...even academics who learn I am working on the topic of fatphobia are often quick to change the subject, turning away in embarrassed silence.In fact, it's a good thing. It shows they still have some shame about how far academia has fallen.
So why are we getting better on most forms of bias while becoming arguably even more fatphobic as a society? Part of the answer has to do with the fact that fatness, unlike many other forms of marginalisation, is perceived as a choice.
For a vast majority of them, it is. The fact that we have 'fat activists' at all proves that. What other reasons could there be?
But careful attention to the evidence on this topic paints a different picture. Numerous factors – from our inequitable food environment to economic injustice to stress to trauma to common health conditions and medications – dictate our size, and a combination of these have contributed to an uptick in fatness in both the US and the UK, among other countries, in recent decades.
I fail to see how an 'inequitable food environment' contributes to anything, let alone the rise of lardarses...
True political progress requires that we pause and look around and extend a sympathetic – better, solidaristic – arm to everyone. There should be no limit to our capacity as humans for inclusivity; there should be no size restrictions either.
Go tell gravity that, love. If it listens, I might.
