• “Fat” is not a bad word. It is a neutral descriptor many larger-bodied people choose to use to describe themselves as an act of reclaiming. 

• Humans are beautifully diverse, so our physical differences should be both expected and celebrated. 

• A single ideal of “beauty” leads to unfair body image standards and oppression of those who do not meet it.

• Bodies that fall outside of an arbitrary norm (e.g. size, gender, ability), deserve affection, love, attraction, and care. 

• Idolatry from twenty-five thousand years ago immortalized fat bodies long before the written word. (e.g. Venus de Willendorf)

• Modern diet culture seeks to eradicate fat body types, which have always existed and are a natural variation within humankind.

• Further reading:

  1. Fat Art History [Instagram]

  2. Historical Fat People [Instagram]

  3. Fat Liberation Archive

  4. Fat Underground [YouTube]

• Body size is not entirely within our control. There are infinite variables that may contribute to a person’s body size — consider genetics, upbringing, medications, illness, disability, injury, diet, movement, and trauma.

• The BMI is widely discredited as a measure of health, and is often used to deny healthcare to fat people. The word “ob*sity” is primarily used in connection to the BMI, and therefore many fat people consider it to be a slur. 

• There are no health conditions that exclusively affect fat people.

• Fat people’s health outcomes are negatively affected when they are denied diagnostic testing and medical care (e.g. fertility care, gender affirming care, joint replacements) if they are not able to lose weight. Studies show that less than five percent of weight-loss interventions are effective in the long term.  

• Modern medical studies fail fat people in ways that lead to poor health outcomes for fat people. 

• Many so-called “effects of fatness” mirror and may in fact be caused by the constant stress living in a stigmatized body.

• Fat people are often entirely excluded from medical studies and medical education, leading to poor understanding of how our bodies respond to medication and procedures. 

• Further reading: 

  1. Poodle Science | Association for Size Diversity in Health (ASDAH) [YouTube]

  2. Aubrey Gordon’s “You Just Need to Lose Weight” and 19 Other Myths About Fat People

• A traditional understanding of “health” is not accessible to all people. 

• One cannot understand a person’s health by looking at them.

• The concept of health is ever-changing, completely unique to the individual, and tied to privileges and factors one cannot control.

• Health is individual, and it is affected by a wide variety of factors. 

• Health promoting behaviors are not the same for every person.

For example:

• Doctor’s offices, restaurants, and other public spaces should offer a variety of seating options, including wider seats and sturdy armless chairs.. 

• Airlines and other modes of transportations should offer seating that accommodates fat bodies.

• Fashion unfairly caters to the smaller-bodied minority. Plus size clothing should be readily available both in store and online. True extended sizing is up to a women’s 6X and beyond.

• Every individual has the inalienable right to make informed decisions about their health, body, and wellbeing. Those decisions are unique and personal to the individual and should not affect how they are treated by society or other people, or their ability to access the world around them. 

• Food and movement are morally neutral. All foods provide some form of nutrition; none are “good” or “bad.” No one should be judged based on how they choose to eat or move their bodies, and not everyone has equal access to food or movement.

• Weight stigma is an effect of the societal messaging that fat bodies are bad or inferior to smaller bodies. It includes biases towards fat people as well as internalized feelings fat people have about themselves. 

• For individuals, weight stigma can cause trauma, eating disorders, and impact their access to appropriate medical care and employment. 

• Fatness exists on a spectrum, and fat people experience the world differently depending on their size. Larger fat people (over a women’s size 6X) have even less access to clothing, public spaces, and medical care than smaller fat people. 

• Further reading: Fategories: Understanding the Fat Spectrum 

Community is a powerful source of joy and care. Our liberation will depend on strong communities. In the words of Marge Piercy: “We will make each other strong. We will make each other safe. There is no other monument.”