DISCLAIMER: IT IS NOT MY INTENTION TO INTIMIDATE, DISCRIMINATE, UNDERMINE, OR SILENCE ANYONE. I WILL MENTION INFLUENCERS, AS THEY ARE PUBLIC FIGURES. I MENTION POSTS ON THE SUBJECT MATTER AS THEY ARE PUBLIC AND WILL CRITIQUE THEM AS SUCH. WHAT IS WRITTEN HERE ARE MY OPINIONS; CRITIQUE MINE AS SUCH. DISAGREE IF YOU WANT. IT’S OKAY.

Freckles, missing limbs, and skin color are things people cannot change and are out of a person’s control (for the most part). People have the right to live their lives however they wish so long as they aren’t hurting themselves, their loved ones, or breaking any laws. If someone wants to wear a fursuit in public, go ahead. If someone likes to be spanked in public and consent is present, have at it. If someone wants to spend their day watching YouTube videos with a bowl of chips and ice cream, have fun. If someone wants to eat an entire cake under the guise of being powerful to the little girls who don’t have plus-sized role models and still preach they’re healthy and influence vulnerable women to do the same, THAT in there lays a problem. There is a difference between wanting to feel beautiful outside of a rigid outdated beauty ideal and forcing conformity and complicity into idolizing self-destructive behavior. I’m sure you know who I’m talking about.

There are many opinions on body positivity and how atypical bodies needed more representation, respect, and validation. When the phrase was first introduced, I thought it was something beneficial. There was a lack of photos untouched by Photoshop, plastic surgery, and age. Leaked photos of celebrities without makeup to show the average consumer how celebrities were “just like us” were prevalent. Women with scars and prosthetics were idolized for being more than the sum of their perceived disabilities. However, something struck me different about “body positivity.” I got to see bodies like mine: stomach rolls, jiggling thighs, flab under the arms, stubble on legs, and visible cellulite. Women had stretch marks and were proud of them. I remember a post about a mom calling them “tiger stripes” to her young daughter and later saw her daughter drawing “tiger stripes” on herself to be like her mother. A young woman with Down Syndrome walked the runway and more diversity was present in the media. Barbie was no longer two races with the same body proportions. It was such a wonderful world to live in…until it wasn’t. The message of loving your flaws and not being reduced to a visible label has been perverted and hijacked. The new message of “fat acceptance” morphed into a toxic community with restricted membership, wishy-washy guidelines of what does and doesn’t qualify as supportive of their movement, and a combative mentality against anything perceived as denying their right to be fat and proud.

From what I have read in the Reddit groups r/fatlogic and r/fatphobic and seen on YouTube videos, women within the fat acceptance/body positivity communities are not confident. In the group pages, posts detail how personal trainers are “stuck on diet culture” when they wish to invoke “healthier food choices” and eat in moderation, delete friends’ posts noting “correlations between obesity and death”, and become furious when a “non-fat person talks fondly about something inaccessible to fat people.” (Reddit, 2021) Terms such as “Fatphobic”, “misogyny”, “patriarchy”, “racist”, and “discrimination” are commonplace in their novellas of rants, posts on social media, and since become buzz words in their community. These terms are especially aimed toward doctors who address the dangers of being such a large size. While presenting beauty and confidence online, the women in this community are insecure and, in some cases, project their doubts and lack of restraint onto others to present themselves as victims. This doesn’t mean they never faced trauma. Many obese women appearing on the TLC show “My 600 LB Life” are survivors of abuse, dysfunctional families, and former addictions. Some were former members of the body positive/fat acceptance community (In Touch, 2021). The difference lays whether one takes advantage of mental help resources and changes the lifestyle that resulted in their unhealthy size. Not everyone overcomes their demons. The tragedy lays when one changes the narrative. This is where body positivity/fat acceptance enters the scene.

