A plus-sized activist, who has been “fighting for fat liberation,” clapped back at critics for comparing her body to luggage and demanding she pay extra to fly.
Jaelynn Chaney, 28, said it was “dehumanizing” to see netizens condemn her for saying airlines should give free extra tickets to plus-size fliers.
“Want to fight fatphobia with me?” the content creator asked her 140K followers on TikTok and her 93.9K-strong audience on Instagram.
Jaelynn Chaney has been asking airlines to offer free extra tickets to plus-size fliers
Image credits: jaebaeproductions
The woman from Tri-Cities in Washington said it was time to “break down” all the “fatphobic solutions’” people were offering her when it came to air travel.
She then explained why the “solutions” were merely “excuses to keep fat people from having equal access and rights.”
“It’s time to stop treating fat people like we don’t deserve the same dignity and respect,” she added.
Image credits: www.tiktok.com
In the clip uploaded in January, she rebutted people’s suggestions, starting with the top suggestion: “Just lost weight.”
She questioned why she had to change her entire body to accommodate other people’s comfort and said, “It’s not my job to shrink myself to fit into spaces that were never designed for me in the first place.”
While giving her “rebuttal” to the “Don’t fly then” suggestion, the internet star sarcastically asked if she should stop living her life because the world wasn’t “built” for her.
The content creator fired back at netizens for their “fatphobic solutions”
Image credits: jaebaeofficial
“Telling fat people to just stay home is not a solution—it’s exclusion,” she declared.
Another “suggestion” she debunked was the idea of being “charged by weight” in the way someone pays “extra for luggage.”
“So my body is being compared to luggage?” she asked. “Charging by weight is fatphobic and dehumanizing.”
“I’m not a suitcase,” she added.
“Charging by weight is fatphobic and dehumanizing,” she told her audience in a recent video
Image credits: jaebaeofficial
The TikToker said paying extra for luggage is an entirely different issue, but the conversation she wanted to have was one about “fair” and “equal” treatment of all passengers.
Viewers slammed her opinions in the comments section, with one saying, “The lack of personal responsibility and accountability here is epic.”
“Flying is a luxury, not a right. That is simply the truth. Should we make flights cheaper because there are people who can’t afford a flight?” asked one commenter.
Viewers criticized her explanations, saying she was lacking “personal responsibility and accountability”
Image credits: jaebaeofficial
“It’s not the airlines job to change their seats to accommodate you??” another wrote.
“I’m very short and so I always check my bags bc I can’t reach the overhead bin,” said another. “Should the overhead bins be lowered to accommodate me? No – and I’d never expect it.”
On the other hand, one supporter said, “Don’t listen to the haters, you don’t need to change.”
The plus-size activist previously accused an airport employee of discriminating against her for not offering wheelchair assistance
Image credits: jaebaeproductions
Jaelynn previously went viral for saying it was “non inclusive” for public swimming pools not to have handrails.
“Make handrails mandatory at all pools for swimmers of every size and ability,” she said in a video last year.
On another occasion, the 28-year-old woman claimed an employee at Seattle–Tacoma International Airport refused to assist her after she had requested a “plus-size wheelchair.”
Accusing the staffer of discrimination, the plus-size woman said, “I almost fainted, this was my first time flying without oxygen.
“This woman just assumed I could walk and would rather me do that instead of her having to push someone my size up the jet bridge,” she continued.
Fans had plenty to say after the plus-size flier asked airlines to give free extra tickets
