Fat shaming: a friendly reminder or a noble act? Here's what 'Overweight Haters Ltd' thinks

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Last week, a member of a group calling themselves "Overweight Haters Ltd" began distributing laminated cards with a spiteful, fat-shaming message to overweight women in the London Underground, Cosmopolitan reports.

Victims took to Twitter to express their disgust and outrage about the rude cards. Mirror reports that the British Transport Police are urging victims to come forward to help with the investigation. The BTP tweeted, "We are aware of the leaflets being distributed in London and urge anyone who has been handed one to call us on 0800 40 50 40 or text 61016."

The card, which had the word "fat" scrawled in big, bold, lowercase letters at the back, read, "Our organisation hates and resents fat people. We object to the enormous amount of food resources you consume while half the world starves."

"We disapprove of your wasting NHS money to treat your selfish greed. And we do not understand why you fail to grasp that by eating less you will be better off, slimmer, happy and find a partner who is not a perverted chubby-lover, or even find a partner at all."

These cards have sparked discussion about fat-shaming, as these cards do what most people were raised not to--blatantly point out one's faults or flaws. Most importantly, these "Overweight Haters" are literally just judging people by appearance, not knowing one's genetic history, or if they have a medical condition that makes them obese.

Metro reports that one of the women who fell victim to the cards is a size 12/14, which is in fact below the national average of size 16. BBC reports that the woman, who was identified as Kara Florish works for the NHS and regularly hits the gym.

Metro adds that fat-shaming is scientifically proven to not help people lose weight. On the contrary, it makes them follow a cycle of shame and even more binge eating. So what exactly can a fat-shaming card can do for someone who is already aware of their obesity?

While some see this as an offensive act, others believe that it is a wake-up call. In fact, "The Jewish Chronicle" Grant Feller expressed in Independent that while we can call out people for having bad breath or body odor, we apparently cannot call someone out on their weight. This is most likely because to this day, weight talk is taboo, a topic that's one of the most difficult things to talk about among family and even friends. It's too personal, and with the body acceptance and anti-bullying campaigns waged online and in local communities, fat-shaming continues to be seen as an offensive crime.