#Fat Activism

[fatliberation]

How to survive the holidays with fatphobic friends and family

By Amanda Martinez Beck and J Nicole Morgan, Cohosts of the Fat & Faithful podcast

When someone says, “you look great, have you lost weight?”

NICE: No — I choose to focus on other things than weight. Good to see you, though!

SPICE: Nope! Still fat! There are so many more interesting things to talk about than weight.

ICE: Hi. Please do not comment on my body. Thin ≠ happy or better.

When someone comments on something you put on your plate

NICE: I didn’t drive all this way to spend today eating salad :)

SPICE: Oh, I’m sorry — did you think my food choices were any of your business? Because they’re not.

ICE: (Stare) RUDE. (Continue loading plate.)

When someone jokes about the holidays making us fat

NICE: Oh, stop it. One day of feasting is not going to make anyone fatter than they already are.

SPICE: And…? Nothing wrong with being fat.

ICE: Why is fatness a punchline for you? Do you think my body size is funny or to be mocked?

When food is moralized

NICE: Oh, stop… Food is morally neutral and today is about feasting. Let it go!

SPICE: Bad for you? Is it crawling with maggots? ‘Cause that’s the only way I see pie being bad.

ICE: Stop moralizing food. It is harmful to talk and think about food this way and I will not let you talk this way around me and my children.

Whether you chose NICE, SPICE, or ICE, don’t be afraid to voice your boundaries and push back against diet culture and fatphobia during the holiday season.

❤️, Amanda & Nicole

[hopefulproblem]

From the zine “Fat Is Beautiful” by Crystal Hartman

[softestjilly]

the fact that fat people are made to feel bad about everything down to how loud or hard they are breathing says a lot about this society

[karis-the-fangirl]

Fat bodies are mentioned most often in terms of the negative space left behind by the pounds lost, the dress sizes dropped, the inches shrunk—fat bodies are only valued for their absence.

There's a phrase you may have heard, that 'inside every fat person, there's a thin person waiting to get out'. It makes fat bodies sound like a prison, like the grotesque carapace of Kafka's beetle, with the real self like a trapped and frightened Gregor Samsa inside. Society is deeply permeated with the idea that my fat body isn't my 'real' body, and that I need to dig and excavate and starve out my true self, rescuing my inner thin princess from the imprisoning tower of my body.

This idea taught me not to feel fully connected to my body—after all, so much of my body is dead weight, it's not really me, my fatness isn't who I am, so why bother fully inhabiting it?

For years I didn't embrace my body. I was like someone squatting in a few rooms of a mansion, pretending that I was living in a condo and ignoring the three wings, twenty-four bedrooms, ballroom, bowling alley, and the entire library from Disney's Beauty and the Beast that make up my body.

—‘Where Are the Fat Girls? The Absence of Plus-Size Characters in Fantasy Literature’ by Charis M. Ellison [video]

[wolf-tail]

Socialists, get into fat liberation theory right the fuck now. I am speaking as a fellow dirty commie, DO IT.

You all like to lump fatness into either the category of "product of bourgeoisie decadence" or "side effect of capitalism forcing us to eat bad food" when neither is the actual case.

Fat people exist in all social classes and all walks of life, often regardless of individual choices.

Fat people are victims of capitalist exploitation at the hands of the multi billion dollar diet and weight loss industry that pushes eating disorder behavior and unnecessary surgeries on to us all in the name of profits.

Fatphobia ties into beauty standards that capitalists use to manipulate people into hating their bodies so they can be sold beauty. Think about how many of the ads you get every day are for weight loss.

[brytning]

Everyone knows it's that time of year when many people feel compelled to set goals to alter their body and restrict their food. The pressure to be thin is everywhere---it's the water we swim in. If you want to take care of your body, I hope this is the year you learn more about weight-neutral approaches to health! The Health At Every Size movement and books by fat activist Aubrey Gordon are great places to start!

[doublequaterpounder]

Hey You reading this!

check yourself and see if your sucking in your tummy

if you are let it go, release that tension! LET THAT TUMMY OUT💕

unlearn hiding yourself!

if your already letting it go, carry on, continue scrolling you’re good to go!

