- Joined
- Mar 14, 2018
There ought to be a penalty writers have to pay for this level of inconsistentcy within a single published work.
Fat Acceptance Movement / Fat Girlcows
- Thread starter AtroposHeart
- Start date
- Joined
- May 16, 2019
Here's the irony: the one good thing the body positive movement does is to get actual healthy women to stop feeling like shit unless they lose those last 10 lbs. You don't need to be a supermodel to look good, and you shouldn't feel like a failure for having a normal body plus a little bit of fat. When those thin, healthy women stop obsessing over starvation diets and start enjoying their life, that is an actually positive mindset.
If you're so obese you qualify for a TV freakshow program about your trainwreck life, then yeah, you should feel like a failure. That terrible feeling should be the impetus for change that could save your life, and reduce the burden on everyone around you.
Making the healthy/unhealthy distinction is not an arbitrary limitation. It's a moral one: whatever the definition of "unhealthy" is, it should not be celebrated or become a socially accepted lifestyle. Defending the 600 lb disasters, calling for acceptance without limits, is literally the reductio ad absurdum debunking argument that you are supposed to realize leads to lunacy.
- Joined
- Feb 12, 2019
Acceptance of everything is why society is a fucking toilet bowl right now.
Shame used to be a motivator for change. Now its a fucking federal offense and we are left with a bunch of speshul snowflakes who can't contribute in any meaningful way to society because muh condishuns.
What a time to be alive.
Shame used to be a motivator for change. Now its a fucking federal offense and we are left with a bunch of speshul snowflakes who can't contribute in any meaningful way to society because muh condishuns.
What a time to be alive.
- Joined
- Aug 24, 2019
I'm totally on board with treating fat people -- even 600 + lbs -- with dignity and respect. But that isn't what Fat Acceptance is these days. It is an excuse and a demand that everyone else change so they don't have to. It's enabling eating disorders that are literally killing people. And ridiculous naked selfies trying to pressure people into saying these super fat bodies are sexually desirable or beautiful.According to this article, The people on my 600 pound life deserve body positivity. Medium.com really is a gold mine for fat logic.
The article is called: The People on "My 600-lb life" Deserve Body Positivity, Too.
Here are the highlights of the article:
You think they are gross and they disgust you. They make you force your own mortality. They remind you of your nephew / aunt / co-worker who lacks all self-control around food. They confound and anger you. How could they let themselves get that heavy, that fat? Why don’t they just eat less? Look at them, living like animals in their own squalor and filth. Can’t even bathe or perform basic bodily functions without assistance.
Here you are, waking up early to work out and going to sleep late to work out and giving up burgers and pizza and soda in order to save yourself some calories. Here you are, working your ass off just to lose those stubborn last few pounds and these people have the gall to just exist like that without making an effort to change. Worse yet, they expect other people to actually treat them with dignity and respect.
(Here you are, working on becoming healthy.)
Don’t they know that when the world talks about body positivity and self-love and self-acceptance we don’t mean people like that.
Before there was the body positivity movement there was the fat acceptance revolution.
The 1960s was a tumultuous time. Activists across the country raised their voices against war, against racism, against sexism. They fought for the rights intrinsic to all of us, holding demonstrations and protests in support of their beliefs.
One cause often lost in the annals of time is the fat acceptance movement. Despite what many an influencer may have you thinking, the fight for recognition when it comes to fat bodies is not new. It, like so many other objectives, started during the noise of the 1960s and with the same purpose — fighting for the rights intrinsic to us all. In this case, the right for fat people to exist in a world free of discrimination.
The issue with the current body positive movement is that it has been, for lack of a better word, co-opted by thin (mostly white) women who pose in such a way as to bring out what little rolls of fat they have and proclaim #selflove and #bodypositive, all while putting restrictions on who is allowed in to their special club.
(No, not white people! How dare they not be a queer nonbinary super-fat black women.)
Even during the 1960s and 1970s, when the world was in upheaval, fat activism was a radical notion. It still is a radical notion, fifty years later. Fatphobia continues to permeate our society, diet culture perpetuating the belief that thin bodies are good and fat bodies are bad, and because fat bodies are bad they deserve whatever shitty things happen to them. They deserve to be mocked and treated like dirt. They deserve to feel terrible and suffer low-esteem, because maybe if they are shamed enough it will motivate them to get off their ass and lose the weight.
These days, body positivity has expanded to include all bodies, not just bodies of size: bodies of color, trans bodies, nonbinary bodies, disabled bodies. I love that body positivity has grown to be so inclusive, but still limitations are placed. The phrase “I’m all for body positivity but only if you’re healthy” is ableist and assumes arbitrary definitions of health.
