I myself am generally a big proponent of political correctness when it's concerning itself with someone that serves no other purpose than to insult or degrade another human being.
That said, I think some people are confused and generally over sensitive to certain words because they've been hurt by them before. That does not mean those words are inappropriate. If you are fat, you are fat. You may also be "big" or "plus sized" or "overweight" or "obese" but simply put, you are fat. Fat itself is no more or less insulting than any of the other words. It is, however, used more often as an insult. But don't confuse the two.
"Fat" is not an insult. It's effectiveness when used as one is based solely on how you feel about yourself, not the word.
I can say to someone:
"You're fat"
"You're bald"
"You've got acne."
"You're short."
"You've got a big nose."
etc.
And there is no reason any of those should be taken as insulting if that's not the intent. This is NOT like the N word, or the term "Redskin" and to suggest it is does nothing but harm those actually impacted by word that are solely design to marginalise races of people.
In a situation like this, you could say Wal-Mart was a bit insensitive considering the general amount of people that get their back up about being fat. But they weren't being purposely insulting, it was simply a page of costumes for fat girls. I don't get insulted when someone points out descriptors that apply to me if they aren't doing it to try to hurt me.
That's my opinion anyway. If you're fat, losing weight isn't often easy, but it always helps to work on being happy with yourself first.
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