Took a little break from the internet and touched some grass and it was great. Wander back in here after my hiatus and what do I find? Just a thread with a bunch of fatphobia.
Cute.
For a community that is incredibly careful about protecting its users from the -phobias and the -isms, there sure is a hell of a lot of unchecked fatphobia here basically any time fatness gets brought up.
It’s something I’ve noticed on the left in general as well. The leftist org I’m in has almost no fat people in it and something tells me that’s not because there aren’t any fat leftists out there.
Fatphobia is rooted in anti-Blackness and ableism.
I’d highly recommend the “Maintenance Phase” podcast with Michael Hobbes and Aubrey Gordon, as well as Aubrey Gordon’s books “What We Don’t Talk About When We Talk About Fat” and “You Just Need To Lose Weight.”
TL;DR: There’s mounting evidence that anti-fat bias in medicine is more to blame for poor medical outcomes in fat people rather than just the fat itself.
Diet and exercise don’t result in long-term weight loss for something like 95% of people. As a leftist, are you really gonna sit here and blame this on individual choices rather than systemic issues? Are you really gonna try to convince us that 95% of people are just lacking willpower?
Please note that this thread is not an invitation to convince me I’m wrong or share your own personal anecdotal story of successful long-term weight loss with the implication that others can do it because you did it. This post is a request that any thin person (or thin-adjacent person) reading this who wants to argue about how being fat is bad for your health do some research and some self-crit. This post is a request that this community rethink the way it engages with discussions about fatness, diet, fatphobia, and anti-fat bias.
Anti-fat bias literally kills people.
Just going to list links.
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/552038
https://compass.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/spc3.12076
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26841729/
Too tired to offer descriptions rn. Just click through them. Also I’m locking this thread. Please listen to what fat activists are talking about. Read the links that have been provided. And fatphobia on the site will continue to be addressed.
Hey so I have a question as someone who was morbidly obese last year, around 260 pounds, and I’m now currently at 190. I’m still overweight and I don’t view being “thin” as some optimal goal or anything especially nowadays, in where body standards are more open.
Anyway, my question is more about acceptance, I’m lucky enough to never deal with anything explictily fatphobic, though I think we have a different definition of what fatphobic is. Is a CW on discussions of how to lose weight, dieting, calorie deficits really necessary? By all means, none of us should be forced into one body type but I think we already see a growing acceptance of said body types. In the sense that, since we won’t likely see the systemic change needed to address all the corn syrup in our food, isn’t it on us as a community to support each other to be healthier? Not for an ideal aesthetic but for us to avoid the negative effects of obesity.
All I’ll say to add to the discussion is I’m a bit fat for sure. Always have been. I also workout daily and climb mountains and hike backcountry environments in all seasons.
That is I have pretty clear evidence myself that being fit does not mean being not fat. I have friends far slimmer than me who couldn’t conceive of spending a 12 hr day in the mountains comfortably.
Would I be faster hiker if I didn’t carry more weight? Who knows maybe but it’s not coming off unless I… I don’t know… Maybe follow some strict diet?
But why I’m already capable of doing the things I want shaped like this.
Na this shit is so real. Why the hell is it ok for people to just tell you about what they think you should do whenever it’s about body weight. Bro, we aren’t talking about that.
Maintenance Phase is good and I recommend it. I’ll admit it’s not in my regular rotation of podcasts, but I like it a lot :)
