‘If you lost 10 pounds you’d look beautiful’: And other health advice from guys

Earlier this week, Roxane Gay, author of Bad Feminist, released a memoir, Hunger detailing her life through the lens of her body and how others perceive her as an extension of it.

While promoting the book, she was faced with a series of demeaning comments by interviewer Mia Freedman.

“Is there a comfortable chair that will accommodate her ‘super-morbidly-obese’ frame?” “Will she fit into the lift?” “How many steps will she have to take to get to the interview?”

Freedman went into detail about how Gay’s weight made it a “logistical nightmare” to book her as a guest on her podcast.

“It’s cruel and humiliating,” Gay took to Twitter to say after.

Gay says she receives unsolicited health/nutrition advice from people all of the time.

While the spotlight has been on her because of the release of Hunger, women everywhere are faced with similarly unsolicited advice every day.

Melanie

My boyfriend asked me when I was planning to start dieting because he wasn’t happy with my weight. Maybe he shouldn’t have asked me out.

Jacquie

My ex always used to criticize if I ate unhealthy when I wasn’t with him.

Danielle

“If you don’t eat breakfast you’ll always be fat, because your body won’t be able to metabolize if you don’t eat first thing in the morning.”

Monique

I get a lot of talk about how drinking Diet Coke is part of the reason I don’t lose weight, which doesn’t even make sense. I’ve also lost three pounds regardless, so.

Chelsea

I did cheer for 15 years, so I’ve naturally got bigger thighs from that. Guys say things like “Stop lifting so heavy, your legs are already big.”

Now I don’t lift legs unless it’s squats with weights.

Jenny

“If you lost 10 pounds you’d look so beautiful – maybe try to eat less.”

Kamilla

“Are you getting the salad?”

‘No’

Alex

“You should never ever eat rice, pasta, bread or sugar.”

Belinda

My dad constantly makes remarks about what I’m eating. I’ve lost almost 100 pounds completely on my own, and if I grab a salad out of the fridge and start eating it he’ll say, “How can you be hungry right now? You’re going to get fat.” The other day I was eating a Greek yogurt and he yelled, “If you keep eating like that you’re going to gain weight!”

I posted a transformation pic, and he asked if it was photoshopped, even though he was standing right next to me and could see me in person.

René

I had a penny for every time some guy told me Diet Coke is going to kill me, I’d have enough to buy all of the Diet Coke in the world.

Hannah

“If you want to lose weight you have to actually exercise to do so, and not be so averse to going to the gym.”

Morgan

This guy at work who always hits on me told me the other night that if I don’t have time to make food, I just shouldn’t eat. I was eating a microwave enchilada and he kept talking to me about how I was putting garbage into my body.

Nicole

“You should try squatting — that will give you a butt.”

Jess

“It’s not enough to count/cut calories and walk everywhere and hope to lose weight.”

Shelby

My ex told me I should keep going to the gym so I looked “nice and tight.”

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Comments like these aren’t rare at all. When you’re a woman, so much of the way you look is subject to public opinion, and when you don’t look they way they like, you hear about it.

When you’re a girl, your body is policed and politicized from the moment you can walk, but you’re not alone.

@carolinephinney