Treating body positivity as a pass / fail exam where only people who fit all of the criteria are able to claim it denounces the decades of work done by all of the fat people who came before. Body positivity exists because fat activism existed. Body positivity exists because fat activists existed.
Instead of recognizing all of that previous work, fat acceptance has been shoved to the sidelines and treated as an afterthought. Not just an afterthought, but a lesser than movement. Because we still live in a society that sees fat bodies as bad. A society that supports self-love as long as you fit their definition. A society that still thinks it’s perfectly acceptable to strip a person of dignity and respect because of the number on the scale.
When the fat individuals of the 1960s rose up and started to fight back against our fatphobic society, they weren’t looking for opportunities to place fat models on the cover of fashion magazines or plus-size Barbie dolls. They were looking to empower and support marginalized bodies.
As Bethany Rutter said, “The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was snatching body positivity out of the hands of fat women and then convincing them it was never theirs in the first place.”
Body positivity is not the same thing as positive body image. Positive body image is looking in the mirror and saying “I love my body.” Body positivity is believing that all bodies deserve the very basic rights of dignity and respect and fighting for those rights, regardless of what the body weighs. Including those bodies that weigh 600 pounds.
(Dr. Nowzaradan is trying to save their lives. No one said that the people on my 600 pound life, can't love themselves.)
Link to article:
If you don't care about your health and just want the right to eat yourself to death, just admit that. Stop with the "diets don't work", "healthy at any size" nonsense. It is the lying and luring young fat girls down a path of morbid obesity that really irks me. I don't care if they choose to stay fat. Just don't expect the rest of us to pretend that there is anything positive about being morbidly obese.
I don't even want to understand how shrimp makes her feel femme. Or how monistat makes her feel femme when having a yeast infection is not supposed to be an every day part of womanhood. What on earth possessed her to take a photo of those two things together and post it on social media. She really does need some help.
And the thing about capitalism is that no one is forcing people to consume. You can choose how much stuff you buy. You don't have to be a slave to it. I'm not a fan of the type of capitalism we have where large corporations consolidate wealth into the hands of a few and predatory lending is often just stealing from the people too dumb to understand how it works -- but capitalism in and of itself is not an immoral system. If there are issue with it, it is the way it is implemented or regulated. You don't have to throw the baby out with the bath water to fix what is wrong.
- Joined
- Jun 12, 2017
Imagine thinking that "the greatest trick the devil ever pulled" is this stupid fat chick online movement bering co-opted by the terrible straw man "thins". Not childhood terminal illnesses, not war, not brutal conflict in third world countries, not hunger, not homelessness, not genocide. No. Fat chicks online getting their feelings hurt is the worst thing ever.
LetThemEatCake
kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- Sep 23, 2019
Linda Bacon renames herself "lindo" and comes out as ~*genderkweer~
Lindo? Linda? - Lindo Bacon, PhD, formerly Linda Bacon
My Name, My Gender An excerpt from Radical Belonging: How to Survive and Thrive in …lindobacon.com
Also, she completely throws her parents under the bus and publicly shames them. Everybody's parents are flawed, unless they molested or abused you, its really sickening to see grown adults disrespect and dishonor their parents so carelessly on the front pages of their blogs. yikes
Angsty cow, isn't she?
Basically Linda Bacon is nothing more than a common or garden old lesbian with a wife and a kid. She tends to eschew more feminine things regarding appearance. Nobody is shocked by this anymore and that's the problem.
Old-school lezzo stuff is kind of old hat in the woke bubble Linda moves in. Old-fashioned. All the cool, upcoming, young woke academics are way further along the gender /sexuality confusion/pretension spectrum and thus more interesting and oppressed.
Gotta compete. Time for an upgrade! What do? Hormones or actual trooning out properly would be going to far. Oh, I know. ICH BIN EIN GENDERKWEER! Take that, kids!
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- Joined
- May 16, 2015
According to this article, The people on my 600 pound life deserve body positivity. Medium.com really is a gold mine for fat logic.
The article is called: The People on "My 600-lb life" Deserve Body Positivity, Too.
Here are the highlights of the article:
You think they are gross and they disgust you. They make you force your own mortality. They remind you of your nephew / aunt / co-worker who lacks all self-control around food. They confound and anger you. How could they let themselves get that heavy, that fat? Why don’t they just eat less? Look at them, living like animals in their own squalor and filth. Can’t even bathe or perform basic bodily functions without assistance.
