On fatness and humanity
My body is not a disease to be eradicated

I’ve been trying to write about the current landscape of anti-fatness and thinness obsession due to the skyrocketing popularity of GLP-1 drugs and their scorched earth approach to advertising. As always I am struggling to put my feelings into words but this time it seems especially difficult. Everything comes with a caveat. Yes, these drugs are increasingly being used by people who have no reason to take them, who were never the intended users. Yes, the marketing for GLP-1 drugs, both the brand names and the compounded version, is everywhere and it feels inescapable. And at the same time, I can’t entirely hate GLP-1s. I know that these drugs are helping diabetics and now it seems that they are helping people with chronic inflammatory conditions and even long covid. I refuse to throw the baby out with the bathwater when it comes to GLP-1s.

But I can’t deny that this class of drugs has ushered in an era of thinness (even amongst people who don’t take the drugs) that feels downright violent. How am I, an extremely fat woman, supposed to react to pharmaceutical press releases that beam about eliminating obesity altogether? So often I try to back up my arguments with evidence: links to medical journal articles, genuine news sites, etc. In a way it’s like begging to be taken seriously because people, and the medical community especially, are so quick to make assumptions and ultimately rob me of my humanity. As a woman of size, people see my body first and usually have their mind made up about me before I can even open my mouth. I keep these links and articles on hand as a way to say, “See? I’m not crazy. I’m not making it up.”

The thing is, people want to believe that this has nothing to do with them. They want to believe that size has a direct correlation with health and that as long as they can get down to the “ideal” size, they will be saved. They want to believe that they will always be healthy and independent and that those wishes have absolutely nothing to do with the colonial eugenicist ideals that have shaped our society.

Right now I don’t have answers, just questions. The World Health Organization and American Medical Association recognize obesity as a disease. I understand that the motivation behind this was to provide more support for people “with obesity.” But all it’s done is dehumanize us. Diseases are meant to be cured and eradicated. How does one eradicate a body type? Especially one that takes so many forms? What do I have to do to prove that my fat life has value? What do I have to do to be seen as a person and not an object of scorn?

The undercurrent of anti-fatness has always been violence and the current landscape of ultra-thinness has helped bring it to the surface. As GLP-1 ads are everywhere, our society has gotten the message that weight loss could be as easy as a single weekly shot. So of course every fat person should be running out and using these drugs as soon as possible. Never mind the people who don’t qualify for or can’t afford the drugs, couldn’t handle the side effects, or simply don’t want to take them. There is a kind of double layered anger towards fat people now: first, there is anger because we must have “done something” to get to this size, and now if we refuse GLP-1 drugs, we are “choosing to be fat.” I constantly see rhetoric saying that fat people don’t deserve to shop in regular stores for clothing, that we should be barred from air travel, and that we generally shouldn’t be part of society until we are at an acceptable weight. Much like the Ugly Laws of the Victorian era, people want us to be invisible, kept separate from the rest of society until our bodies are whittled down to the proper size. I’ve seen people go as far as to argue that fat people generally shouldn’t be comfortable or even allowed to eat until we are smaller (as if weight loss is simply a matter of calorie restriction). But where does it end? Who decides what the ideal weight cut off is for each individual? And once you have finally been shrunken down to society’s ideals, do you really think it will end there? Of course not. Control over body size can easily mutate into concepts of ideal body shapes and measurement ratios. After all, anti-fatness is rooted in colonial ideologies of what constitutes the ideal body (surprise, it’s being white and thin). Anti-fatness isn’t a slippery slope toward eugenics, rather it’s the first step of the journey. As long as this rhetoric continues, bodies like mine will continue to be seen as failures and aberrations. But I am here to tell you that my body is not a failure. It is not a disease to be cured. My humanity is not determined by a number on a scale.

https://thatgoodnight.substack.com/p/on-fatness-and-humanity

#HealthSelfDefense #AntiFatphobia #FatLiberation

Da’Shaun Harrison: Belly of the Beast – The Politics of Anti-Fatness as Anti-Blackness

“What is the utility of "body positivity" if it only seeks to provide one with a false sense of confidence rather than to liberate all from that which cages the body?”

