Let’s discuss fatphobia:

What is fatphobia?

Fatphobia appears in many forms, it’s not one thing. Fatphobia is often an abnormal fear of being fat or fat people. Society is inherently fatphobic, we have been conditioned with the thought and “fact” that being fat is bad and the worst thing you can be

“Fatphobia isn’t even real”

80% of teenage girls in the UK say they are scared of becoming fat (Source: The Wiley Handbook of Eating Disorders)

Often, many of us aren’t even aware we are being fatphobic or repeating fatphobic rhetorics

Fatphobia affects us all, regardless of our size but we have to remember that fatphobia does significantly affect fat people more. It can kill. From medical bias to toxic diet cultures to being told your body is disgusting by peers, institutions and our society

Fatphobia is institutional, societal and systemic

Some examples -

- When a fat person goes to the doctor and is told to lose weight before any medical diagnosis is established
- Immediate assumption that a fat person is unhealthy
- Thin privilege
- BMI
(examples con.)

- Lack of sizing inclusivity in fashion industries
- A thin/non-fat person negatively saying “Ugh, I feel so fat” (fat ain’t a feeling boo)
- Seating restrictions in restaurants and public transport
- And sadly so much more

“But being fat is unhealthy”

Health is not linear, one person’s situation will not be the exact same as the next. My “healthy” will not be the same as your “healthy” Fatness does not equate unhealthiness

And also, ask yourself this - Why are you bothered about someone else’s health? It is literally not your business unless that person chooses it to be

“Oh my god you look amazing, have you lost weight?”

Let’s break that infamous saying down. Why are you equating a person’s beauty to their weight? Why is their weight your business? If a person has lost weight, it is NOT always by choice, a desire or been done in a safe way

If you want to compliment someone’s appearance, you could just say “oh my god you look amazing“. The phrase associates beauty with weight loss but we are also then associating that beauty is defined by weight and size. Size does not define your beauty or worth

Fat people are beautiful too, we are all beautiful and that’s also not our defining factor!

Fatphobia is enriched and has stemmed from things such as racism, capitalism and the patriarchy. If you want to learn more about the origins behind fatphobia, I encourage you to read “Fearing the Black Body: The Racial Origins of Fatphobia” by Sabrina Springs

Unlearning fatphobia is challenging! It is so normalised that it’s often quite tricky to tackle. I suggest you ask questions (appropriately), gather your resources, follow fat creators listen to those of us who are talking about this

It has taken me a long time to make and fatphobia can be traumatising for fat people, so listen up and don’t tell us it’s not real, cause it fucking is!

Ya gal talks about fatphobia pretty much all the time. I realised last week that I’ve never done a post about what it actually is! So here we are, this is a very important post for you to read, especially if you are thin. Plus it’s January, where fatphobia is very very very rife.

As a fat person, I don’t owe this explanation or post to anyone. Fatphobia has traumatised me, it destroyed my teenage years and it has nearly killed me. It has done that and worse, to many other people. HOPEFULLY I’ll educate someone! So please share this

There is a lot more that can be said about fatphobia, it is a very nuanced topic. These are some of the basics and I urge you to educate yourself beyond this post too, use this as a stepping stone!

If you have any further points to add then please, as always, do! What I won’t be standing for is people being hateful in the comments and saying this isn’t real, when it is. I haven’t just made this up to share onto Twitter

And don’t use the argument that it’s not a real word in the dictionary, all words weren’t seen as “real” before they were in the dictionary, the dictionary is updated all the time my dude! (Didn’t think I’d get this passionate about dictionaries but hey!)

Thanks for reading!

Also thin people please do read and take this in, fatphobia affects you too!

I know not many will read this and that’s ok! I have put it into a more visually pleasing format on Insta http://instagram.com/fatpheebs 

Different links in my bio to various pieces I’ve done about fatphobia !!!