Hi, I too am a 'large lady' and have been to Tunisia several times. I once heard someone mutter 'pig' in French under their breath as I passed them in a medina in Sousse. HOWEVER on the whole Tunisians seem very polite and I have always felt that they are far more accepting and much less judgemental of overweight people than in the UK. Without starting a debate on fattsim I have never felt a 'second class' citizen there!

ive just returned from tunisia and must say that the only rudeness i heard during my stay was a british man whistling at and yelling 'oi you come here' to the young man clearing tables in the bar in our resort.

Thats pretty awful cherished, and I feel sorry for your friend. But are you sure they said it in a nasty way? Maybe they were joking or it was just 1 or 2 rude people. Because some times what we consider rude is not to other people.
As at one of the carpet factories we visited the owner was talking about buying a wife. He said the larger the wife the more camels she will sell for. He said to a thin woman you would only sell for 2 camels or maybe nothing at all. Then he said to a larger lady you would sell for 100. Both women were insulted but the man didn t genuninely mean to hurt their feelings. I think sometimes its just their way and I found the Tunisian sense of humour a bit like the French ie. not my cup of tea.
But I wouldn t worry about going to Tunisia for that reason. In fact my friend who is from Algeria says that in the North African (maghreb) countries "larger women" are considered to be much more attractive and have alot of male admirers.

Ps forgot to mention you ll have a great time in Tunisia. Don t worry about hassle stories

thank you all feel much better now

oh my god im really worried too now. im going to sahara beach hotel in skanes in october. i too am a big girl and not too confident about my body to say the least. why cant people just be nice and pleasant. im worried now that everywhere i go on my hols im gonna be called all sorts of names. its bad enough here in england so i dont want to go on holiday to hear the jibes too.

Don't worry. I'm quite a large girl and greatly lacking in confidence about myself but had no problems in Tunisia. In fact I had nothing but compliments and offers of drinks etc (none of which I took up)

As in many countries with higher levels of poverty than we have here in the UK, to be big is GOOD in Tunisia! It's a sign that you can afford to eat what you want and that either you, or in the case of women, their husbands or fathers are well-off. I have never seen or experienced Tunisians comment on whether a woman is fat or not other than in positive ways.

Frankly, in my experience the only time I have seen tourists be treated rudely or comment passed on their appearance is when they have been rude in the first place or have treated local people without respect or not respected local customs - like the man in shorts and vest who abused the gatekeeper at the Grand Mosque in Sousse for asking him to cover his legs and shoulders before entering. More commonly I have seen some visitors treat hotel staff or shopkeepers in ways which have made me cringe and even then, despite that, the Tunisians who've been the target of such rudeness have still responded with civility. Local customs are different and this can give rise to misunderstandings - a little research about what is considered polite and respectful first usually means that you too will be treated with respect and wil receive extremely polite and respectful treatment in return.

SM

thanx for making me feel better. my nan just told me too that alot of men in tunisia and the surrounding countries actually find larger/curvier women more attractive and that when she went she got nothing but compliments. Cant wait now only 9 weeks to go yyaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyy!!!

michelle_jackson23 when you goign and where are you staying i am thinking about going in october

hi chesrished..im going to sahara beach in skanes.....it look beautiful......we r goin october 15th til 22nd.....cant wait im counting down the days..already started packing lol....xx

dont worry i have never heard of any tunisian man been rude to an bigger woman i have a tunisian fiance and my mum who travels with me is a bigger lady and no one has ever said anything to her. i am smaller and my fiance is always telling me to put on wait and be fatter lol

Hello
i'm sorry for what happened to your friends. It is not funny or a commen thing for us Tunisians to call someone "pig". Also, I would like to mention that polite and rude people exist every where in the world.

Hi, we went to Skanes, and I`m rather on the large side, but we never heard any rude comments when on the beach, or when we went into PEK, Sousse or Monastir. Enjoy your holiday.

i have book up to go to skanes primasol golden beach hotel just get it in my head sticks and stone may break my bones but words will never hurt me really looking forward to it now

good on you cherished. just think of all the good things and all the good times you will have
have a grat holiday