Petition urges Facebook to remove 'feeling fat' emoticon for 'normalising body shaming'

A group called "Endangered Bodies" along with many activists has launched a campaign to persuade Facebook to remove "feeling fat" emoticon option from the list of its status options saying that it "normalises body shaming".

According to the Washington Post, the activists said that "fat" is not a feeling adding that the status option can be especially harmful to people with eating disorders. A number of activists have partnered with Endangered Bodies to post Change.org petitions, asking Facebook to remove "fat" from its list of preloaded feelings.

The US version of the petition currently has 13,000 signatures. The petition was launched by a 24-year-old student at Ohio University in Athens who struggled with eating disorders while growing up. Facebook has a list of emoticons which users can choose from to let their friends know how they are feeling. Some of the options include excited, happy, sad, annoyed, maybe sick. Each feeling comes with its own emoticon.

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