It’s been really nice to get positive feedback on my blog, especially from unlikely people, who I would not have thought would be interested in fat awareness/fat acceptance. Even if fat issues don’t resonate with them, they respect that the issues resonate with me, so they are more open to consider my views. Which makes me feel good about my advocacy.
But I haven’t been able to consolidate a concise, personal
description of why this topic is important to me. That is, until a friend recently e-mailed me, asking, why
the blog?
My response:
I've always thought it was messed up how mean every
one is to fat people, even including friends who are so conscientiously
inclusive and accepting. I have
come to learn that it all stems from self-hatred, which in turn stems from our
massively fat-hating culture; once you tune into it it's everywhere. And body
shaming doesn’t just happen with fat; I hear people talk disparagingly about
girls who are "too skinny" too. In both cases, people make
these comments because they're “worried about their health”, but shameful
discourse does not foster an environment for a constructive conversation about
health and size, especially since hurtful comments are often targeted at people
behind their backs. “Worried about
their health” is not inclusive of every one's personal story, which is what I
believe progressive thinking is all about. People can be healthy at any
size, and if they're not healthy it's really none of your business.
You can imagine the most common response I get: but how can you ignore the correlation between obesity and bad health? I will reiterate: I am no health expert, but my blog doesn’t focus on causes of obesity. For the record, I am interested in having a smart, constructive conversation on health, but one that includes every one.
Just read this. I'd respond to the obese question by saying that what worries you more than obesity is the psychological issues that so many women have over their need to lose weight. And that the huge numbers of people with eating disorders are causing equally scary, if not more urgent health issues. And that obesity is a health problem, but like all health problems it needs to be met with compassion and love rather than hatred and shaming.
ReplyDeleteSince I've started reading your blog I've gotten a lot more into this!! Love it!
Sonia, thank you so much for the comment. You are absolutely right that I think the damage that our obesity-fearing culture has caused is not worth a nation (and beyond) of women struggling with self-hatred and eating disorders.
ReplyDeleteBut one point that I haven't gotten to on my blog is the "health at every size" philosophy - that you really can be healthy at any size. When most people look at fat people, especially very fat people, they assume that person has life-threatening health problems, because that is the narrative of every weight-loss advertisement, but that narrative does not apply to every one. Whether you are taking steps to becoming healthy, which for you may involve weight loss, or are the size that you are but still happen to be healthy, or are not healthy - these are narratives that apply to people of any size, including fat people. It is true that, due to shame, several studies have shown that fat people are reluctant to be physically active. I'm saying that as long as we live in a society where "fat" is always synonymous with "unhealthy" and a host of other unflattering adjectives, I really believe that we cannot make any process in our conversation about size.