“Health, in name and in action, has always existed to abuse, to dominate, and to subjugate. The medical industry, the health care industry, and the diet industry all exist to maintain a culture intended to “discipline” those whose bodies refuse to—and, for many, simply cannot—conform to the standards of health.”

“Body positivity individualizes something that is bigger than the individual.”

“Insecurities are not a personal indictment; they are an indictment of the World. Being that this is the case, people deemed Ugly should run toward Insecurity. Not as a trauma to inform their politics—as it is dangerous to navigate the world of politics through trauma rather than an informed praxis—but as a political tool that aids in developing their understanding of and relationship to oppressive power structures.”

“if love, of self or of others, is to play a role at all in any liberatory efforts, it must be a starting point and not an end. If self-love is where we start, it must be the driving force behind our continued struggle; otherwise, we become stagnant and immovable, fixated on always challenging how we see our bodies and never getting to the place where we no longer have to interrogate our bodies at all.”

“If the caged bird is the Beast, trapped and taunted by the idea of freedom, then like it, the Black fat sings with a fearful trill of things unknown but longed for still; we sit on graves of dreams not yet seen. In those dreams, which may never resurrect, there's a place--not the World--where we live and breathe as beings not bound by identifiers and qualifiers predicated on anti-Blackness. Where we are not Black or white, not thin or fat, not cis or trans, not queer or straight, not bound or unbound. In that place, the caged bird is not freed from its cage; in that place, the cage never existed for the bird to ever be bound by.”

Why Don’t We Recommend Dieting?
https://haeshealthsheets.com/why-we-dont-recommend-intentional-weight-loss/

The short answer is that intentional weight loss attempts almost never lead to long-term significant weight loss or improvement in health, and often have negative side effects.

Dieting Doesn’t Work
We’re defining “dieting” here as any attempt to manipulate body size through food and/or movement – this would include short-term diets, “fad” diets, diets that eliminate foods, and diets that are referred to as “lifestyle changes.” If the goal is to create weight loss through food and/or movement, it counts!

Dieting Doesn’t Work
While most people are able to lose weight short term, almost everyone gains it back, with up to two-thirds of people gaining back more than they lost. So even if someone believes that becoming thinner would lead to health improvements (and that’s a big “if”) recommending intentional weight loss attempts is the worst possible advice, since it has the opposite of the intended effect the majority of the time.

Weight Cycling Can Be Dangerous
Repeated dieting typically means repeated cycles of weight loss and regain. This is “weight cycling” (sometimes referred to as “yo-yo dieting”) and it comes with its own negative side effects. In fact, the research shows that it is possible that the association between weight and health risk can be better attributed to weight cycling than body size. Weight cycling is associated with a shorter lifespan, and has been shown to increase the risk of diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and heart disease.

The Harm of Weight Stigma
Internalized negative attitudes about weight, known as weight stigma, is another mediator between body size and health. Studies show that weight stigma increases the risk of high blood pressure, metabolic syndrome, diabetes, high cholesterol, and eating disorders. This means that placing the focus of medical care on weight management is harmful and has the opposite of its intended effect on health.

Dieting Leads to Eating Disorders
Dieting is one of the most important predictors of development of eating disorders. In fact, prescribing diets often equates to prescribing disordered eating behaviors. Dieting can lead to severe restrictive eating and malnutrition, cycles of starvation and binge eating, as well as other eating disorder behaviors and their medical complications.

Weight Loss Pills and Surgeries Carry Risks
Weight loss medications may lead to short-term weight loss, but cause weight cycling in the long run, along with other potential side effects. Weight loss surgeries carry a significant risk of many complications, including death. The research shows that there are more effective ways to positively impact health that do not risk lifelong side-effects.

