fat girl/skinny girl

Today I worked a benefits fair, which involves about ten biddies sitting behind tables with fancy table cloths and stacks of colorful give-away pens, first aid kits and keychain flashlights.  After lunch, the host biddy walked around with a plate of cookies and everyone took one.  About an hour later, I heard the following conversation: 

fat girl:  Hey, eat that cookie!  Why didn't you eat that cookie?  I can't believe it's still sitting there.
skinny girl:  Oh, I've been so busy getting this work done!
fat girl:  I can't believe it's still sitting there!  That's why you're skinny and I'm not.
(awkward silence)
fat girl:  Hey!  Look at this, her cookie is still sitting there. I told her to eat that cookie!
biddy:  Huh, yeah
fat girl:  Can you believe that?  I told her that's why she's skinny and I'm not
skinny girl:  No!  No!  I eat Taco Bell at least 3 times a week, every week!
biddy:  Don't you love their crunchy tacos?
fat girl:  Yeah, but I have to eat at least 3 of them
skinny girl:  Yeah!  There's no point in one or two, it takes at least three to fill up!

I was scarcely paying attention when this conversation was going on, but it came back to me on my (LONG) drive home, and it made me grumpy.  Why is it people seem so comfortable commenting on the eating habits of thin people?  Can you imagine the response of the room if the skinny girl had lifted her chin to one of the other biddies and said, 'Hey, check that out.  She ate TWO cookies!  That's why she's fat and I'm not." 

Now, I'm not gonna sit here and say it's equally offensive the other way, because I get it.  It's socially acceptable and desirable in America to be thin.  It is unacceptable and even offensive to be fat.  So maybe that's why people feel so comfortable calling out thin people on how they eat, because they're on the "acceptable" side of the spectrum.  And then skinny people feel they have to defend their unorthodox eating habits that they didn't put any thought into (except possibly "I'm no longer hungry" or "I don't want that") in order to assuage the wounded feelings and agitated egos of others who unknowingly watch their plates. 

But I have to tell you, it's uncomfortable!  And it is no less rude!  I wish I had been paying more attention and jumped in to save skinny girl.  But, maybe I was hiding, hoping the whole conversation would blow by me without any eyeball turning to me.  Maybe I didn't want to get involved.  Maybe I was having post-traumatic stress over a similar conversation about ham fat. 

Now that I've got that off my chest, I'm going to walk (not run) fat dog.