A community welcoming you without judgment, not bullying you for your body, and providing love, acceptance, and comfort provides a sense of belonging. However, the inclusion of this new band of friends and de-facto family comes at a price. To be a member of fat acceptance one must be a fat woman. However, just being an overweight woman isn’t enough. Maintaining the permanent status of the fat acceptance community includes disregarding portion sizes, never saying “no” to an extra serving of anything, heeding no mind to the ways our bodies tell us we have had enough to eat, and shutting down the mention of dieting and exercising. In other words, you must get bigger or stay an already large size (McDaniel, Everything Wrong With Fat Acceptance, 2017). Influencer and fat sex therapist Sonalee Rashatwar categorizes levels of fatness within the community as small fats, medium fats, large fats, and infini-fats. While she did not originally spring these terms, they have become popular labels in the fat acceptance community. One member states preferring the term “Infini-fat” rather than “the medically meaningless, and offensive, “morbidly obese” most would use to describe my body.” (James, 2020) Losing weight results in losing their fanbase, sponsorships, and surrogate family. They will turn their backs on you and try to discourage you from wanting to change your body. Common statements include “You’re fine the way you are” and “You’re beautiful”. The fat acceptance community deems actions such as weight loss photos, wanting to eat better, and owning a scale as “fatphobic” and “triggering” (McDaniel, Scales are NOT Fat Positive (Responding to the Fat Sex Therapist’s post), 2019). Sonalee states how society is so deep into “internalized fatphobia” that we need to watch erotic videos to condition ourselves into being attracted to women with a larger frame. According to her, we need to change our “internalized fatphobia” to support them, but they cannot change their mindset to support us in weight loss. An instance Sonalee relates is an experience at a convention for plus-size clothing designers where she felt “no shame” with plus-sized designers giving her larger sizes whereas if she went to a “small white fat” retail worker, she would have felt ashamed and judged by her. Sonalee even went as far as to desire a world run by a more diverse world run by fat feminists; extra credit points if they were non-binary (McDaniel, Not FAT Enough For Body Positivity (Sonalee and CurvyCon), 2019). However, Sonalee and other members of the fat acceptance community believe society is so focused on the dangers of obesity and deep into our “fatphobic” way of thinking to the point where obese bodies are a bigger threat than even terrorism.

“Do they think we’ll all explode? I say this with a certain amount of laughter mixed with derision, but it’s also incredibly alarming to know that a Surgeon General of the United States would make such a statement…. My body size is not going to change in any significant way. However, my life, and the lives of other fat people, could change. If only the world would accept that bodies come in a variety of sizes, our lives could be so much better.” (James, 2020)

To answer James’s question, go your body will not explode but may implode. She is correct; the lives of other fat people could change, but it may not be the best kind of change. Second, it’s not just fat bodies garnering attention. All bodies receive positive and critical attention.

Gaining more popularity and notoriety, the fat acceptance movement has been facing fair amounts of criticism and backlash. One thing to note is how most of its members are women. Plus-size women to be exact. These women are using their weight and lifestyle as a marketing tool to show other women they can be happy and successful DESPITE being fat (McDaniel, Everything Wrong With Fat Acceptance, 2017). They wear fashionable clothing, wear makeup akin to runway models, post pictures of their meals, and make posts about their perceived happiness and success in their lives as fat and plus-sized women. However, they become enraged when confronted with facts about how their weight is affecting their health. Suddenly, we are bullies for wanting to educate and inform about the dangers of obesity. Worse is how women in the fat acceptance community are quick to attack the appearance of non-overweight people when they mention health and get triggered by non-members using the word “fat”. Cue retaliations; “I’m curvy!”, “I have (insert medical condition here)”, and “I’m just big-boned.” What’s worse is how they put their body fat on the same tier as missing limbs, burns, scars, etc.—physical attributes often suffered and/or subjected to out of one’s control (Docherty, 2020). For a movement aimed toward accepting and validating nonconforming body types, they don’t accept naturally muscular, thin, or differently proportioned women and go as far as to bully them for their appearance. When women outside of the realm of body positivity make a post about how their average bodies are not “Instagram model-type” bodies and their rolls, cellulite, etc., suddenly “slender people” get more recognition than plus-size creators and need to not take up space meant for plus-sized creators (McDaniel, Body Positivity is ONLY for FAT Women, 2020). This has been the case for plus-size model, influencer, and activist Tess Holliday.

