Thread by @FAlRAlS, A Thread On How Fatphobia Stems From Racism, Classism & Ableism. i [...]

A Thread On How Fatphobia Stems From Racism, Classism & Ableism.

i can speak on this because:

my race is black
my ethnicity is afro-latinx
my nationality is american
i am medically overweight
i have an eating disorder

𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐈𝐒𝐌 𝐈𝐍 𝐅𝐀𝐓𝐏𝐇𝐎𝐁𝐈𝐀
[ tr : racism in fatphobia ]

Let's start with the most famous and tragic example, the beautiful saartjie.

Saartjie, otherwise known as sarah baartman was an enslaved woman whose body was displayed in exhibitions in europe.

Saartjie was an envy of white women not because of her skin, nor really her body, but because of the fetishization that surrounded her figure. Men essentially treated her like live porn, and although she was thoroughly ridiculed and mocked she was also coveted as a sex object.

Many white women began to wear petticoats and corsets to acheive a similar sloping/curvy look however it wasn't the same, and so they despised Saartjie and any other black woman who resembled her.

Curvy black women were then reduced to either walking sex toys or heavily +

slandered, even sometimes met with violence solely for their appearance. The "attraction" the men who obsessed over these black women felt carried throughout and can even be seen today in the rise of the "slim thick" culture. It is not "body positivity" for those people.

Rather its a way to further fetishize the black body while nonblacks mold theirs to be a modified (and for some reason, accepted) version of it. They arent accepting fat bodies or glorifying/promoting them - theyre fetishizing them. It's not the same.

Fatness was once a sign of prosperity & beauty. Many statues, works of art and literature from the romance era depict curvy and, yes, Overweight bodies as something to be celebrated.

However, when fatness became undeniably linked to blackness it was suddenly seen as deplorable.

An amazing book to read relating to this is "Fearing the Black Body" by Sabrina Strings. There is a movie coming out on Sarah Baartman (Saartjie) however it was made by a mostly white team and makes me and many other black afab uncomfortable.

" the contemporary ideal of slenderness is, at its very core [...] racist. Indeed, it was not until the early 20th century, when racialized attitudes against fatness were already entrenched in .. culture, that .. medical establishment began its crusade against obesity. " ★

I already know that a major nitpick with this will be that even if the origins of fatphobia are racially based:

1. people can change their weight.

2. many people now associate fat people with white americans.

3. regardless, being fat is unhealthy.

Well, essentially here is the problem with those arguments. Whilst yes, many able-bodied and financially able people could do something about their weight; it is not a valid reason to bully or ostracize them.

[I'm going to use some examples but disclaimer that i'm NOT at all +

equating fatphobia with racism or homophobia. comparison ≠ equating.]

Suppose there is a child you know who has really crooked teeth. Gaps, holes, snaggled and all. Would you have to right to constantly badger them just because they /could/ get dental work done?

Now what about a boy you know who is bullied for being too effeminate? (regardless of their actual orientation). Is that somehow okay because if he wanted the bullying the stop he could simply act more masculine?

What about a very tan child whose family badgers them about+

using bleaching creams so they aren't judged on appearance? does it make ok just because they COULD change their skin?

See where I'm going? Once again, I'm sort of weighing oranges against tangerines here. I do not think the plights of black & gay people are +

the same as those of fat people. I'm not comparing the struggles, effects or opression of them at all. I would never. I am saying that being able to avoid/lessen your state is not a valid excuse to rob someone of their right to live peacefully.

This article is amazing at painting the perfect picture for why slave and recently freed black people would be very horrified by diet culture and be prone to heavier bodies. PLEASE give it a shot! https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/fat-shaming-race-weight-body-image-cbsn-originals/

The racial origins of fat stigma

"We cannot deny the fact that fat-phobia is rooted in anti-Blackness," one scholar says. "That's simply an historical reality."

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/fat-shaming-race-weight-body-image-cbsn-originals/