{Body Liberation Guide} The interpersonal and social rewards of fat hatred
Model E. eating a cupcake at Flaming Geyser State Park.ย Browse stock photos for cooking, eating and interacting with foodยป
Reader Michelle Molash has a great addition toย last week’s letterย on who profits when fat people are hated:ย โThe entertainment industry profit from us. The fat buffoon who thinks he can do any number of things that only a thin person should do and how funny it is when he fails, John Candy, John Belushi, etc. We are in movies as the class clown or comic relief or we are lazy, evil, stupid, selfish. Iโve become quite sensitive to these things nowadays. I see the fat phobia in so many things I used to think were funny.โ
This week, let’s look at the interpersonal and social rewards of fat hatred.
Social bonding.ย Though diet culture encourages us to be vicious and toxic towards our own bodies and other peopleโs as well, itโs also an important bonding mechanism in our society. Here are some examples of how diet talk and fatphobia show up as bonding rituals:
- Diet talk at work (โIโm so bad for eating this bagelโ)
- Family-wide and parent-child dieting
- When people engage in body checking together (โMy thighs are so huge!โ โWell, have you seen my butt??โ)
If youโve ever had someone in a smaller body try to โsaveโ you by telling you youโre fat or attempting to show you how to diet, that person was attempting to bond with you as well (though in a toxic way that you absolutely do not have to take them up on).ย ย (Theyโre also upholding oppressive systems, so see the next item on the list.)ย
Rewards for upholding oppressive systems.ย There are real, tangible rewards for upholding unjust systems like body hierarchies, like avoiding the punishment that comes along with refusing to be part of the system. Itโs also easy to feel that, by oppressing others, you yourself are moving up the hierarchy.ย Some examples of people upholding oppressive systems include:
- Internet trolls and haters
- โAre you really going to eat all that?โ at the Thanksgiving table
- Concern trolling
- Anyone who shows up on Instagram to say โLoving your body is fine, but that canโt be healthyโ
Related to the โescaping punishmentโ part of this one is the โgood fattyโ phenomenon, in which fat folks perform compliance with ultrafeminine beauty standards and/or Diet Very Loudly and/or Exercise Real Hard in order to prove that theyโre worthy of being treated like and given some of the privileges of a thin person.ย ย (This is of course a perfectly valid way of surviving oppression and stigma, and Iโm not describing it here with any judgment.)ย
Fear of being oppressed and/or losing privileges.ย Living in a culture that values thin and abled bodies above others is like spending all your time on a treadmill thatโs set at a steep incline.ย ย No matter what else youโd like to prioritize in your life, no matter what youโre trying to accomplish or survive, youโve got to keep up a steady pace on that treadmill or risk getting whisked down the incline and dumped into the vat of acid at the bottom marked OPPRESSION.ย ย Is it any wonder that itโs tempting, as you become exhausted, to pull yourself back up the slope a bit by reaching out and yanking down on the arms of the people on the next treadmills over?ย An excellent example is the trolls thatย inevitably show upย on fat folksโ social media posts. They act from a variety of motivations that include:
- Oppressing fat folks as hard as they can to mark themselves as in the oppressor class (and thus not eligible to be treated like they treat others)
- The social rewards of โowningโ a fatty in debate, then taking screenshots back to dedicated fat-hatred forums
- A sense of gaining personal power from mistreating others
Warmly,
Lindley
Changing the World is Up To You
It’s only possible to offer the Body Liberation Guide and all its labor for free because people like you support it. $1 USD per month helps out, and $5 and up gets you access to the full Conversation, full event listings, my body liberation library and more.
The Conversation
Here’s what’s being discussed this week in the world of body acceptance and fat liberation:
ยป โToddler Grandma Style,โ The Fashion Approach That Will Set You Free (read)ย
ยป Let me see what you’re cooking with (watch)ย
ยป hijabi cottagecore for the timeline (see)ย
ยป 5 reasons why Ozempic is diet culture in a fancy dress (read)ย
ยป Societyโs anti-fat narrative is that, โFat people donโt take care of themselves.โ Of course we do (watch)
UNDERRATED BAKED GOODS TO NAME YOUR PETS AFTER (read)
“Do I want to be thin? Or do I just want to be treated like thin people are treated?” ยป Marisa Lyon
Upcoming Events
- ยปย The Mix (Oakland, CA + livestream) Oct 17ย
- ยปย Community Care Practice Oct 18ย
- ยปย Treating Co-Occurring Eating Disorder and OCD (HAES): Online Oct 18ย
- ยปย Intersectional Sustainability – Why Fatphobia in Fashion is a Sustainability Issue Oct 19ย
- ยปย I Developed an Eating Disorder When I Was A Teen: Tending To Our Inner Teen Oct 20
Quick Resources: Understanding Thin Privilege
ยปย Ask Lindley: Thin privilege, rage and the spotlightย
ยปย What Thin Privilege Really Meansย
ยปย 22 Examples of Thin Privilegeย
ยปย What exactly is “thin privilege”?ย
ยปย Reflections on thin privilege and responsibility
Hi there! I'm Lindley. I create artwork that celebrates the unique beauty of bodies that fall outside conventional "beauty" standards at Body Liberation Photography. I'm also the creator of Body Liberation Stock and the Body Love Shop, a curated central resource for body-friendly artwork and products. Find all my work here at bodyliberationphotos.com.