Tess Holliday, who has arguably made herself the face of the fat acceptance movement, will not take harsh (perceived or confirmed) words towards her lightly. While standing up to bullies is commendable, admiration of her diminished upon her treatment of her fans, her need to remain in the spotlight, her temper, and her hypocrisy (Docherty, 2020). As a model, Tess’s career is based on her outer appearance. Perfect hair, perfect make-up, expensive clothes, and strutting down the runway. With her flaming hair and pouty lips, Tess has the face to be a model. She is an attractive woman. Tess’s appearance on fashion runways brings attention and diversity to the fashion industry (Lowe, 2019). In the context of being a model, she lacks the height, weight, effortless stride, and professionalism. As a model, she maintains her appearance through plastic surgery, clothes, hair extensions, and makeup yet does not participate in “diet culture”. Due to her frame, she cannot wear what other models wear. Clothes are draped over her to appropriately cover her body and comfortable enough high heels are given to her to prevent possible injuries most likely. Shoes still don’t bridge the height gap between her and the other models. Steps are choppy and uneven. Clothes may or may not flatter her. I suspect if a different model cheekily shimmied their over-developed chest at New York Fashion Week as Tess did, that model would be blacklisted (Lowe, 2019). If the fashion industry is wanting to change its guidelines to prevent eating disorders, is allowing a woman on the opposite end of the spectrum still promoting eating disorders? Not to mention, if Tess wanted to support more body types, why be part of such a toxic industry? If we’re glorifying another unhealthy body type, should we do the same with anorexia? Does it deserve a feature article and being on the cover of a magazine? If the fat acceptance movement believes in health at every size and not listening to the concerns of doctors, then it shouldn’t be a problem. In Tess’s own words,

“To say (and believe) things like “if you’re fat you’re automatically unhealthy” is wildly inaccurate. You can absolutely be overweight and be healthy…so according to my BMI, I’m obese. Which is hilarious to me—not because I think being unhealthy is funny, but because I’m healthy. Extremely so, in fact. I’m able to keep up with my children perfectly…even now, I’m typing this standing up….” (Docherty, 2020)

With Tess able to keep up with young children despite her large size, standing for long amounts of time, and her ability to walk a runway, should the focus move toward other eating disorders the fat acceptance movement feels we need to address such as anorexia? Since Tess has since come out as being “in recovery” and is “finally able to care for a body that I’ve punished my entire life & I am finally free.” (France, 2021) If Tess is “finally free” to care for her body, then maybe she would want to find a way to be healthier to show how much she loves her body and show the world fat women do work out. However, this is seen as being fatphobic and nosy. If Tess’s handful of videos of her working out (despite gaining weight since her first appearance) will be used as proof of her anorexia diagnosis, then her scores of videos dancing while overeating prove the opposite. According to Tess, her body is her business alone, yet it’s the basis of her brand and fame as a public figure. In 2019, fan and former follower Jenny posted a before and after picture of herself mentioning

“I am so amazed at my own progress, my capabilities and my strength. I am unapologetically in love with my fight and my hustle. When I see this kind of progress; I could cry because I remember all the rough days, emotional roller coasters and @morphelife sessions I struggled through to get here. My body and my progress tell a story…to be continued!” (Instagram, 2019)

Jenny’s success was soured upon reading Tess’s reaction about how before and after pictures are “triggering” and “fatphobic”. According to Tess, progress photos are not body positive under the guise of how Jenny was supposedly saying how “there was something wrong” with her previous body and appeared offended that Jenny unfollowed her (Perez Hilton, 2019). Jenny remained civil, emphasizing Tess’s opinions, and explaining her settings automatically unfollowing anyone who unfollows her. Jenny later asked her followers on her Instagram story whether her post fell within the lines of body positivity based on her conversation with Tess. In the end, she found a way to still be a supporter of body positivity and be part of a new and healthy lifestyle:

“… “I can be fat and fabulous, I can eat whatever I want.” That mentality is also dangerous…I found myself feeling the worse I’ve ever felt, struggling with sleep apnea and tired all the time, with high cholesterol and pre-diabetes. I made the choice to lose weight because of the way I felt, not motivated by the way I looked but there should be no shame in also wanting to look better, either!” (Instagram, 2019)