Here you are, waking up early to work out and going to sleep late to work out and giving up burgers and pizza and soda in order to save yourself some calories. Here you are, working your ass off just to lose those stubborn last few pounds and these people have the gall to just exist like that without making an effort to change. Worse yet, they expect other people to actually treat them with dignity and respect.
(Here you are, working on becoming healthy.)
Don’t they know that when the world talks about body positivity and self-love and self-acceptance we don’t mean people like that.
Before there was the body positivity movement there was the fat acceptance revolution.
The 1960s was a tumultuous time. Activists across the country raised their voices against war, against racism, against sexism. They fought for the rights intrinsic to all of us, holding demonstrations and protests in support of their beliefs.
One cause often lost in the annals of time is the fat acceptance movement. Despite what many an influencer may have you thinking, the fight for recognition when it comes to fat bodies is not new. It, like so many other objectives, started during the noise of the 1960s and with the same purpose — fighting for the rights intrinsic to us all. In this case, the right for fat people to exist in a world free of discrimination.
The issue with the current body positive movement is that it has been, for lack of a better word, co-opted by thin (mostly white) women who pose in such a way as to bring out what little rolls of fat they have and proclaim #selflove and #bodypositive, all while putting restrictions on who is allowed in to their special club.
(No, not white people! How dare they not be a queer nonbinary super-fat black women.)
Even during the 1960s and 1970s, when the world was in upheaval, fat activism was a radical notion. It still is a radical notion, fifty years later. Fatphobia continues to permeate our society, diet culture perpetuating the belief that thin bodies are good and fat bodies are bad, and because fat bodies are bad they deserve whatever shitty things happen to them. They deserve to be mocked and treated like dirt. They deserve to feel terrible and suffer low-esteem, because maybe if they are shamed enough it will motivate them to get off their ass and lose the weight.
These days, body positivity has expanded to include all bodies, not just bodies of size: bodies of color, trans bodies, nonbinary bodies, disabled bodies. I love that body positivity has grown to be so inclusive, but still limitations are placed. The phrase “I’m all for body positivity but only if you’re healthy” is ableist and assumes arbitrary definitions of health.
Treating body positivity as a pass / fail exam where only people who fit all of the criteria are able to claim it denounces the decades of work done by all of the fat people who came before. Body positivity exists because fat activism existed. Body positivity exists because fat activists existed.
Instead of recognizing all of that previous work, fat acceptance has been shoved to the sidelines and treated as an afterthought. Not just an afterthought, but a lesser than movement. Because we still live in a society that sees fat bodies as bad. A society that supports self-love as long as you fit their definition. A society that still thinks it’s perfectly acceptable to strip a person of dignity and respect because of the number on the scale.
When the fat individuals of the 1960s rose up and started to fight back against our fatphobic society, they weren’t looking for opportunities to place fat models on the cover of fashion magazines or plus-size Barbie dolls. They were looking to empower and support marginalized bodies.
As Bethany Rutter said, “The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was snatching body positivity out of the hands of fat women and then convincing them it was never theirs in the first place.”
Body positivity is not the same thing as positive body image. Positive body image is looking in the mirror and saying “I love my body.” Body positivity is believing that all bodies deserve the very basic rights of dignity and respect and fighting for those rights, regardless of what the body weighs. Including those bodies that weigh 600 pounds.
(Dr. Nowzaradan is trying to save their lives. No one said that the people on my 600 pound life, can't love themselves.)
Link to article:
Did they miss the episode with the ex fat fetish model. She drank the HAES kool-aide and it brought her nothing but misery.
The last thing these people need is a movement that tells them they're beatiful the way they are and they don't need to change.
Burn victims, albino, people with dwarfism/gigantism, these are the kind of people who need body positivity. Body positivity without change isn't going to help the morbidly obese. Your coddling is killing these people.
- Joined
- Mar 14, 2018
I just keep coming back to this article more frustrated. "Body Positivity" as a movement began before the 60's civil rights movements, (if you can imagine, it wasn't called body positivity) and has roots in the early part of the 20th century. It was an effort mostly led by wives to make their war-ravaged husbands less suicidal. These men were missing limbs, eyes, parts of their faces ect. And had to deal with that and the debilitating disability that came with it as well as poorly treated/understood PTSD. The first plastic surgeries were skin grafts for veterans.
If anything body positivity has been co-opted by fat fucks to be entirely about fat and everything else is secondary and it cheapens the original heart of the movement and the civil rights of the 60's to settle themselves in the middle of both like 400 pound aunt Bertha settles herself between you and your cousin to watch the post-Thanksgiving football game. It's uncomfortable, inconvenient, and no one's allowed to tell her "no".
