Fat entitlement in 1986 A family member of mine passed away recently (just plain old age) and I was one of the one's who helped in moving his belongings afterward.  Some of the things were antique-ish and had been stored away for a while.  Many of these items were wrapped in newspaper for protection, as you would expect, and because they had been tucked away for a while the pieces used were decades old.  I always like reading old newspapers/magazines just to compare them to how things are today; I think the changes are interesting. Some of the bits were neat, but unfortunately not much there.  I did however come upon one piece from a 'former fat', an advice type column and thought it was particularly interesting to compare the attitude of this individual to what we hear today.  There are similarities and differences, and specifically where the differences are says, I think, a lot about the mindset inherent for the fat.  Figured it might be of interest to some of you so I'll leave it here (typing it because the paper itself is kinda hard to read in pictures). January 13, 1986 DEAR ABBY:  I just read the letter from the 30-year-old married woman who hated to go home for the holidays because her family kept repeating the stories about how fat, dumb and miserable she was as a child. (They all laughed and made a joke of it.) I, too, was a fat (200 pounds), sullen, unhappy and unpopular teen-ager, but I grew older and wiser.  I trimmed down and became a very successful professional woman.  After 10 years in Overeaters Anonymous, I realized that my family could have mixed feelings of pride and jealousy about my adult accomplishments.  Some people act more out of habit than malice. I broke my family of their habit of making my miserable past the focal point for family entertainment, or a topic of disclosure to strangers in my presence, with 12 simple words: "There is no need to discuss that now; let's change the subject." I repeated them in the car, in the shower, to my husband and the mirror until it became automatic/  Then every time they started in on my past, I repeated it.  No explanations; repetition only.  When family members became defensive or denied any intent to hurt me, I said, "That's OK.  There is no need to discuss that now.  Let's change the subject." Once, out of pride, I'm sure, my mother started to tell an acquaintance of what a fat, rebellious teen-ager I had been.  I broke into her conversation with the magic words.  Mother later said she was upset that I had publicly admonished her.  I simply repeated the phrase. I'm now 34, and my family seldom mentions my childhood.  If they do, I remind them with: "There is no need to discuss that now; let's change the subject." Abby, if you think my letter will help someone whose family insists on dredging up painful garbage from the past, feel free to use this, but not my mane.  Sign me...MOVING ON. DEAR MOVING: Thank you for a moving letter.