Is it moral to tell a fat girl that she's fat?

Armoured

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Pretty simple question, is it moral to call a fat person fat?

Is it moral to call a ugly person, ugly?
Do you think they are unaware? My answer is, "It depends what you want to achieve by telling her she's fat"? If she's asking for an honest assessment of how she looks and you think she looks fat, well, I guess tell her. Just randomly blurting out to someone "hey, you're really ugly, did you know?" is cruel and spiteful.
 
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Fortran

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First, I would like to say I am speaking of the perspective of someone who used to be severely overweight.

I do not think there is anything wrong with calling a fat person fat. It is what it is. If someone called me fat when I was, my response would have likely been similar to "and so ..?" I was well aware of the fact.

Obviously, there are health concerns with being overweight, but that aside, I see nothing wrong with being fat. If this hurts someone feelings, to me, that individual needs to work on developing a healthy perspective. Denying reality does not change it, nor should our focus be on our bodies. I may no longer be fat, but I am still short. I do not like being short, but there is nothing wrong with someone calling a "spade a spade" in this instance.

The only exception would be if the statement was purposefully meant to offender or hurt. Regardless of the words spoken, any statement that is spoken for the purpose to harm another is morally wrong.

By contrast, I would consider calling someone "ugly" wrong. This is a judgment, a subjective opinion, not a fact. Beauty truly is in the eye of the beholder; body weight is not.
 
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Dave-W

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By contrast, I would consider calling someone "ugly" wrong. This is a judgment, a subjective opinion, not a fact.
No - there are objective standards of beauty. Symmetry of the face is a very good example. So are smooth skin and even skin tones.
 
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Dave-W

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What does that mean?
It means that if you put a mirror on the face at the mid-line, it would appear almost the same. i.e. the Left side is very close to a mirror image of the right.

That is considered to be attractive by most mammals. It is an indication of lack of several genetic diseases.
 
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Do you think they are unaware? My answer is, "It depends what you want to achieve by telling her she's fat"? If she's asking for an honest assessment of how she looks and you think she looks fat, well, I guess tell her. Just randomly blurting out to someone "hey, you're really ugly, did you know?" is cruel and spiteful.

I'm going to echo this. Why are you bothering? If there is a point to you saying it, then I guess it would depend on your reasons. If your reason is just for the purpose of making the other person feel bad, then you are being a jerk.
 
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Hetta

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There are both objective and subjective perspectives on beauty. "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder" can be true, but there was research which I can't be bothered to look for now, where facial features were manipulated over a series of viewings, and there was an overwhelming preference found for symmetrical faces that indicates an objective standard, as the subjects were from different backgrounds/races etc.
 
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Hetta

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Yep, but too symmetrical looking faces look weird too.
And that's fine if you feel that way. Very few people have perfectly symmetrical faces, so far as I'm aware. We're all a little "off". I like "off" better than perfect tbh.
 
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MehGuy

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And that's fine if you feel that way. Very few people have perfectly symmetrical faces, so far as I'm aware. We're all a little "off". I like "off" better than perfect tbh.

Huh, I remember seeing it in a documentary about beauty. No one in reality has a perfectly symmetrical face, yet the people who made the documentary doctored up some photos on a computer of peoples faces and made them totally symmetrical and the results were shown that there is such a thing as having too much symmetry
 
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RDKirk

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Pretty simple question, is it moral to call a fat person fat?

Is it moral to call a ugly person, ugly?

Only if you have actually been given responsibility for her weight. That would include, for instance, my subordinates when I was in the military. I was officially responsible--and would be held accountable by my superiors-- for their fitness for duty, which included noticing their weight and putting them on a supervised weight management program, if that was required.

In 1 Peter, the apostle specifically identifies it as a sin to be a "false overseer." The Greek word is often translated as "meddler," but the direct translation is "false overseer." In other words, trying to be the boss of someone you don't actually have accountability for, or bossing them in an area you don't have authority over or accountability for. If you're not being held accountable, you have no business giving them instruction.

We do have responsibility for one another's well being. Again, the military provides an example: If I were going out into combat and my buddy noticed something wrong with my gear, I'd certainly want him to tell me: "Hey, man, you have a buckle loose." And as well, he'd expect me to tell him if something was wrong with his gear.
 
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OldWiseGuy

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Beauty is objective.

Attraction is subjective.

I've known many beautiful women that I was not attracted to. However, I was once so strongly attracted to a rather plain looking girl that it was actually disturbing.
 
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Ada Lovelace

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I think it's immoral to deliberately be cruel and hurtful to someone, especially without provocation. I can't fathom Jesus telling a girl that she was fat, or belittling someone for his height, or demeaning someone's appearance in another form. That said, if someone has directly asked for a candid opinion, then giving one isn't wrong. I think there's ways to be diplomatic about it, but again, if it's been solicited then that's significantly different than it being hurled out. It's also acceptable for a medical professional to address a weight issue, whether the person is overweight or underweight. Many people are acutely aware of their appearances, and chances are someone who is hefty already knows that and doesn't need someone to call him or her fat.

It's also inappropriate for someone to make uninvited commentary about someone being underweight. I'm thin due to medical issues and am surprised by the number of random strangers who feel like it's appropriate to comment on it. I don't know if it's because I'm young or what, but it seems really thoughtless to me.
 
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MehGuy

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Pretty simple question, is it moral to call a fat person fat?

Is it moral to call a ugly person, ugly?

If the situation calls for it, yeah. Most of the people who made fun of my height growing up were repulsive looking themselves. The bullying world is certainly not black and white.
 
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