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If You’re Not Fat, You Can’t Say What is or is Not Fatphobic
During my time here at Medium, I have read dozens of articles about weight, weight loss, fat phobia, body positivity, fat acceptance and the like. I’ve even thrown my hat in a time or two myself with a handful of articles about my evolution on the topic including why people shouldn’t comment on women’s bodies, why body positivity did not work for me, and should we ever comment on our partner’s weight.
What I’ve learned over this time is a bit about fatphobia, which I wasn’t aware of at first.
I have to be honest that I was initially one of the people who would have said there’s no such thing as fatphobia. Or to be honest, that it was deserved and necessary. I mean who wants to be fat? Therefore, it was okay to be as negative as you wanted to be about fatness, not fat people, because it was a state that no one really desired. Yes, this included me berating my own self and body, even in a joking manner. So, like many, I had internalized fatphobia.
After all, I had been thoroughly indoctrinated in a weight loss culture.
But like most things we blindly believe, I’ve come to re-examine this stance.
What sticks out to me the most is people going on and on about what’s fatphobic, or not, even when they’re not fat themselves.
