“Every weight loss program, no matter how positively it’s
packaged, whispers to you that you’re not right. You’re not good enough. You’re
unacceptable and you need to be fixed.”
― Kim Brittingham, Read My Hips: How I Learned to Love My
Body, Ditch Dieting, and Live Large
Fat acceptance and body positivity for some is a hard
journey. For some it comes suddenly, for some it can be a life time of work.
Discovering the body positive movement saved me. It saved me from the years of
self-loathing, the decimation of my self-esteem, and helped me re-discover
myself. But it also made me appreciate how complex body issues can be,
especially as a fat person whose body is highly politicized and reviled by
society.
Social media has provided a means for those in marginalised
bodies to share and connect where mainstream media has deeply lacked.
Navigating this can be a minefield, however.
Recently on my Instagram I found myself coming across many
accounts using body positive tags, and importantly tags created by fat people,
on weight loss posts and I’ll be honest, it got my heckles up.
It’s a hotly debated issue whether you can actively lose
weight and claim to be body positive. I feel that the two are not mutually
exclusive per se; you can advocate for people to be respected and loved
regardless of size. But I draw the line at using fat positive tags for weight
loss posts. I also resent how, when using said tags, there is then the use of
health as justification for this.
Many people explain that they are losing weight to be “healthier”.
This is a fatphobic statement, suggesting that fatness equates to poor health.
It is assumptive and wrong. Thinness does not equal health. You don’t need to
lose weight to be “healthier”, nor do you need to lose weight to work on your
fitness. There are plenty of fat people in the world who involved exercise and
fitness regimes into their lifestyles. There is a difference between making healthy goals; i,e walking more, drinking more water, taking more supplements to "I want to be healthy so I will lose weight."
Health is different for every individual and there are many factors to consider, such as mental health and chronic illness. Using the size of your body as a framework for something as complex and individual as health is ill-considered.
Personally, if people want to lose weight, that is entirely
their choice. But when you are actively participating in fat positive/body
positive spaces I think you need to examine your reasons why you choose to
participate in diet culture, a culture that actively oppresses fat people; a culture
that is used to humiliate and degrade fat people and to eradicate fatness. Consider
that assumptions about health in relation to fatness don’t come from nowhere
and that we can all be influenced by a fatphobic society.
There's an increasing
attitude within the BOPO/fat-posi movement that when people make criticisms of
diet talk within these spaces they are somehow being “negative” or insensitive
to other people’s personal journeys or lifestyle choices. Critiquing the content within our own
movements is not negative, it’s necessary. We do not move and grow if we can’t
examine our own contributions and the ideals we uphold. Weight loss may be a
choice but it is unfair to ask these spaces to reassure people that they can
stay comfortable in their “choice” to uphold fatphobic ideals.
It’s unfair to use fat positive media circles to promote
yourself, while systematically upholding the idea that thinness is the standard
for beauty and health.