Jenny has since stepped back from supporting the mindset of one can be fat and healthy, practices veganism, and continues her weight loss journey. This is the opposite of her role model. Tess continues to gain weight yet claims health in a manner to not lose her following. If Tess were to admit she was going to the gym and seeing her personal trainer for health, she would have to admit to her followers her current body is not healthy, strong, or beautiful to her. More importantly, Tess would have to admit her fame is due to her being a traditionally attractive woman with an obese frame outside the realm of traditional modeling.

Considering there are no known movements glamorizing eating disorders as unhealthy and horrific as anorexia and bulimia, it is baffling how there is a movement dedicated to glamorizing the opposite spectrum of disordered eating. According to National Eating Disorders Association, Binge Eating Disorder (BED) is more than three times more common than anorexia and bulimia combined. Given this fact, the fat acceptance movement diminishes the dangers of overeating under the guise of being “powerful” and “confident”. As a former fat girl, I did not feel powerful after eating an entire pizza from Pizza Hut with a side of breadsticks and two big glasses of Coke. I did not feel confident when in middle school gym class, it took me almost twenty minutes to run one mile. I did not feel powerful when my inner thighs were red and chaffing when I walked. I did not feel any combination of power or positivity when the scale read 183 pounds. Given that BED often begins in the late teens or early 20s but can be present in younger children and older adults, more attention needs to be brought to the dangers and consequences of BED where obesity can result if the person or persons affected may not be active. Those affected are not just women; about 40% of those with binge eating disorders are male (National Eating Disorders Association, 2021). Unfortunately, men are excluded from entry into the fat acceptance movement. According to influencer and YouTuber Raffela Mancuso, “body positivity is for fat people of colour” in response to fellow YouTuber Obese to Beast noting his loose skin being outside of ideal body standards, Mancuso’s gatekeeping, and lack of a formal definition of body positivity. One exception seen is average-sized men with a particular fondness for oversized and overweight women.

Interwoven in the body positivity/fat acceptance movement are hordes of men showering these overweight and obese women with love, acceptance, and more food. Despite not being able to join the movement as men, they are held in high favor as they promote fat acceptance through their relationships with these overweight and obese women. The downside is that these men are with these women specifically because the women are overweight (McDaniel, Everything Wrong With Fat Acceptance, 2017). I’m not going to lie and say I understand this attraction, i.e., fetish. People have different kinks and preferences. If they are consenting adults of sound mind and no one is getting hurt, let them do them. Literally. The difference in this fetish—feederism—is the sexual arousal and gratification obtained from the process of gaining weight or assisting someone else to gain weight. I don’t understand being aroused by my partner being in pain due to feeding them constantly. It’s not arousing watching someone get bloated and feel pain. While there is the safer practice of one of the parties, the feedie, wearing a fat suit for their partner or a third party, often this is not the case (Sexuality Wiki, 2020). With this, women enter a dangerous relationship where their health and wellness are disregarded in favor of their partner’s pleasure and/or the pleasure of a third party—someone who pays the women to eat and experience pain from overeating on camera. These men are seen as supporting the movement as being intimate with plus-sized women is body positive. If they were like “traditional cis-men” and preferred thin or average-sized women, they would be “fatphobic” and supporting a patriarchal society for ignoring a beautiful pat woman (McDaniel, Everything Wrong With Fat Acceptance, 2017). In extreme cases, women become so massive to the point of immobility and use their size as a means of income. I am in no way saying a woman cannot be fat and beautiful. If a woman is plus-sized and wants to show off her body in revealing clothes or nothing at all and show photos of themselves to strangers and loved ones eating an entire cake with a two-liter soda, then go ahead. It’s not my personal taste. Concern lays for in this line of business and type of relationship is where the limit is. How much weight is enough? Is there an end goal? If so, what is it? Is it worth it in the long run? Would someone be congratulating a girl for hitting their “goal weight” of 300 pounds plus the same way another would if their goal was 90 pounds or less?

