Perceptions of 'fat' People, Funny Dieting and Weightloss Gag Cartoons

The following 'fat lady' cartoons may at first glance give the impression that I am fattist, so I am very keen to explain straight off how I was inspired to draw these 'weight issue' cartoons.

I was listening to some women talking about weight, dieting and how people percieve 'fat women'. The conversation reflected the following observations:

Some fat, obese, over-weight women are asked ''are you pregnant?'' or ''when is the baby due?''.  The women of couse find these questions very offensive. Meanwhile women who actually were pregnant were often assumed to be 'fat' until their 'bump' became more pronounced. The result of these misconceptions is that we see t-shirts which say 'I'm not fat I am pregnant'.

Hence this was the inspiration for my 'I'm not pregnant I'm fat' cartoon.The other cartoon featuring the very obese lady was inspired by a desire to mask her weight issues.

As women, we are very concerned about weight and dieting (I am no different) and these cartoons merely reflect some of those concerns. So far from me being 'fattist' they simply reflect some familiar pre-conceptions and concerns as to how women who are over weight by a little or a lot are perceived.

I hope you enjoy these cartoons in the good observational nature that they were created.