If anything body positivity has been co-opted by fat fucks to be entirely about fat and everything else is secondary and it cheapens the original heart of the movement and the civil rights of the 60's to settle themselves in the middle of both like 400 pound aunt Bertha settles herself between you and your cousin to watch the post-Thanksgiving football game. It's uncomfortable, inconvenient, and no one's allowed to tell her "no".
- Joined
- Nov 14, 2016
Bacon should have changed the last name. I love real 
.
but he’s even weirder looking than she was.
. but he’s even weirder looking than she was.
- Joined
- Jan 6, 2019
Has never been spoken except as a straw man.
FAM/body positive is a pursuit for unhappy fatties to accept themselves. I agree with the idea that its purpose is to get everyone else to accept them rather than change. But that's because they haven't really accepted themselves. We all know plenty of fatties that go about their daily business not making a fuss, it's the majority of the population, in fact (where I live). They're truly accepting, "I'm fat, who cares, pass the pringles."
But these FA people bitch and complain about "food shame," being weighed at the doctor, hearing about other people's diets. All things that betray their deep discomfort with their weight. Their shame. They are clearly the least happy, most unaccepting fat people alive. And they turn that into "society need to change."
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LetThemEatCake
kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- Sep 23, 2019
Lindo Bacon is retweeting that fat nutcase Regan Chastain as if she has any credibility:
Oh, and she's praising Corissa's videos too:
What a pathetic, sad circle jerk.
Oh, and she's praising Corissa's videos too:
What a pathetic, sad circle jerk.
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XenomorphThot
kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- May 5, 2019
To be honest, when I saw the info about Linda Bacon my first thought was: what, did the buck from milking the fat cows dry up or what? Does she need new demographic of morons to give her money? Or did she get greedy?
- Joined
- Jan 6, 2019
A good bedside manner would talk to different patients differently about weight. A patient who is clearly very sensitive requires a different approach to a no nonsense ‘tell it to me straight’ type. There are also broad sex differences as well. Men tend to respond a bit differently and are less judgemental of themselves and more businesslike about weight loss. Women (and yes I’m generalising but it’s broadly true) tend to feel a lot more shame about it. So it should be handled diplomatically, of course it should. To a point.
But your doctor is NOT out to shame you. I don’t doubt that there are medics outside there with shitty attitudes, but most just want to improve your health. That’s their job. If your doctor tells you that you have type 2 diabetes and need to eat a certain way, they are not doing it to shame you, just like they’re not out to shame someone with allergies, or coeliac disease, or gout. They HAVE to mention weight, because it’s important. If a patient is underweight it gets explored. If a patients weight is killing them, how can a doctor not mention it? The denial is mind boggling. Should a liver expert not mention a patients alcohol intake? Should a diabetic clinic Nurse be forbidden to talk about sugar and carbs?
All this ‘about to get a fatphobic doctor fired’ Shit is so one sided, because they can bang on about it on Twitter and the doc can’t say anything because of confidentiality. They are their own worst enemies,
But your doctor is NOT out to shame you. I don’t doubt that there are medics outside there with shitty attitudes, but most just want to improve your health. That’s their job. If your doctor tells you that you have type 2 diabetes and need to eat a certain way, they are not doing it to shame you, just like they’re not out to shame someone with allergies, or coeliac disease, or gout. They HAVE to mention weight, because it’s important. If a patient is underweight it gets explored. If a patients weight is killing them, how can a doctor not mention it? The denial is mind boggling. Should a liver expert not mention a patients alcohol intake? Should a diabetic clinic Nurse be forbidden to talk about sugar and carbs?
All this ‘about to get a fatphobic doctor fired’ Shit is so one sided, because they can bang on about it on Twitter and the doc can’t say anything because of confidentiality. They are their own worst enemies,
LetThemEatCake
kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- Sep 23, 2019
Just like parents who shriek about how their kid was unfairly expelled for say, a MERE HAIRCUT, it's never the truth, because the school cannot divulge the child's issues/real discliplinary record or that of the parent's interaction with the school to the press in reply. So one side gets to distort and lie without challenge and only the more knowledgable and skeptical understand what is really going on while a naive crowd screams OMG INJUSTICE OMG.
It does make me laugh when they say they will get a doctor fired though. Sure, Jan. It shows how sheltered from life and professional work they are and how they think hospitals or medical practices work via the rules of Twitter. Nobody fires a highly trained, hard to replace medical professional because some lunatic didn't like them and had a moan. It's not fucking Walmart. Medical professionals also have professional bodies that protect them from this kind of idiocy. Standards of care are quantifiable and if the doctor met them, upsetting a sensitive lunatic means fuck all. Malpractice has to be proven ;egally. All that happens in reality is that when Fat Jay or Fat Corissa or Lipids makes their complaint they are either mollified with faux apologies and fobbed off or if they continually do it, get a note put on their records indicating they have a history of complaining.