It isn’t healthy for everyone to be a size two just the same way it isn’t healthy for everyone to be a size 22 and above. You cannot advocate for health at every size but agree being underweight is unhealthy. You cannot ignore doctor’s warnings about your health only to say you have a condition a doctor would diagnose you with (i.e., PCOS, thyroid issue, and endometriosis) that magically prevents you from losing weight. Pick a side and stay consistent. In the case of fat sex therapist Sonalee Rashatwar, she takes her stance within the fat acceptance community to detestable and nonsensical levels. While speaking at St. Olaf College, Sonalee claimed medical science has “Nazi origins” and “white supremacist beauty ideals” on top of being “fatphobic” In addition, Sonalee stated during her talk,

“We should be critical of the use of science and the production of knowledge to continue promoting this idea that certain bodies are fit, able, and desirable…is it my fatness that causes my high blood pressure, or is it my experience of weight stigma?” (Ciccotta, 2019)

The public talk did not improve. If self-acceptance and body positivity include the belief that forcing a child to diet is akin to molesting them in that “a child cannot consent to being on a diet the same way a child cannot consent to having sex”, I don’t want to be part of the said community nor associated with someone of that caliber. Luckily, Sonalee’s testimonies left a sour taste in one student’s mouth. On top of finding Sonalee’s messages about health “troubling” at best,

“The entire speech was very troubling to me….I know from personal experience that health is absolutely connected with weight…when you decide to give up and claim that doctors are lying to you and you’re perfect the way you are, all you truly end up with is repressed emotions and an early funeral…I can guarantee that maintaining healthy eating habits will help me live a much longer and healthier life than I was originally on track to have. Your life can only improve if you take responsibility for yourself.” (Ciccotta, 2019)

The stance of equating dieting to being a victim of sexual abuse on a college campus is revolting and was sure to grab attention. Further discussion and critiques on Sonalee’s talk at St. Olaf College have not been found. To answer her question, her fatness does cause high blood pressure. It also causes her to walk with a cane, be winded and sweaty when struggling to try on clothes, develop bacteria in between the folds of her body from not being able to clean herself properly, and can result in further damage to her body down the road.

According to personal trainer, small business owner, and influencer Michelle McDaniel, you do not have to be a size two, have bulging muscles, or a six-pack to be healthy. However, health is important. Upon discovering her channel, I realized how close I was to becoming a member of the movement when Michelle detailed her past as a fat girl blaming her weight on genetics, environment, and the lack of education about health in her video “Why You’re FAT and She’s Skinny! (It’s not FAIR)”. Michelle is honest to herself and viewers about how she nearly became part of the fat acceptance community. Giving details about her childhood, Michelle related how she was never told about portion and serving sizes, ate whatever she wanted, and was told by friends she wasn’t fat as she became heavier. As a woman with endometriosis and PCOS, Michelle does not use the diagnoses as end-all excuses for not living a healthy life; she works harder than an average person, plans her meals and workout routine, and has a strong support system. In her videos, Michelle relates how health affects families, relationships, and themselves; she has seen firsthand the adverse effects of excess fat literally weighing someone down—high blood pressure, limited mobility, diabetes, heart attack, stroke, pressure injuries, and more. Her honesty about her past motivated me to find my own path to accept my body and find the healthiest body for me. I still struggle and expect to struggle more, but my health is more important to me more than my pride.

Health is something we need to find a balance in our lives—physical, mental, emotional, etc. I struggle with this during my own journey of body acceptance. I’ve failed diets, tried easy ways out, gained weight, convinced myself that my lack of love life was equated to my weight, believed my mom when she told me I was “curvy”, and secretly resented my skinner friends. What changed? I grew up and did research. A part of me always knew I was fat. Once I accepted I was fat, I ignored fad diets and influencers pushing magic spills and shakes to flat stomachs and found ways to motivate myself in a safe and healthy way. The biggest thing I did was retaliate if I felt my weight was going to be scrutinized. Looking deeper into myself, I found my ten-year-old self—unprepared for her body maturing and eating her anxieties away. If body positivity was part of my vocabulary at ten years old, I would have used it as an excuse to eat whatever I wanted yet still desire a quick fix deep down. I’m still insecure in the way I look, specifically my weight. However, I have methods to safely control and monitor my weight and a support system to prevent me from diving into unsafe methods to lose weight. Women in the body positive/fat acceptance community either do not have the resources to change or choose not to practice it.

