When Entertainment is Supposed to be for "Everyone"

Theme parks are entertainment destinations that attract millions of people each year, which would make you think that they are able to accommodate the vast differences between all those millions of people at the parks. But I know as well as anyone else who has been to a theme park in a fat body that they don’t.

I was in college the first time I was kicked off a ride because it was “unsafe” for my fat body to ride it. I had waited over an hour in line with a group of friends, people I had spent the summer working with on my college campus. My friends and I had dared each other to ride in the front row of a roller coaster, one that was new and high and fast. I was nervous and excited as we climbed into the car and the safety arms came down over my shoulders… and failed to lock into place. Try as I might, and as the attendant might, we simply could not get the arms to lock. And the ride could not go until all the arms were locked. I climbed out of the car and walked away from the ride, furious, embarrassed, and alone. I sat on a bench near the ride, crying as I waited for my friends to emerge from their fun. We went about the rest of the day, and I tried to put the incident out of my mind.

I loved roller coasters. I loved the thrill of them and the speed, knowing the whole time that I was perfectly safe inside. But since that day in college, except for one very mild roller coaster ride about 11 years ago, I haven’t been on one since. It’s hard enough for me to spend all that time waiting in line, only then to be kicked off and humiliated in front of everyone because my fat body doesn’t fit.

I am hardly alone in my experience. Last year, an article was published in Huffpost about a woman who was kicked off the Hogwarts Harry Potter ride at Universal because the safety harness didn’t fit over her fat body. The woman is Jana Schmieding, a comedic writer, performer, and educator in Los Angeles. She had been “investigating size-based discrimination for several months, interviewing and publishing conversations with women in my life who have experienced body shame, injustice and inequity around their size, gender, race and presence,” when this happened.

From Schmieding’s article:

Like most of us who have encountered size discrimination in our lives, it tends to trigger our internalized fat phobia, making us think somehow that we are at fault for the discrimination against us. We think we should be the ones to change, instead of the other way around. It takes a monumental effort to reframe our thinking to place the blame where it belongs.

What’s heartbreaking about this story, and why I’m choosing to amplify it, is that it comes connected to a fandom that Schmieding felt deeply connected to. She got into Harry Potter just recently and was so excited to be visiting the theme park at Universal Studios. Schmieding over and over again talks about her childlike glee at the rest of the experience, how it transported her into the fantasy world and let her put aside the harsh reality for awhile. When something like that happens, when something connected to a franchise or a fandom that you love lets you down, it can be devastating.

It is still far too hard for those of us in fat bodies to find ourselves welcomed into the places we love, including our fandoms.