This Is Fat-Shaming At Its Worst

There is something remarkably empowering about Rebel Wilson. If you have ever heard her during an interview, you will know she is just as funny off camera as she is on, and her self-confidence is certainly something to admire, often heard saying how sexy she feels, bootay-n’-all.

Yes, Rebel Wilson is the perfect example of ‘love the skin you’re in’, so why would anybody want to change her?

Well, in what is being slammed as the biggest “fat-shaming” movement to hit the media this year, one Facebook group has taken it upon themselves to Photoshop plus-size women to look skinny (and completely unrealistic) in a ridiculously un-called-for effort to ‘inspire’ them to lose weight, including the uber fabulous Miss Wilson.

Project Harpoon, the Facebook page behind the fat-shaming pictures, has now been shutdown thanks to a huge uproar over the touched-up images, which also include celebrities like Megan Trainor, Tes Holiday, Kelly Clarkson and Melissa McCarthy.

But get this, as gob smacking as all this sounds, the founders of the page felt the need to defend themselves in the About section before their images even hit mainstream media. Yes, they knew their actions were beyond perverse.

“No shaming please. No hate speech please.”

Oh we are hating, don’t worry about that!

The creators of Project Harpoon describe the project on Instagram as a “movement” that asks people to support “being in shape and not feeding into obesity.”

“In current societal fashion, a recent trending surge of ‘pro-obesity’ and ‘fat acceptance’ have paved the way for many people to renounce exercise and personal healthcare in general,” the page’s description read. “The page aims to only show that being skinny is okay as well! Skinny shaming is not okay.”

Before the campaign’s account was removed, the photoshopped posts included soul-destorying hashtags beneath each image such as, #thicktofit and #noburgers.

The captions also speak for themselves.

“From runaway freight train to fashion week NYC runway model, she’s got some potential,” one caption read beneath an image of a plus-size woman on a runway next to the same image.

Now, as grotesque as it is, a second site called ThInnerBeauty, has appeared to encourage the same actions as Project Harpoon, but this time they are using a different medium in the form of controversial website Reddit to ‘inspire’ their followers.

“Here at ThInnerBeauty we provide people with visible, achievable health goals,” says the page description on Reddit. “We do this by showing how much more beautiful they could look if they made the difficult, lifelong commitment to a regimen of personal fitness. This is a place where we can manipulate photos to highlight the difference between how they are and how they could be.”

The Reddit site appears to be slightly less aggressive in its aims, as many of the Photoshopped images are submitted by asking to be motivated. Seriously?

But probably the most shocking thing of all (like there needs to be more) is both these groups call themselves feminists, fighting for women’s rights.

Yep, they are pretty much pointing the finger at every woman who doesn’t fit the “slim” or “trim” category, calling them fat, photoshopping their body down to a size 8 and calling themselves feminists.

It doesn’t make sense. Where are the equal rights there?

All I can say is what the hell gives people the right to judge another person on their appearance, overweight or not. These women showcased on the site are fabulous, funny and inspiring. They are certainly more hard-working than the fool sitting behind a computer altering their bodies and claiming #crossfit is the only solution to a healthy life.

As for Rebel Wilson, we love you just the way you are girlfriend. Never change.