Hi friend, A new friend and I were once talking about my Instagram post regarding thin privilege and technical gear. I mentioned that Old Navy makes the only athletic pants that fit me well, and I love them (though I won't buy anything else from ON due to their lack of full inclusivity), and if they ever stop making those pants I'll cry for a week. My new friend said jokingly, "Why not riot instead?" And without pause, I replied, "I can't riot if I don't have any pants on."I was joking, but there's an underlying truth here. When fat people are forced to spend all their time and energy trying to navigate a world that was deliberately designed to exclude them, we don't have any time to demand better pay or treatment. When we're constantly forced to prove our worth, eventually we stop believing we have any. When we live in an entire culture that believes fat people have poor morals and are lazy and physically unpleasant to be around, many of us are going to quite reasonably internalize that, with the result that we won't even want to be around or cooperate with each other -- nonetheless expecting thin people to. When all the clothing that physically will go on our bodies is designed to invite ridicule, we can't be taken seriously. We can't riot if we don't have any pants. Warmly, Lindley P.S. Share this week's letter or save to read later here. It's only possible to offer the Body Liberation Guide and all its labor for free because people like you support it. If you find value here, please contribute for as little as $1 per month. Every dollar helps. |
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Here's what's being discussed this week in the world of body acceptance and fat liberation: » Allyship opportunity: Support Eza, therapist and community activist, with mutual aid to help with the cost of gender-affirming surgery. Donations go to pre-op care, non-covered medical expenses and post-op care. Venmo @EzaDios, Paypal @ezadios |
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"During the long eighteenth century, as eating and drinking less became evidence of refinement, so too did the thinner figures such behavior produced. Therefore, at the same time that gluttony and fatness were becoming associated with African women in scientific racial literature, the values of delicacy, discipline, and a slimmer physique were becoming associated with English women by the arbiters of taste and the purveyors of morality. Far from being a coincidence, the fear of being uncultivated, and thus like racial and national Others, lay at the heart of these developments."- Sabrina Strings, Fearing the Black Body |
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Quick Resources: On sleep apnea and body size |
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