Dannie “Dee” McMillan, a 16-year-old junior at Lampasas High School in Texas was in study hall when her friends broke the news that someone had created a Twitter account for the sole purpose of bullying her.
Here’s the story in her own words:
I was recently a victim of cyberbullying. Someone at my school made a fake Twitter profile with the username fatwhaledee. They put their name as Dee’s a fat whale. They took my powerlifting sports team picture and photo shopped a whale over my face. After making the page they started following people from my school, with each follow another person was notified of this page.
At first I had no clue, it started with weird looks in the hallways and people giggling behind my back. Then my friends started sending me screenshots of the page so I would know. It was awful, the shame and embarrassment I felt. I left school right away and went home where I locked myself in my room and cried for hours. I stayed at home watching the follows grow for three days.
I was destroyed but with the help of my sister, my friends, and plus size model Laura Lee I decided to embrace it and turn this horrifying thing into something beautiful. We are starting to raise money to help whales. Therefore the name “Dee the Fat Whale saves the Whales.”
Dee had the brilliant idea of reclaiming the whale identity, while using this opportunity to help actual whales. Laura encouraged her and the campaign “Dee the fat whale saves the whales” was born!
The campaign includes t-shirts being sold on Booster.com
It also includes a GoFundMe campaign and all of the money goes to Save the Whales! (GoFundMe was so impressed with her that they donated $4,000 to the campaign.)
Obviously, this should never have happened. Nobody should have to figure out what to do about the horrors of human beings who engage in cyberbullying, but I’m really glad that Dee had a mentor and a support network to help her through this, and that she decided to to turn it into something positive.
This is also why it’s important that fat people claim and own our right to live the lives we want in the bodies we have. Of course, nobody is ever obligated to do activism, but every time we take that class, or go to that waterpark, or post our outfit of the day on our social media account, we give other fat people the opportunity to see that the our fat bodies are not the problem, the people who oppress us are.
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Wow, what an amazing response to a very hurtful situation. That girl just slapped all those bullies right in the face by showing what an awesome and strong person she is.
The University of Houston Downtown has an award-winning powerlifting team, and regularly recruits students, including many women, from her area. I’ve sent the link to this blog entry to their coach. With Dee’s grit and character, I’d bet she’d be a great addition to the UHD Powerlifting Team!
I’m just curious if her school has one of those “zero tolerance” policies on bullying. I’d be willing to bet it DOES, and that the bullies are getting away with bullying her, anyway, because, “Well, maybe this will be the wake-up call she needs to get in shape.”
Or maybe all the students know about it, but the faculty don’t know or don’t care, because they don’t mind bullying, and don’t have a policy about it.
Either way, she totally rose above it, and made it special. Whether the bullies are upbraided by the principal, or not, she took the wind right out of their sails.
I hope she wears those T-shirts to school on a regular basis.
I really want to know if anything is being done to catch and prosecute the cyberbullies. Has there been any response from Dee’s school? Is local law enforcement involved? Is local media covering the story?
It is wonderful that Dee is rising above this attack.That, however, in no way makes it OK that it happened. The bullies need to found, stopped, and punished.
Exactly. They need to learn that it is NOT OK to do this, regardless of whether the victim of their bullying rises above it or not.
They may think that because she did rise above, that there’s “no harm, no foul, and no big deal,” but that is NOT true. They did wrong, and they need to learn it, as well as all the others involved. All those people who “just” clicked “follow.” Grrrr.
Dee sounds like an incredible young lady! Bravo for her to put a positive, unselfish spin on this ugly act by a person with low self esteem.
Great job, Dee! You are a fantastic role model for our children. And thank you Regan, for bringing these stories to light.
Thank you for posting about Dee. Her response to cyberbullying is an inspiration to us all.
What a beautiful and courageous response from Dee! Thank you so much for standing up to these cowardly bullies, Dee. You’re indeed an inspiration!
Sad that these things still happen.
1) Dee is AWESOME. God, how I wish I was half that resilient and resourceful when I was bullied in school.
2) I am totally coveting your stuffed landwhale Ragen! Whoever made it needs to have more and put them on Etsy or something stat! 😉
Holy shit, that’s amazing! I hope Dee’s bullies feel smaller than the plankton that whales eat 😀
I have been called “Walrus Girl” by my best friend’s husband – thankfully not to my face, but still – why did she have to tell me he said it??? Anyway, it hurts to hear those things – right up until you decide that you love walruses because they are graceful, fun creatures. That’s how we get through without the bullies hurting us. We decide that their opinion doesn’t get a voice in our heads the way they intend. Thanks, Ragen and Dee for showing us the way.
That’s a great way to turn the negative into a positive. Still, I see your point, why on earth would your friend tell you that! You are fine, you are beautiful. 😀
Wow, kuddos to this chica. Especially at that vulnerable and impressionable young age of being a sixteen year old girl. This is so awesome!!! ❤