- Joined
- Oct 2, 2019
I’m generally fairly intelligent, but I understood exactly nothing except that 3rd slide. I feel like I have entered another dimension where people get engaged to frogs, have personal beef with economic systems, and somehow purchasing shrimp in addition to yeast infection cream is an inherently feminine act. What the fuck does shrimp have to do with femininity? Are dudes no longer allowed to buy shrimp? What about frogs who are dudes?
- Joined
- Aug 16, 2018
Words have absolutely no meaning anymore. This is pure insanity.
- Joined
- Dec 15, 2019
- Joined
- Aug 24, 2019
Non binary is just a made up term that means whatever I say it does, even if it directly contradicts the meaning I gave you 5 minutes ago.
Is this supposed to be some symbolic lesbian thing? First she tells us that shrimp makes her feel femme and now she's licking it? Honestly, I'm a little disappointed she's not dipping the shrimp in Monistat. She missed an opportunity to take her grossness to the next level. She needs to think outside the box and take some risks.
- Joined
- Jan 6, 2019
Electromagnetic waves fall on a fucking spectrum. For four points, jay: Please explain the x axis of gender identity. Show your working.
Tesshollidaysflupaknees
kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- Sep 10, 2018
Jay has a new blog post up on her website. It's about being a "superfat" in the work place. It's a long one.
Here are the highlights:
When you apply for a job, you think of your work experience. You update your resume, fill out the appropriate paperwork and wait for those calls. You prepare for your interviews; picking out a professional outfit or making a quick stop to the mall to purchase a nice blouse. You put your best foot forward. Sometimes you shoot your shot with that position that would be ideal but perhaps you’re not super qualified for. Other times, you apply for the positions that you’re clearly overqualified for, because money is tight and capitalism is a total bitch.
These are relatively manageable challenges for the average person looking for work. Some problem solving around sharing the car with your partner or child care might be required. Interview and first day jitters are common for a lot of us. But we do what is necessary because we need to get our needs met. We have to provide for ourselves and for our families in a world where the dollar is the only valid currency and the cost of living (and just being a human) continues to rise.
Imagine that in addition to these challenges, you’re met with numerous other obstacles in both finding and securing employment, based entirely on the size of your body. Imagine living in a world designed for bodies much smaller than yours and facing challenges that impact your ability to thrive.
This is reality for us fat folks. Especially us superfats. Whether it’s finding appropriate clothing, navigating spatial issues, or having limited mobility, being a superfat in the workplace is stressful.
I wouldn’t say it’s best practice to assume all fat folks have the same limited mobility issues. Some fat people are flexible, have great stamina, and the strongest knees. Some don’t. The reasons for this variance in mobility could be related to health and size, or they could not. We give thin people the grace to be varied in their experiences and abilities, so I just want to preface this by reminding folks of just that – we are all different. My experience is not guaranteed to be the universal fat experience. However, in a world where the fat experience is ignored and undervalued, it’s important to acknowledge that one-third of the US population is considered “overweight” and to be quite honest, there’s a whole shit ton of fat people out there that can relate.
The devastating state of my finances led me to reevaluate my work from home lifestyle. Back to the traditional workforce for me!
(Corrissa's 300 dollars worth of junk food is not going to buy itself.)
Sifting through the slew of job postings on this website and the next, I started getting discouraged. How can I best set myself up for success? Which kinds of jobs should I be applying to? At this point, I was pretty tight on cash, and needed to find something stable and also reasonably accessible as a fat person. I can’t stand on my feet for more than half an hour without feeling excruciating pain. I can’t walk long distances, stairs, or fit in tight spaces. Anything with high customer traffic that wouldn’t allow me to take very frequent breaks to sit down will not work. This pretty much cuts out all sales, retail, and food service positions.
(You're just being lazy Jay. A lot of fatties work those kind of jobs.)
I finally started taking chances on applying for positions within the social work field. Surely, that field is much more likely to be able to provide accommodations for my limited mobility and size. But in reflection of multiple interviews, I came up against another obstacle.
What If They Don’t Want To Hire Me Because I’m Fat?
Let’s say, for funsies, that a person of size with limited mobility like myself does in fact land that job that ticks all the right boxes. I pushed through the initial interview – the big reveal of my true size and somehow the weight bias didn’t thwart me. No sighs of relief just yet. Every moment following will require extra thought, preparation, advocacy, and most of all – vulnerability.
