stranger” to these kinds of comments and typically doesn’t engage with them because of her “deeply seeded trauma and people-pleasing tendencies,” Holliday said she decided to take a stand because she was “tired”. 

“I looked at her, took a breath and I said – and I still can’t believe this, look at me smiling, I’m so proud of myself – I looked at her and I said, ‘Ma’am, I am one of the most famous plus-size models in the world; I think I’m doing OK’,” Holliday said, followed by a scream of excitement.

“She just went, ‘Oh, um, my sister rented a room one time to a plus-size model,’ and I said, ‘Great’. And then she goes, ‘You know, I just stop eating when I’m not hungry anymore,’ and I just said, ‘Bodies are weird.’ And then I looked at my phone and God bless, I hear Terry the nurse say my name, and I was like, ‘Bye!’” Holliday continued, adding that the whole experience left her feeling “proud”.

“I’m proud of myself for standing up for myself even though she will never get it, and there was no reason for me to like, explain myself in that situation,” she concluded. 

Writing in the caption alongside the video, she added: “I don’t give often give myself enough credit, and my energy this year is very much to cut that shit out. Going to the doctor and dealing with someone body-shaming me was apparently my tipping point lol, not sorry.”

While it’s frustrating that plus-size women have to deal with such intrusive comments while going about their day-to-day lives, we’re obsessed with Holliday’s incredible response – and we can’t wait to see her give herself more credit in 2022. 

Image: Getty