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Hi friend,
 
Though I ended up catching the stomach flu* and having to rest and isolate for the last part of the retreat, our attendees had a fabulous time and it was such a satisfying experience. There really is no substitute for in-person fat community.
 
(*confirmed by PCR testing that it wasn't COVID)
 
Also, I've been featured in a profile on The Phoblographer! We talk about my essential photography gear, how I got started in this work, and how I get fat folks comfortable in front of the camera.
 
Now, on to part 5 of our series on body-positive business practices:
 
Watch your assumptions. 
 
Don’t assume that everyone wants to be thin, or “healthy” (which looks different for every body), or wealthy.
 
Also, don’t assume the world stops at a size 24. One of the more painful things about being a fat person on the internet is watching hundreds of small businesses proudly announce that they serve “all bodies” or carry “all sizes” when they most certainly don’t. 
 
I personally know people who wear a clothing size 36, 38, or 40, and I can count on one hand the number of businesses who use “all bodies” or “all sizes” in their marketing that are actually willing to serve my fattest friends.
 
When you exclude some bodies from buying your products or services but say you include everyone, you’re doing several things:
  1. Gaslighting the excluded people by telling them you’ll serve them when you won’t.
  2. Giving your business a false appearance of inclusivity.
  3. Giving the people you’re willing to serve a false impression that people whose bodies are often excluded have many more choices than they actually do.
For example, I see this play out most often in plus-size fashion, where companies proudly claim to carry “all sizes” but most often stop at a 20 or 24. 
 
This creates an environment where not only can fatter people not buy from those companies, but people in smaller bodies — who don’t realize they’ve been misled — scoff at fat folks’ complaints about not being able to find clothing.
 
Quick Fix: Review your business materials for phrases like “all bodies,” “all sizes,” “one size fits all,” “whether you weigh 100 pounds or 300” or “all ages, from 9 to 96.” These phrases are guaranteed to exclude people. Replace them with wording that more accurately reflects what your business offers.
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.
Terms to know for the body-positive business series:
  • Body positive: The concept that all bodies have worth as they exist today.
  • Fat acceptance: The concept that fat bodies are just as worthy as thin bodies.
  • Fat positive: The concept that fat bodies are not just worthy, but have beauty and value of their own.
  • Health at Every Size: The concept that every body can achieve its own version of health at its current size.
  • Intuitive eating: Listening to your body and eating in accordance with it.
  • Privilege: “A set of unearned benefits given to people who fit into a specific social group”.
  • Intersectionality: Overlapping and interdependent systems of discrimination or disadvantage.
  • Marginalization: “Pushing a particular group or groups of people to the edge of society by not allowing them an active voice, identity, or place in it”.
Miss a letter in this series? Check the archives.
 

The Conversation

Here's what's being discussed this week in the world of body acceptance and fat liberation:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
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"Fat people who are sad, who eat well, who eat poorly, who exercise, who don’t — we all live our lives in the pressure cooker of fatphobia. 
 
Our bodies are epidemics, our disease communicable, our lives quarantined. Of course we defend ourselves, give up, give in, deny, push back. 
 
And of course levels of depression are so high amongst fat people. We live in a culture that wouldn’t have it any other way. 
 
The Sad Fatty is a self-fulfilling prophecy. We are products of a system that is dead-set on isolating us, shaming us, dividing us, shunning us. 
 
Whatever our size, when we carve fat people into acceptable and unacceptable types, we do that system’s work for it." » Your Fat Friend

 
Coming Up

 
Quick Resources: Sleep Apnea and Body Size

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