Plus-size lifeguard slams fat shamers

Courtney Harrough is just about to mark two months in her new job as a deep water lifeguard, but in that time she’s had to cop a whole lot more than her colleagues - and its all because of the way she looks.

It started during her testing phase when the 24-year-old, who used to be a competitive swimmer and waterpolo player, was met with scepticism.

“A woman my height, but three times smaller than me said, 'I find it hard to believe you were an athletic swimmer,'" Courtney tells Refinery29.

Breaking it down to the kinds of stereotyping she faces, Courtney adds, "If you're a plus-size woman presenting to a company, not just for an athletic-based career, you face a stigma that if you're fat, you're lazy."

“My weight and height may cause some to think that I'd only be a pleasantly perched beached whale upon a lifeguard stand - but that isn't the case,” she continues on Instagram.

“My body is strong, sturdy, and sexy! I don't have smooth legs, or cut shoulders accented by tiny boobs like most of the girls in my class but I have courage, and a spirit to try.”

While Courtney, who has battled depression and anxiety, passed the extremely rigorous testing process and was officially given the job, she stumbled across her next hurdle before even starting her first day: they didn’t have a swimsuit in her size.

Claiming that her employer tried to let her go because they couldn’t supply her with the right uniform, Courtney says she had to talk them around and bring her own swimsuit at her own expense.

She responds to this kind of discrimination by saying, “If it's a matter of my ability to perform my job, that's one thing.

“If it's aesthetics, you're fat-shaming and size-shaming. And you're being really rude, because fat people can do so much more than we think they can. Fat women have a right to lifeguard."

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