Look, I hate Peter as much as the next person, I’m not about to defend anything about his character, and I’m also not trying to criticize or be a choosing begger here; all these amazing fic writers, they’re out here doing god’s work, giving us wonderful content for free, they can obviously do whatever they want!
But does anyone else get this weird, gross feeling about how when Peter is made fun of, or talked badly about in fics, it’s almost always about his weight?
Something about it is just really doesn’t sit right with me. Maybe it’s because I was one of the ‘fat’ girls growing up in high school who was constantly made fun of for her weight (although looking back, I wasn’t even remotely overweight, and not only thinking that someone wearing a size 6/28w jean is ‘fat’, but actually regularly making fun of someone for that is wild to me), and because I’m someone who’s genuinely struggled with their weight since then due to health issues, but I just feel like it’s so unnecessary, and honestly it kind of gives off fatphobic vibes.
And look, I really don’t think that most of the people who do this are fatphobic, and I also don’t actually think they realize how it comes off. But something that I’ve noticed is those who HC Lily (or other characters, Lily is just the most common one) as Plus-Sized/Curvy never do this, it’s exclusively those who’s only plus-sized character is Peter.
And honestly, I don’t think there’s anything inherently wrong or fatphobic with Peter being the only plus-sized character and being a crappy person/being made fun of in fics. Make fun of him all you like, Peter hate is honestly really fun to read! And the occasional joke about it is one thing, if it’s written right. I’ve laughed at some ‘fat Peter’ jokes, they can be really funny when they’re executed properly. The problem is when the biggest/only thing that he gets made fun of for, is his weight, or how much he eats. Especially when there’s so many different ways that you can insult someone; call him stupid, call him oblivious, call him a Rat, a prude, a snake, clumsy, shy, literally anything else.
But when Peter is the butt of every joke, and the punchline is always him being fat, to me, it goes from being funny, to really giving off bully vibes. And especially in a fandom that promotes inclusivity, and where we should be sticking together to support each other, it just leaves a bit of a sour taste in my mouth.