Read on Twitter
A thing that happens like clockwork, and is always at least a little bit disappointing: watching thin people quote my work as an illustration of their despair about their own bodies while studiously avoiding any mention of fat people.
It makes a lot of sense, I understand why it happens, and I get the (deeply human!) reasons people do it. But man oh man, is it weird to have mention of bodies like mine redacted from my own work.
If your work around anti-fatness and diet culture doesn't center fat people, then it's not about addressing anti-fatness. It's about you.
That's a choice you can make, and it's fine I guess?, but gosh I wish more people were more honest with themselves about it.
That's a choice you can make, and it's fine I guess?, but gosh I wish more people were more honest with themselves about it.
This is an enduring challenge in the world of body positivity/neutrality & fat activism: we frequently confuse our own personal healing with activism & organizing.
Both are important and powerful. Each can feed the other. But they are distinct.
Both are important and powerful. Each can feed the other. But they are distinct.
One place where that confusion feels especially acute:
A lot of thin people enter the world of fat activism with the ultimate goal of "fixing" their own body image, not the ultimate goal for *building a more just world with & for fat people.*
A lot of thin people enter the world of fat activism with the ultimate goal of "fixing" their own body image, not the ultimate goal for *building a more just world with & for fat people.*
That impulse is linked to another familiar one: looking at fatter people& thinking/saying "at least I'm not that fat."
This version is less cruel, but it still uses fat people as props for thin people's body image. & it prioritizes thin people's feelings over fat people's needs.
This version is less cruel, but it still uses fat people as props for thin people's body image. & it prioritizes thin people's feelings over fat people's needs.
Another place where that confusion feels especially acute: people who have never been fat describing themselves as having "internalized fatphobia," centering themselves as a primary target of anti-fatness, and quietly displacing fat people. https://humanparts.medium.com/what-you-call-internalized-fatphobia-might-be-internalized-dominance-4c0d0ebf1e83
All of this--quotes with fatness redacted, misuse of "internalized fatphobia," using fat activism for thin healing--they all constitute a subtle, growing, troubling erasure of fat people in our own spaces. It's not necessarily ill-intended, but it sure isn't helpful.
These aren't subtweets directed at anyone, just a pattern that I've been noticing and reflecting on. I don't think it's intractable. But it requires people who aren't fat to show up differently, and in ways that will likely make them uncomfortable.
So, for people who aren't & haven't been fat, there are really only three questions to reflect on here:
How are you centering thinness in fat spaces?
Where are you stopping short of full-throated, active support for fat people?
And what are you going to do to change that?
How are you centering thinness in fat spaces?
Where are you stopping short of full-throated, active support for fat people?
And what are you going to do to change that?