What To Wear And How Will It Be Perceived?
It often surprises me when I talk to thin people about buying clothes and they don’t already know that I can’t shop in-store. I cannot. I’m not exaggerating, there are no options. Suggestions about just popping over to Walmart for some cheap dress pants are irrelevant to me. Most if not all clothing stores do not carry my size in pants, shirts, sweaters, coats, underwear, tank tops etc. Nothing. If I need a blouse or a button up, I have to shop online. This means it not only costs more, but the fit is unpredictable and last minute purchases are impossible. Being a superfat, I’m further limited by which online stores even carry my size. I can count on one hand the stores that do and most of the time, those stores only have a few items in my size listed. (Walmart clothing is not good enough, for our "superfat" Jay.)
As stated previously, common perceptions of fat people are that we are lazy and unprofessional. A way to combat this in a traditional workplace where the dress code is business casual, is to upgrade our wardrobe and make sure we’re looking professional. But have you ever noticed that the standards for thin people to be considered professional versus fat people don’t really align? A thin person can wear a cardigan over a v-neck tee and look business casual. The same outfit would be perceived as dressed down or even “frumpy” on a fat person. Dress pants in straight sizes seem to have all the proportions correct. Meanwhile, fat people are drowning in our dress pants because whoever’s designing them believes our ankles are the same width as our thighs, (typically not the case). How are we supposed to adhere to rules not made with us in mind?
The Seating Situation
Navigating unfamiliar spaces brings on a lot of anxiety for many superfats. Personally, I was really worried about what kind of work space I would have at my new job, considering I’d be spending damn near 8 hours of my day there. Will the chairs have arms? Will they be sturdy? Almost every superfat has a story about a time when a chair crumbled beneath them. My worst fear is always that on my first day, I’ll crush a chair in front of all my new coworkers and I’ll have to first, struggle to get up off of the floor and then immediately find a bathroom to go cry in out of embarrassment. Not fun.
And even if that worst case scenario doesn’t happen, what would finding appropriate seating look like? Not every workplace has funding to provide appropriate chairs for varied individuals. Nor are they required to prioritize that need. Further, how might you feel sharing this need with a superior you’ve just met, drawing attention to something so vulnerable to judgement?
A Superfat In The Workplace Who Eats
Is it true that thin people judge what a fat person chooses to eat? Yes. We’re human, we make judgments about people. Our society is obsessed with diet culture and thinness. We place moral implications on decisions related to food. We value health and beauty standards above all else. It would be naive to think that a fat person could eat whatever they wanted, however much they wanted, without their thin peers making judgments about what they should/shouldn’t be consuming, or why they’re consuming it.
This is why I consistently have anxiety about groceries every single week. I worry a lot about what my peers think about the foods I bring in. I fear that they’ll make judgments about my need to snack throughout the day. I’m afraid they’ll deem me a “bad fatty,” if I decide to bring food that I’m supposed to feel guilty about eating. But then, if I bring items that are typically seen as healthy, I worry they’ll make the wrong conclusions and decide to engage in conversations with me about dieting (yes, this does happen).
What can I bring for snacks that will feel satisfying? What will make the least noise and draw the least amount of attention? How can I make sure my meal looks balanced? Do I want it to be balanced for my own benefit or to try and control how I am perceived about the food I eat?
Establishing myself as A Fatty Who Eats Freely in the workplace requires courage and a lot of work. I have to be strong in my values and even repeat them to myself in times of insecurity. This is a lot of unnecessary stress and emotional labor.
Am I Going To Be Put In Physically Demanding Situations?
Its nearly impossible to anticipate every potential physical activity that’ll be involved in a new job. Still, you can gather the basics. How big is the property? Will I be expected to regularly walk long distances? Is there a lot of driving involved? How much standing will there be?
The thing is, the definition of what is “physically demanding” is subjective. And I think the general public expects fat folks to suffer through more pain and discomfort than thin people. The narrative is that we did this to ourselves, so we should suffer through until we fix the problem; our fatness. Again, forcing us to feel like we have to shrink to the space instead of make the space safer for everyone.
It’s terrifying trying to advocate for ourselves knowing that most people feel this way about us and our bodies. I have been in numerous situations where I’ve pushed myself past my limits, injured my body, and even had a full meltdown because I forced myself to endure pain that my thin counterparts wouldn’t even entertain suffering through. Expecting that everyone will be able to participate in the same level of activity, without leaving room for accommodations, does not create a fair and ethical workplace.
Okay, But…Who Cares?
