Skinny Bitch

Today my neighbour came knocking on my door to pass on some clothes from her daughter. Said daughter was through with the attire and as her mother politely told me, I was the smallest person she knew. She didn’t use skinny, in some circles that has a negative connotation- as in the above title SKINNY BITCH.

If you are a woman, you have no doubt looked at another woman and thought those exact words to yourself. I know I have. I have not always been as thin as I am now. My early years were set at 15 to 20 pounds more than my current weight; perhaps even more than that. I was not a fan of the scale so I cannot be certain. I was never overweight but I was certainly not as svelte as I am now.

In my current incarnation I feel I have to defend those sisters that like me fall on the low end of the BMI index. My first defence is that I suffered, and suffered greatly to attain this weight; and I am not talking about dieting.

I have a medical condition, that when it flares up, makes it very difficult to eat. Food brings stabbing pain and has me doubled over and crying on the floor. And no it isn’t some psychosomatic anorexic side affect. 6 years ago I had emergency surgery because the pains indicated a bowel so twisted that gangrene was setting in. After the surgery I could not eat for one month. That will make you one Skinny Bitch; and indeed bitchy. When you are hungry and know you can’t eat because it will give you pain that makes you wish you were dead- well food becomes a bit of an enemy.

Although my health has been better and I have not been hospitalized for 7 months, a long stint out of hospital for me, I still have a daily battle with what I can eat and how much.

Perhaps, you think that my case is extraordinary; but I will demonstrate that it is not. A friend of mine once complained to me that everyone considered her a skinny bitch, but like me it was through no fault of her own. This woman had a digestive problem- chrones /irritable bowel/ or colitis- I can’t remember which- painful, hard to treat and a fast ticket to slimville by way of pain and suffering.

People that have the reverse problem with food don’t care to hear about those who eat and eat but can’t gain weight. But please think a minute before despising the sprites that pull size 2 off the rack and complain that it is too loose. That person may not have desired to be that size but may have had it forced on her like an NG tube in the E.R.