STRANGERS call Kath Read a “fat b*tch” and take photos of her in the street all the time.

But nothing prepared her for the teenager who shoved his phone in her face and photographed her inside her local takeaway at the weekend.

Ms Read - who writes the fat liberation blog Fat Heffalump - was waiting for a takeaway meal in a Sandgate restaurant when the teen walked through the door and took her picture.

“He just walked straight up to me, lined me up and took my photo. The flash went off in my face and I heard the camera click,” she said.

“He didn’t hide it and that just says that he didn’t see me as a human being, that he didn’t care what I thought.”

News_Image_File: Kath finds it hard to buy clothes when designers target a different body shape. Photo: Josh Woning.

The teen had been on a bicycle and was still wearing his helmet when he took the photo and left the shop.

Ms Read said the incident left her in shock.

“It wasn’t until an hour or so later that it hit me like a wall. I just felt so violated, it was like an assault,” she said.

“I’m still very angry. I’m a person and I have feelings. What did he do with that photo?”

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Kath Read speaks out against online bullies

Ms Read said strangers snap her photo all the time, but they often try to do it covertly.

She retaliates by taking their photo and posting it online to her Tumblr account.

“People do photograph me a lot. There was a guy at Roma St train station one day and he was p*ssed that I had taken his photo. The look on his face was like ‘how dare you!’”

Ms Read said she is used to being abused by strangers, but that certain types of clothing make it worse.

Bright colours, bold prints, anything that’s short or without sleeves open the floodgates on hate.

“Sometimes it’s subtle, the old nudge and point - I get that one daily - or I get people sniggering,” she said.

“‘Fat b*tch’ is one you get all the time. People in a car, dudes on bike, dudes on skateboards, women who pass in the opposite direction, young people, old people. ‘Fat b*tch’ seems to be the most common thing. People have been calling me that since I was seven. Can we get out of grade school?”

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Another common insult is “nobody wants to see that”.

“Well come here and I’ll gouge your eyes out for you,” she said.

“I had bike pants and a sleeveless top on recently and a couple were walking behind me. The woman didn’t even lower her voice and said ‘nobody wants to see that’. Why are people so invested in what other people are wearing?”

At size 26, Ms Read is also sick of the constant struggle to find clothes to fit her body and her style.

“If you’ve got a job interview and you can’t buy the same clothes as the thin people, you’re the one who’s going to look sloppy,” she said.

“It’s about more than ‘I want pretty things’. Yes I do want pretty things but if clothes are not available to plus sizes, then you can’t meet that standard and everybody else can.”

Ms Read can only find her size in a handful of bricks and mortar stores, and said retailers are missing out on big dollars by ignoring larger shoppers.

“The options in Brisbane are pretty poor. If I was to travel and lose my luggage, I’d be screwed because that’s years of work. It’s a full time job to source clothes that fit me and that are me, that aren’t just some boxy frumpy thing that people think I should look like,” she said.

Ms Read also challenged many of the preconceptions designers tend to have about plus sizes.

“They all think we hate our bodies and must want to cover them. Everything is about flattering and minimising and hiding your flaws. By marketing it that way, you’re telling women that they don’t deserve to have bright outfits or bare their arms or wear something that’s strapless,” she said.

“I never would have bared my arms years ago. I used to swelter through summer in cardigans because I thought my arms were shameful, but now that I don’t feel that shame, I buy lots more things. They’re sort of shooting themselves in the foot by thinking that plus size women only want to hide themselves away.”

News_Image_File: Kath Read’s bold fashion choices make her a target for bullies. Photo: Josh Woning.

And even if she doesn’t want to follow current trends, Ms Read would still like the option to buy them.

“If the current print is flamingos or foxes, I want flamingos or foxes. If this season is all about pastels, I want pastels. How bloody hard is it to understand that?”

Then there’s the treatment she gets from sales staff who are quick to point out she can’t shop in their store.

“It’s awful. I’ve been into shops with a friend and I’m not even shopping for me and I’ve had staff say ‘there’s nothing that would fit you in here’.”

Despite wanting to keep her dollars in Australia, Ms Read now buys a lot of her wardrobe overseas.

“I used to try not to because I wanted to shop local, but local don’t seem to want me,” she said.

“It’s not about health outcomes, it’s about ‘I think you should be ashamed of yourself’ and by wearing something nice, you’re not projecting that you’re suitably ashamed of yourself. And people get really angry at fat women who aren’t ashamed of themselves.”

Ms Read gets constant commentary on her distinctive dress sense – some good and some shocking.

“I was buying a bottle of water and this older woman right beside me turned to her husband and said ‘that one needs to lose a lot of weight’. I turned to her and said ‘and you need to learn a lot of manners’,” she said.

But Ms Read urged other plus size women to wear what they love and not fear a negative response.

“If you put something on and it makes you feel awesome, wear it. Remember that other people’s bad behaviour is no reflection on you, and there are people who will say lovely things about you.”

Feel free to leave us a comment or email our reporter Jasmin Lill

If you want to read Kath’s blog, living with fattitude, click here

Originally published as What we really think of fat people