Fat singer tells haters to suck it

Emily Walker's piece I'm fat, Vancouver. Get over it. went viral last week after it was published on the Vancouver Observer. It sparked a wide-ranging conversation online and on the radio about Vancouver's openness to people of all body shapes and sizes.

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These conversations drew attention to another outspoken young woman from the US, who uploaded a video eloquently expressing her experiences of being fat. She also had another message to her haters: f**k off and suck it.

"I'm not offended when you call me fat. I am fat, that is a fact. I am fat. It's okay, we're still here," Meghan Tonjes, a fat acceptance advocate and singer, said in her video.

She pointed out that the term 'fat' in itself is a neutral adjective that takes on negative connotations through people's harsh and negative associations with a fat person's appearance.

"I think it's important to remember that the word fat is not in itself hurtful, it's all the things that you attach to the word fat. Call me lazy, call me unmotivated, call me ugly, call me sloppy, call me unhygenic. Call me all these other things people associate with the word fat. That is not true. You never know where someone is in their journey with their weight. And you never know how someone feels about themselves.

"I think about all the things that I've accomplished when people told me I coludn't do it because of the way I look. All I can say to you trying to tear that down is f*** you. Why does it hurt you if I don't hate myself?" 

Tonjes on the Ellen Degeneres Show.

Tonjes was recently a guest on the Ellen Degeneres Show, where she talked more about her experiences after she posted the video, and gave a performance.