- Staff Notice
A Toronto orchestra has shut down after "fat-shaming" volunteer singers who wore body-hugging dresses.
The Sheraton Cadwell Orchestras asked women who were not "fit & slim" to use loose dresses that hide their "dietary indulgences".
Many singers who had performed with the symphony expressed disgust at the email.
The management has since apologised and resigned, telling singers the orchestra would no longer be funded.
This recent story from Canada highlights quite a modern problem, in that there are more and more fat people around today including fat people in the public eye.
There are always stories about fatties and airplane seats, but this story is quite different. The volunteer Canadian singer was told her services were no longer required because she basically didn't look good enough on stage. No one argues that she couldn't sing.
Fifty years ago, there were almost no fat people around and now a majority of adults are fat in some way, me included. But has the pendulum swung too far in being tolerating of behaviour which was once considered unacceptable.
There are now clothes stores that cater specifically for the fat selling all manner of extra large sized clothing. Huge oversized coffins are made for the severely obese which leads me to the question, being fat is not healthy, are we being too tolerant in society to being fat, or is it purely an individual's own choice and no business of anyone else?