Just finished watching "Queen Sized" on Lifetime, and about halfway through it, I really started to wonder why anything on TV having to do with fat teenagers portrays high school as the ninth circle of hell?
My high school years weren't awful, I was never the target of bullies, and while I wasn't homecoming queen, I was friends with the homecoming queen and did actually get asked to my prom. I never hung out with the popular kids, but I had friends in just about every other group at school, and I never wanted to hang out with the popular kids to begin with. On the whole, my high school experiences were good, and I don't think they would have been much different had I been thin, actually.
So, I wonder-is this a reality, or a stereotype, the idea that fat teens will always be singled out for ridicule by the popular kids, and that school is always really really hard, socially, for fat teens?
Is it a good thing for TV programs to focus on fat teens and bullying, or does it just perpetrate a stereotype that all fat kids are going to have really bad school experiences and that they are always going to be picked on? This sort of default attitude, that all fat kids are victims of teasing, almost seems to say that fat kids should be picked on, because 'thats just the way it is' and that doesn't seem like a good thing.
I'm curious-what were your high school experiences like, and how do you think TV has portrayed fat life in high school?
My high school years weren't awful, I was never the target of bullies, and while I wasn't homecoming queen, I was friends with the homecoming queen and did actually get asked to my prom. I never hung out with the popular kids, but I had friends in just about every other group at school, and I never wanted to hang out with the popular kids to begin with. On the whole, my high school experiences were good, and I don't think they would have been much different had I been thin, actually.
So, I wonder-is this a reality, or a stereotype, the idea that fat teens will always be singled out for ridicule by the popular kids, and that school is always really really hard, socially, for fat teens?
Is it a good thing for TV programs to focus on fat teens and bullying, or does it just perpetrate a stereotype that all fat kids are going to have really bad school experiences and that they are always going to be picked on? This sort of default attitude, that all fat kids are victims of teasing, almost seems to say that fat kids should be picked on, because 'thats just the way it is' and that doesn't seem like a good thing.
I'm curious-what were your high school experiences like, and how do you think TV has portrayed fat life in high school?