Weight-Neutral Health Is a Research-Based Paradigm
The evidence that exists around weight and health shows that, understanding that health is not an obligation, barometer of worthiness, or entirely within our control, weight-neutral interventions are health-promoting and carry a much lower chance of negative side effects.

#antifatphobia #fatliberation

You Have the Right to Remain Fat by Virgie Tovar

“Dieting is a practice of fatphobia. Dieting is the result of unresolved fatphobia. We become terrified of what it would mean for us to be fat because we understand fundamentally how poorly fat people are treated.”

“What we must realize is that it’s not thinness that is being eroticized. What is being eroticized is the submission thinness represents in our culture. Thinness is a secondary characteristic. The true commodity is the willingness of women to acquiesce to cultural control.”

“I gradually learned that I was less than others because I was a fat brown girl. The lessons I learned about the inferiority of my fat body were brutal; the lessons I received about my racial and gender inferiority were subtle by comparison.”

“My life wouldn’t be easier if I were thin. My life would be easier if this culture wasn’t obsessed with oppressing me because I’m fat. The solution to a problem like bigotry is not to do everything in our power to accommodate the bigotry. It is to get rid of the bigotry.”

“There is compelling evidence that racism kills people. There is compelling evidence that living with the stress of poverty leads to a number of mental health challenges. There is compelling evidence that weight-based discrimination leads to heightened levels of stress and anxiety that suppress the function of major organs.”

Why Don’t We Recommend Dieting?
https://haeshealthsheets.com/why-we-dont-recommend-intentional-weight-loss/

The short answer is that intentional weight loss attempts almost never lead to long-term significant weight loss or improvement in health, and often have negative side effects.

Dieting Doesn’t Work
We’re defining “dieting” here as any attempt to manipulate body size through food and/or movement – this would include short-term diets, “fad” diets, diets that eliminate foods, and diets that are referred to as “lifestyle changes.” If the goal is to create weight loss through food and/or movement, it counts!

Dieting Doesn’t Work
While most people are able to lose weight short term, almost everyone gains it back, with up to two-thirds of people gaining back more than they lost. So even if someone believes that becoming thinner would lead to health improvements (and that’s a big “if”) recommending intentional weight loss attempts is the worst possible advice, since it has the opposite of the intended effect the majority of the time.

Weight Cycling Can Be Dangerous
Repeated dieting typically means repeated cycles of weight loss and regain. This is “weight cycling” (sometimes referred to as “yo-yo dieting”) and it comes with its own negative side effects. In fact, the research shows that it is possible that the association between weight and health risk can be better attributed to weight cycling than body size. Weight cycling is associated with a shorter lifespan, and has been shown to increase the risk of diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and heart disease.

The Harm of Weight Stigma
Internalized negative attitudes about weight, known as weight stigma, is another mediator between body size and health. Studies show that weight stigma increases the risk of high blood pressure, metabolic syndrome, diabetes, high cholesterol, and eating disorders. This means that placing the focus of medical care on weight management is harmful and has the opposite of its intended effect on health.

Dieting Leads to Eating Disorders
Dieting is one of the most important predictors of development of eating disorders. In fact, prescribing diets often equates to prescribing disordered eating behaviors. Dieting can lead to severe restrictive eating and malnutrition, cycles of starvation and binge eating, as well as other eating disorder behaviors and their medical complications.

Weight Loss Pills and Surgeries Carry Risks
Weight loss medications may lead to short-term weight loss, but cause weight cycling in the long run, along with other potential side effects. Weight loss surgeries carry a significant risk of many complications, including death. The research shows that there are more effective ways to positively impact health that do not risk lifelong side-effects.

Weight-Neutral Health Is a Research-Based Paradigm
The evidence that exists around weight and health shows that, understanding that health is not an obligation, barometer of worthiness, or entirely within our control, weight-neutral interventions are health-promoting and carry a much lower chance of negative side effects.