There is nothing stopping the body positive or fat acceptance communities from promoting self-acceptance, health at all sizes, and their beauty. Nothing is physically stopping these women from blocking their photos of them showing off their bodies and their boards of inspirational quotes and mantras. What will stop them eventually is the way they treat their bodies and overall health. Without a proper form of healthy eating and physical activity, their life expectancy will decrease as the risks for diabetes, insulin resistance, high blood pressure, stroke, heart attack, certain types of cancers, and other chronic illnesses increases (Jerry R. Balentine, 2019). Having a heart attack, stroke, high blood pressure, and others due to unhealthy choices and lack of self-control is not powerful. Acting like a child when other people don’t agree with your (public) platform and have scientific proof as to why being at an unhealthy weight is wrong is not inspiring. Dying from a condition or disease due to overeating, ignoring medical concerns, and being too deep into food addiction and the need to belong rather than be alone is not beautiful. Building lines of defense to hide the truth does nothing but cultivate and enable an already toxic mindset. Members of the fat acceptance/body positive community are dying a slow and painful death, but either don’t care, don’t realize it, or accept it. Wearing “Riots not Diets” and “Eff Your Beauty Standards” t-shirts, posting Instagram mantras about the negativity of “diet culture” and “thin privilege” gaslight the community into a false idea of health and harmony (Reddit, 2021). Promoting a toxic mentality, packaging it as powerful, love-bombing already insecure women, and shifting the focus away from already marginalized communities is one of the ugliest things I’ve come across.

Under the guise of fat acceptance, fat pride, and fat liberation, a dangerous eating disorder is presented as nothing to be concerned with and needs to be left alone. A point of contention is how fat acceptance notes a lack of a pro-anorexia movement advertised. Searching Instagram, there is no #anorexia nor #anoxeriapride with millions of followers and supporters sharing photos about how they don’t eat and constantly exercise to maintain a sickly appearance. While searching YouTube, results for “anorexia” shows most videos detailing one’s journey and recovery from the eating disorder. According to YoutTube’s guidelines, posting videos “praising, glorifying, or encouraging viewers to imitate anorexia or other eating disorders” are not allowed on their website. If anorexia tips and advertising are not permitted under the guise of “showing a dangerous activity or encouraging dangerous activities” to its viewers, then the popular mukbang challenges and personal trainers eating tens of thousands of calories need to be removed. After all, those videos have the potential to influence their viewers, especially younger viewers. We as a community would never want to potentially put a minor “in harmful situations that may lead to injury, including dangerous stunts, dares, or pranks” (Google, 2021). When a minor suffers from anorexia or bulimia, many offer condolences and wish for the person to seek help, but overweight or obese woman posting photos of herself with calorie-dense meals has many praising her beauty, power, and perceived bravery. Here, fat acceptance turns a blind eye about their platform glamorizing another eating disorder. Comments voicing concern for their health get blocked, removed, or told by the influencer and her followers that her health is no one else’s business. Often, those who express well-meaning concern are bullied by these same women preaching love and acceptance for those outside of the norm (McDaniel, Body Positivity is ONLY for FAT Women, 2020).