[lukesfatties]

Everyone go support notyourfeedee on curvage 🥵

[fatandlikeitlikethat]

💜💙💜

Follow her on tiktok

[fatliberation]

anti-fatness is not just body shaming.

anti-fatness is discrimination. anti-fatness is having next to no legal protections for being discriminated against. anti-fatness is being denied housing, jobs, receiving less pay and promotions (legally) because of your size. anti-fatness is being denied access to clothing, seating, transportation, and other human rights because infrastructure has been designed to exclude you. anti-fatness is less likelihood of receiving a fair trial. anti-fatness is dehumanization. anti-fatness is being denied necessary surgeries, but not surgery that amputates the digestive tract with the intent to starve and shrink you (it doesn’t work either). anti-fatness is mutilation. anti-fatness is being subject to torture devices that bolt your mouth shut. anti-fatness is being told by close friends, family, and professionals that you are better off living with an eating disorder or other life-threatening illness. anti-fatness sells you starvation as a guaranteed opt-out of oppression, but doesn’t tell you that bodies will always regain weight to survive. anti-fatness blames and punishes you for failing at an achievement that is quite literally impossible. anti-fatness is a $90 billion dollar industry. anti-fatness is being denied gender-affirming care. anti-fatness is being barred from in vitro fertilization and reproductive healthcare. anti-fatness is being barred from adopting children. anti-fatness is being removed from your loving parents because they couldn’t make you thin. anti-fatness is intentionally starving your own baby so they won’t get fat. anti-fatness is disproportionately high suicide rates. anti-fatness is being killed at the hands of medical neglect and mistreatment. anti-fatness is the world preferring a dead body over a fat one.

[fatliberationdamnit]

Daily reminder that there is no wrong way to have a body. There is no configuration of physical features that is “bad” or “wrong”. You are allowed to exist just as you are.

[softestjilly]

our love story. 💍🩷🌈✨

fat people get engaged.

fat people get married.

fat people are loved, desired, needed, and wanted.

[testosteronetempation]

fat people don't need excuses to be fat. we don't need to be on a diet or in between diets. we don't need to have a condition that makes us fat. we don't need to have too much going on in our lives to work out. we don't need to be "otherwise healthy." it's not a crime to be fat.

[feedists4fat-lib]

💛Happy Fat Liberation Month from FFL!💛

All this month we will be sharing fun facts and information specifically about Fat Liberation, its history, as well as information on how to combat Anti-Fat Bias and its origins. We'll touch on the Medical Industrial Complex, the intersection of LGBTQIA2S+ identities and fatness, and the Anti-Black Origins of fatphobia. And of course, it wouldn't be FFL without some food recommendations -- this time from Black Owned Businesses!

We are now diving into the topic on the Anti-Black origins of Fatphobia. Be sure to check out the sources listed for a deeper dive on the history and origins of fatphobia!

[doublequaterpounder]

YOU ARE ALLOWED TO EXIST IN CLOTHES

you do not need to pull at clothing that cling to your tummy

you don’t need to hide yourself in baggy clothes

you don’t need to pull out your clothes to stretch them to avoid it from touching your body!

you can be fat and wear clothes that highlight your body, that touch your body, fat people deserve form fitting

i spent far to long stressing that people can perceive my body in clothes, so take it from me and stop that shit!

[mercuryholixx]

Ik in fat acceptance I see a lot of "most fat people don't eat any more than a thin person! Stop assuming every fat person eats too much!" and like.... okay and I agree with that.... but some people who are fat DO need a supernormal amount of calories to function. I'm one of them where if I tried to adhere to just 2200 calories a day my body would probably begin shutting down like an anorexic's. Some thin people need a large caloric intake to function as well and they get praised for how much they eat. Whereas a fat person can't even talk about eating a lot and how it shouldn't be stigmatized without getting either insulted or told to "stop spreading stereotypes." SOME PEOPLE NEED TO EAT A LOT TO MAINTAIN A HEALTHY BODY. SOMETIMES THOSE PEOPLE WILL BE FAT. YOU GOTTA ACCEPT THAT