Unfortunately, internalized fatphobia, shame, and fear leaves fat folks feeling like they have to shrink to fit the space – both figuratively and literally. Make our bodies smaller as well as our voices. We often stay silent to remain safe instead of demanding that we be valued for our worth and that our needs get met. And honestly, I’m one of those people a lot of the time.
“Even The Most Progressive Activists Forget To Include Fat People As A Marginalized Group Needing Such Advocacy.”
So what am I asking you to do exactly? If you’re reading this post, you’re probably someone who cares about social justice. You may even advocate for social change to protect our most vulnerable populations. The problem is, many of these discussions leave out the fat experience. Even the most progressive activists forget to include fat people as a marginalized group needing such advocacy.
Link to blog post: https://comfyfat.com/2019/12/23/superfat-in-the-workplace/
Here are the highlights:
When you apply for a job, you think of your work experience. You update your resume, fill out the appropriate paperwork and wait for those calls. You prepare for your interviews; picking out a professional outfit or making a quick stop to the mall to purchase a nice blouse. You put your best foot forward. Sometimes you shoot your shot with that position that would be ideal but perhaps you’re not super qualified for. Other times, you apply for the positions that you’re clearly overqualified for, because money is tight and capitalism is a total bitch.
These are relatively manageable challenges for the average person looking for work. Some problem solving around sharing the car with your partner or child care might be required. Interview and first day jitters are common for a lot of us. But we do what is necessary because we need to get our needs met. We have to provide for ourselves and for our families in a world where the dollar is the only valid currency and the cost of living (and just being a human) continues to rise.
Imagine that in addition to these challenges, you’re met with numerous other obstacles in both finding and securing employment, based entirely on the size of your body. Imagine living in a world designed for bodies much smaller than yours and facing challenges that impact your ability to thrive.
This is reality for us fat folks. Especially us superfats. Whether it’s finding appropriate clothing, navigating spatial issues, or having limited mobility, being a superfat in the workplace is stressful.
I wouldn’t say it’s best practice to assume all fat folks have the same limited mobility issues. Some fat people are flexible, have great stamina, and the strongest knees. Some don’t. The reasons for this variance in mobility could be related to health and size, or they could not. We give thin people the grace to be varied in their experiences and abilities, so I just want to preface this by reminding folks of just that – we are all different. My experience is not guaranteed to be the universal fat experience. However, in a world where the fat experience is ignored and undervalued, it’s important to acknowledge that one-third of the US population is considered “overweight” and to be quite honest, there’s a whole shit ton of fat people out there that can relate.
The devastating state of my finances led me to reevaluate my work from home lifestyle. Back to the traditional workforce for me!
(Corrissa's 300 dollars worth of junk food is not going to buy itself.)
Sifting through the slew of job postings on this website and the next, I started getting discouraged. How can I best set myself up for success? Which kinds of jobs should I be applying to? At this point, I was pretty tight on cash, and needed to find something stable and also reasonably accessible as a fat person. I can’t stand on my feet for more than half an hour without feeling excruciating pain. I can’t walk long distances, stairs, or fit in tight spaces. Anything with high customer traffic that wouldn’t allow me to take very frequent breaks to sit down will not work. This pretty much cuts out all sales, retail, and food service positions.
(You're just being lazy Jay. A lot of fatties work those kind of jobs.)
I finally started taking chances on applying for positions within the social work field. Surely, that field is much more likely to be able to provide accommodations for my limited mobility and size. But in reflection of multiple interviews, I came up against another obstacle.
What If They Don’t Want To Hire Me Because I’m Fat?
Let’s say, for funsies, that a person of size with limited mobility like myself does in fact land that job that ticks all the right boxes. I pushed through the initial interview – the big reveal of my true size and somehow the weight bias didn’t thwart me. No sighs of relief just yet. Every moment following will require extra thought, preparation, advocacy, and most of all – vulnerability.
What To Wear And How Will It Be Perceived?
It often surprises me when I talk to thin people about buying clothes and they don’t already know that I can’t shop in-store. I cannot. I’m not exaggerating, there are no options. Suggestions about just popping over to Walmart for some cheap dress pants are irrelevant to me. Most if not all clothing stores do not carry my size in pants, shirts, sweaters, coats, underwear, tank tops etc. Nothing. If I need a blouse or a button up, I have to shop online. This means it not only costs more, but the fit is unpredictable and last minute purchases are impossible. Being a superfat, I’m further limited by which online stores even carry my size. I can count on one hand the stores that do and most of the time, those stores only have a few items in my size listed. (Walmart clothing is not good enough, for our "superfat" Jay.)
