Earlier in February 2020, local influencer Xiaxue received no small amount of flak for expressing her views on the morbidly obese.

The blogger-turned-influencer called those who are obese, as well as those who glorify obesity “irresponsible” and “disgusting”.

And the incident hasn't exactly died down.

Representation, not glorification

In response to the commotion, local actress Oon Shu An expressed her views on the subject in a Feb. 17 Instagram post.

She expressed that it was not about glorifying the morbidly obese, but instead, about representation and treating them with dignity.

Oon also believes that the media glorifies plenty of questionable traits, such as violence, serial killers, and casual cruelty, but "fat people" was not one of the subjects being glorified.

"They're barely even seen as full human beings," the actress adds.

She ends her post by calling plus-sized model La’Shaunae "beautiful".

https://www.instagram.com/p/B8rGmNbFdrW/

"Hypocrite"

Xiaxue then made her disagreement heard in two ways: By tagging Oon in an Instagram Story and calling her a hypocrite, and commenting on her post.

In her comment, Xiaxue asked Oon to gain 150kg to look like the plus-sized model, in order for the latter to practice what she preached.

The influencer also repeated her message that glorifying the morbidly obese perpetuates a dangerous notion of beauty, which may adversely affect young, impressionable girls.

Xiaxue also used an example from the other end of the spectrum — anorexia — to make her point on political correctness.

Oon then replied to Xiaxue's message with a lengthy essay.

In essence, she argued that La’Shaunae was "beautiful" because she had learnt to embrace herself, despite conventional standards of beauty set by the media.

Oon also agreed that she wouldn't think she would look good with another 150kg, which reinforced her point that there is much to unlearn from what the media has taught us.

The actress also argued that being stigmatised about their weight makes the morbidly obese stressed, which leads them to eat even more.

Lastly, she reiterated that the morbidly obese are not being glorified at all -- rather, they are constantly being fat-shamed.

Furthermore, Oon wrote, there is no message being sent to boys and girls that they should pile on the pounds.

Adele as an example

During the same period, Xiaxue continued to air her views on the topic.

She asserts that the morbidly obese are being glorified.

Xiaxue also used singer Adele as an example.

Adele, who once said she that would never be skinny, is now skinny.

Xiaxue also elaborated on the definition of beauty and her thoughts on it.

Made-up

About four days after her post, Oon updated in the comments that she had a chat with Xiaxue, and they're "cool".

Cool.

Top image via Xiaxue's Instagram