#antifatphobia #fatliberation

Why Don’t We Recommend Dieting?
https://haeshealthsheets.com/why-we-dont-recommend-intentional-weight-loss/

The short answer is that intentional weight loss attempts almost never lead to long-term significant weight loss or improvement in health, and often have negative side effects.

Dieting Doesn’t Work
We’re defining “dieting” here as any attempt to manipulate body size through food and/or movement – this would include short-term diets, “fad” diets, diets that eliminate foods, and diets that are referred to as “lifestyle changes.” If the goal is to create weight loss through food and/or movement, it counts!

Dieting Doesn’t Work
While most people are able to lose weight short term, almost everyone gains it back, with up to two-thirds of people gaining back more than they lost. So even if someone believes that becoming thinner would lead to health improvements (and that’s a big “if”) recommending intentional weight loss attempts is the worst possible advice, since it has the opposite of the intended effect the majority of the time.

Weight Cycling Can Be Dangerous
Repeated dieting typically means repeated cycles of weight loss and regain. This is “weight cycling” (sometimes referred to as “yo-yo dieting”) and it comes with its own negative side effects. In fact, the research shows that it is possible that the association between weight and health risk can be better attributed to weight cycling than body size. Weight cycling is associated with a shorter lifespan, and has been shown to increase the risk of diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and heart disease.

The Harm of Weight Stigma
Internalized negative attitudes about weight, known as weight stigma, is another mediator between body size and health. Studies show that weight stigma increases the risk of high blood pressure, metabolic syndrome, diabetes, high cholesterol, and eating disorders. This means that placing the focus of medical care on weight management is harmful and has the opposite of its intended effect on health.

Dieting Leads to Eating Disorders
Dieting is one of the most important predictors of development of eating disorders. In fact, prescribing diets often equates to prescribing disordered eating behaviors. Dieting can lead to severe restrictive eating and malnutrition, cycles of starvation and binge eating, as well as other eating disorder behaviors and their medical complications.

Weight Loss Pills and Surgeries Carry Risks
Weight loss medications may lead to short-term weight loss, but cause weight cycling in the long run, along with other potential side effects. Weight loss surgeries carry a significant risk of many complications, including death. The research shows that there are more effective ways to positively impact health that do not risk lifelong side-effects.

Weight-Neutral Health Is a Research-Based Paradigm
The evidence that exists around weight and health shows that, understanding that health is not an obligation, barometer of worthiness, or entirely within our control, weight-neutral interventions are health-promoting and carry a much lower chance of negative side effects.

#antifatphobia #fatliberation

Fascism only helps fascists, and if you think fascist infighting is a good use of your time I do not want you anywhere near me. 

#meme #anarchism #anarchyMeme #antiFatphobia #disabled #actuallyAutistic

And here it is, an #intropost in which I list as many hashbrowns as possible! Incoming hashbrowns!

I’m pretty sure I’m on the planet to help people, and right now I’m pretty sure the greatest help to us all lies in overthrowing oppressive systems. Trying to live #antifascism, #antiracism / #AntiRacist, #bodyjustice / #antifatphobia, #AntiAbleism / #antiableist, pro #lbgtqai, #landback ideas and practices, and to engage in #interdependence through #mutualaid, #community, individual irl relationships, and #directaction . Since I am #disabled with #autoimmune bullshit (#spondy, #spondyloarthritis , and #lupus / #borderlinelupus) I am very interested in #ArtAction , #artactivism, and #musicactivism (that I can do from home.)

My background is in #finearts and I love every single #crafting / #craft / #maker activity out there. Right now I’m obsessed with #procreate and #sewing. I’m also a layperson #herbalist and #gardener.

I have learned that I am happiest as a #catparent with exactly #4cats in the house (which I currently have.)

I’m pretty sure identity is super fluid, so it feels funny putting up labels, but I am also #demisexual, #witchy, #neurodivergent, #homebody. I love #tea, #starwars, #surrealism and #dadaism, and my excellent partner. I have a high tolerance for #weird.

So there ya go.