As stated previously, common perceptions of fat people are that we are lazy and unprofessional. A way to combat this in a traditional workplace where the dress code is business casual, is to upgrade our wardrobe and make sure we’re looking professional. But have you ever noticed that the standards for thin people to be considered professional versus fat people don’t really align? A thin person can wear a cardigan over a v-neck tee and look business casual. The same outfit would be perceived as dressed down or even “frumpy” on a fat person. Dress pants in straight sizes seem to have all the proportions correct. Meanwhile, fat people are drowning in our dress pants because whoever’s designing them believes our ankles are the same width as our thighs, (typically not the case). How are we supposed to adhere to rules not made with us in mind?
The Seating Situation
Navigating unfamiliar spaces brings on a lot of anxiety for many superfats. Personally, I was really worried about what kind of work space I would have at my new job, considering I’d be spending damn near 8 hours of my day there. Will the chairs have arms? Will they be sturdy? Almost every superfat has a story about a time when a chair crumbled beneath them. My worst fear is always that on my first day, I’ll crush a chair in front of all my new coworkers and I’ll have to first, struggle to get up off of the floor and then immediately find a bathroom to go cry in out of embarrassment. Not fun.
And even if that worst case scenario doesn’t happen, what would finding appropriate seating look like? Not every workplace has funding to provide appropriate chairs for varied individuals. Nor are they required to prioritize that need. Further, how might you feel sharing this need with a superior you’ve just met, drawing attention to something so vulnerable to judgement?
A Superfat In The Workplace Who Eats
Is it true that thin people judge what a fat person chooses to eat? Yes. We’re human, we make judgments about people. Our society is obsessed with diet culture and thinness. We place moral implications on decisions related to food. We value health and beauty standards above all else. It would be naive to think that a fat person could eat whatever they wanted, however much they wanted, without their thin peers making judgments about what they should/shouldn’t be consuming, or why they’re consuming it.
This is why I consistently have anxiety about groceries every single week. I worry a lot about what my peers think about the foods I bring in. I fear that they’ll make judgments about my need to snack throughout the day. I’m afraid they’ll deem me a “bad fatty,” if I decide to bring food that I’m supposed to feel guilty about eating. But then, if I bring items that are typically seen as healthy, I worry they’ll make the wrong conclusions and decide to engage in conversations with me about dieting (yes, this does happen).
What can I bring for snacks that will feel satisfying? What will make the least noise and draw the least amount of attention? How can I make sure my meal looks balanced? Do I want it to be balanced for my own benefit or to try and control how I am perceived about the food I eat?
Establishing myself as A Fatty Who Eats Freely in the workplace requires courage and a lot of work. I have to be strong in my values and even repeat them to myself in times of insecurity. This is a lot of unnecessary stress and emotional labor.
Am I Going To Be Put In Physically Demanding Situations?
Its nearly impossible to anticipate every potential physical activity that’ll be involved in a new job. Still, you can gather the basics. How big is the property? Will I be expected to regularly walk long distances? Is there a lot of driving involved? How much standing will there be?
The thing is, the definition of what is “physically demanding” is subjective. And I think the general public expects fat folks to suffer through more pain and discomfort than thin people. The narrative is that we did this to ourselves, so we should suffer through until we fix the problem; our fatness. Again, forcing us to feel like we have to shrink to the space instead of make the space safer for everyone.
It’s terrifying trying to advocate for ourselves knowing that most people feel this way about us and our bodies. I have been in numerous situations where I’ve pushed myself past my limits, injured my body, and even had a full meltdown because I forced myself to endure pain that my thin counterparts wouldn’t even entertain suffering through. Expecting that everyone will be able to participate in the same level of activity, without leaving room for accommodations, does not create a fair and ethical workplace.
Okay, But…Who Cares?
Unfortunately, internalized fatphobia, shame, and fear leaves fat folks feeling like they have to shrink to fit the space – both figuratively and literally. Make our bodies smaller as well as our voices. We often stay silent to remain safe instead of demanding that we be valued for our worth and that our needs get met. And honestly, I’m one of those people a lot of the time.
“Even The Most Progressive Activists Forget To Include Fat People As A Marginalized Group Needing Such Advocacy.”
So what am I asking you to do exactly? If you’re reading this post, you’re probably someone who cares about social justice. You may even advocate for social change to protect our most vulnerable populations. The problem is, many of these discussions leave out the fat experience. Even the most progressive activists forget to include fat people as a marginalized group needing such advocacy.
Link to blog post: https://comfyfat.com/2019/12/23/superfat-in-the-workplace/