“It’s just tiresome. Damn tiresome.”

If you go to the front page of Shapely Prose, the fat acceptance blog I headed up between 2007 and 2010, you will find a big “Sorry, we’re closed” sign under the words “Welcome to the Shapely Prose Archive.” If you still don’t get it, beneath that, I explained even more about how the blog is no longer operational. In September 2010. And if someone arrives today via a link to a specific post, the blog’s fucking tagline is now “2007-2010,” so I’m really not trying to trick people into mistaking it for an active blog.

Around September 2010, I also turned off comments for the whole site, forever, and said I wasn’t going to check the moderation queue again, which is hands-down one of the most liberating decisions I’ve made in recent years. Until tonight, I’d kept good on my promise not to check the queue. I’m not entirely sure how I ended up with 206 pending comments–most of them spam, of course, but many of them real comments from 2011–in the Shapely Prose queue, since the current template doesn’t even offer comment boxes at the end of posts anymore. But I have changed the template a few times, so maybe some did?

Anyway. Tonight I pop over to the SP dashboard to see what kind of traffic I got on a post that was linked a lot yesterday, while the #mencallmethings campaign was going strong. (This is because I am narcissistic and have too much time on my hands, so save your breath. I know.) And I decide I’m going to skim those 206 pending comments to see how many of them are exactly the kind of thing we were talking about. Wouldn’t it be funny if people were commenting on a long-dormant blog in hopes that somehow, someday, I would still receive their very important messages about how I am ugly, disgusting, stupid, deserving of painful death, etc.?

HILARIOUS, is what that would be.

So yeah, here are some highlights of the last few months, on a blog that’s been closed for over a year. Most of these were on two posts from 2007.

The same 2007 that happened four years ago, just so we’re clear.

Everything in quotation marks is verbatim, including display names (and in a couple of cases, choice fake e-mail addies).

1. You make me [sic].

“You fat people disgust me, I mean how hard is it to not eat and do heaps of exercise for a few weeks (not hard). You people may love your body now, but just wait until you are having a heart attack or stroke in a few years time, you sad excuses of humans make me sick. There are so many sick people that would do anything for a healthy body and you putrid fatties abuse yours in the name of ‘bieng proud of your body’.

Do society a favour and eat some more McDonalds so you’ll die faster thus making the world a better place.”

- “You Make Me Sick,” fuckthefatties@hotmail.com

2. Look, we’ve established that I’m fat. I would need a much bigger dignity if I intended to hide behind it.

“What??? This is bull crap. Fat is a sickness and is horrible. Do double chin looks sexy or healthy? People please loose weight and stop mistreating your body. Start today by eating healthy and start doing some exercise. Sedentary people sadly don’t know how to eat and they eat mostly “crap”, processed “microwaveable” food. Lots of refined sugar and white flours, lots of fried foods. Some people is Fat because a medical condition no matter what they do or don’t. But being fat without a reason is a WORSE sick condition because you don’t realize how bad and ugly is your situation.

Of course there are thin people who eat crap and don’t exercise …. and so what??? Fat people do not eat healthy either don’t lie to your self, you get there by just eating bad and toooo much. Stop hidden behind the “dignity” crap and start by showing some guts and self control and lose weight. Stop being a loser, if being fat is a good and acceptable matter why you feel so depressed and you read books about loving your fat body?????? Don’t destroy your self, please wake up! Even if thin people are eating crap and they are not healthy (as you state as your good excuse to mistreat your fat body) No one can denied that fat people look ugly, sick and destructive (of their own body)”

4. And then there’s the inevitable mind-reader…
“Being fat is disgusting…it ruins lives….you’d be lying to yourself of you say that you’re happy with the way you look”

- “Seneca”

4. And the classics…

“Fat people are fucking disgusting.”

- “Fred Zanford”

“Just put the f**king fork down and think of the Somali children you disgusting pigs.”

- “Weslers”

“all i see is a bunch of fat ass losers bitching because they think they deserve special accommodations for their lack of self control.”
-“John Smith”
5. And let us not forget the SAD BONERs…
“Ok, so let’s just throw it out there that fit looking people are, to the majority of the world, considered more physically attractive. Don’t give me this bull of: “oh, I’m heavy and my hubby finds me so hot.” That’s fine, I’m sure he does; and there are plenty of such folks out there. But in broad numbers, sit people down in a random survey of 1 million people from around the [western] world, fit looking people (with low amounts of body fat), will generally be rated as being more attractive. That’s a fact.

My problem, which I hate, is that I too find skinny and/or low amount of body fat more attractive in women. It sucks, but I just do. I don’t find fat people attractive. I wish I could. Why? Because America is getting so fat. Hell, everybody is fat now days. I’m fit, but damn it’s hard to find a fit/low-body fat girl out there that’s single. That’s what’s annoying. You just get tired of EVERYONE being so fat (even being around fat guys gets annoying). It’s just tiresome…damn tiresome.

And then we get into this article. Ugh, this is tiresome too: the whole “I’m fat and fit and it’s okay”. Brits, Americans, Auzzies: all getting fatter. No, most of you don’t have a thyroid problem. It’s called caloric intake. Just eat less calories. You look sloppy. If you’re going to spend the money to buy nice clothes to look good, why can’t you just eat smaller portions to make yourself thinner in addition to working out. And you know what? If you’re hungry, go chug a liter of water and you’ll find you’ll be full and don’t have to stuff your face.

Ugh!!!!!”

-“Franko.rizzo@yahoo.com” (Yes, that’s what he used as his display name as well as his e-mail; if it’s real, I’m only publishing what would have gone out there if I’d approved the comment.)

“The problem is that men are rigidly held to those standards… bending the rules and/or refusing to hold women to the same standards, is a double standard.I am a man with a 23.5 BMI, 9% body fat, an athletic build. I want a woman who has the same.But all that’s left are these morbidly obese women, all the good looking ones got snatched up. Maintaining a healthy weight IS NOT DIFFICULT. I work out a grand total of 4 hours a week. If I ever really started working out, I could easily get my body fat percentage down and my mass up so that I could have an idyllic 5%. Then, maybe I’d be able to get a halfway decent woman in this world where we pity women, we say ‘oh, that’s okay, you’re fat, you’re overweight, it’s no big deal’.

Women don’t say that to guys – If you’re not perfect you get overlooked and passed up for the next guy. In fact, you could be well above average and get overlooked for something you were born with, like your height or your race.

What kind of messed up world do we live in when we invent things like ‘thick’ and ‘BBW” for women, but for men it’s just ‘fat’?

BMI is one of the last strongholds of men to remind them how attractive they really are in this world that discriminates against them to no end – They can look at their bodies and say ‘wow, I have the build of a semi-professional athlete’.

That’s something that women and their double standards can’t take away.

Please note that I’m not even delving into my personal qualifications as a successful independent business owner, college valedictorian and rock musician. If you want to talk unfair, asking for THAT in a woman in addition to my athletic body type is unfair and impossible.

I’d be happy if you just changed your diets, stopped drinking and smoking and eating red meat. Thanks a ton.”

- “Man Who Is Angered By Double Standards”

6. But of course, the positive feedback makes it all worthwhile. 
“I thought there was going to be a load of bullshit written, but this is good.”

- “G”