Body positivity has become “eating whatever you want and crying about it after but putting it on Instagram that you’re sexy even though you don’t truly believe it.” (McDaniel, Trisha Paytas Says Body Positivity is FAKE & You Just want to BINGE, 2021) The overall bottom line made by influencer and model Trisha Paytas highlights the hypocrisy of the movement. Members of the communities force their narrative, stoke anger with claims of intentional weight loss and “gym culture” being discriminatory, and refuse to accept accountability. It’s everyone else who has a problem; they just want to live their big, fat fabulous lives. If they’re truly happy, why the rage from the fat acceptance community about people needing to “check their thin privilege”, excuses, and shunning celebrities starting journeys to become healthier (Garcia, 2020)? They are working women, moms, friends, business owners, etc. These women are more than their bodies. When women in the movement project their insecurities on these celebrities and base their identities on these favorite celebrities’ bodies, fat acceptance turns into a joke. Their supposed elitism hides the fact they’re trapped. There is no clear path or definition of what it means to be fat and body positive or what is “fatphobic” (McDaniel, Everything Wrong With Fat Acceptance, 2017). If someone from the community says it is, it must be taken as gospel truth to avoid risks of alienation. The one clear direction being fat positive leads its members is to a slow, painful, and possibly early death. Knowing this, make a positive change to your body and see where those changes can lead you physically, mentally, and emotionally. Not everyone is attractive by normal beauty standards, but we should not have to force a society to conform to our mindset. Having loose skin, a missing limb, stretch marks, freckles, or even a couple of rolls doesn’t make us less worthy of love and presence in the world. Love your body but be honest. No one should be forced into accommodating themselves to fix choices made by someone else when they knew the consequences. While many can “hide” parts of their bodies with the right clothing, makeup, and camera angles to fit an “idealized beauty standard”, the fat acceptance community cannot hide their anger and insecurity about their choices behind mantras about empowerment, “sticking it” to the Man with every bite of cake, and hating those with “thin privilege” (McDaniel, Body Positivity is ONLY for FAT Women, 2020).

Yes, I am “fatphobic.” I’m scared of being diagnosed with diabetes like my dad was in his fifties in a hospital bed because his unhealthy choices caught up to him. I’m scared of eating myself to the point of immobility and forcing my husband into the caretaker role. I’m scared of dying young because of a stroke, heart attack, blood clot, or some form of cancer. I’m scared of my body collapsing under the weight of my choices. I’m scared of losing limbs, because of health-related issues I brought upon myself. I’m scared of not growing old with my husband, having a family, and making new memories. I’m scared of regressing back to the insecure girl I was. I’m scared of projecting my lack of control onto strangers who may be struggling with something I don’t know. I’m scared of finally making a choice to become healthy only to be told by a doctor that it’s too late because I was listening to insecure women glamorize and promote a lifestyle that resulted in my death. However, I do not have a phobia of fatness or a fat person; if I did, I would never leave my apartment. Do not twist the literal definition of “phobia”, medical facts detailing the effects of excess fat and poor dieting, claim “discrimination”, and play the victim when not everything accommodates you. No one said anything about how a fat person not deserving love and happiness. Disability blogger Melissa Blake states, “Your weight doesn’t determine your beauty. Your appearance doesn’t determine your beauty. The number on the scale doesn’t make you worthy or unworthy.” The downside lays in that number determining your quality of life and what your body might be capable of; being strong and healthy at 300 pounds and higher is a lie. Obesity is “not only an underpinning of major chronic diseases” but a serious debilitating condition in its own right (Docherty, 2020). Bodies were not designed to carry an excess of one hundred pounds and higher. This much fat on our bodies, visceral especially, limits movement by adding pressure on joints and suffocating internal organs. This alone should discredit the fat acceptance platform, but as long as fat activism proves to be marketable, insecure women everywhere will eat themselves to death under the falsehood of liberation.

Works Cited

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Docherty, K. (2020, October 2). The Toxic World of Tess Holliday and Fat Activism. Retrieved from YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlkkG6mKTCk&list=WL&index=1

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Garcia, C. (2020, May 6). People are marveling at Adele’s weight loss, but others are outraged at the fat-shaming. Retrieved from Blaze Media: https://www.theblaze.com/news/adele-lost-weight-and-fat-activists-lost-their-minds

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James, J. (2020, August 28). This Is What Life Is Really Like When You Weigh Over 400 Pounds. Retrieved from HuffPost: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/infinifat-fat-life-over-400-pounds-fatphobia_n_5e4ad05bc5b64ba297534c7c

Jerry R. Balentine, D. F. (2019, December 19). Obesity. Retrieved from MedicineNet: https://www.medicinenet.com/obesity_weight_loss/article.htm

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