I LOVED your responses to the Fat autocomplete series after our original post. They were powerful, prolific and profound. (If you missed the noise, here is the album, Tumblr, a thank you, and the post that started it all.)
So FUCK YEAH fat hate is everywhere, it's built into our social structure and starts at ground zero. And IT SUCKS. Because of this, we all look in the mirror and see flaws. Flaws, flaws, and more flaws. Every day, all day. The ripple effect of body hate doesn't stop there though; it then reaches far beyond us. Remember this?
When we hate one type of body, we start to hate them all. We compare and critique, hating our failures and then hating others who appear to be more successful. Then we start to hate those who are failing more than us so that we don't feel so bad about those guys that we hate because they're succeeding! Hate. Hate. Hate. It's a lot of hate, and it's vicious. VICIOUS I tell you!
This comparison and fear of physical failure not only creates shaming of larger "unconventional" bodies, but also backlash against those who fit into what we're told we should be. We become obsessed with hating bodies that we may never achieve, and so our insecurities start to manifest as "concern for" and "abhorrence of" those we deem more successful in this silly race towards perfection. This then turns into an autocomplete study that starts with skinny people are and ends up with ugly and disgusting. I'll say it again; a persons body shape is so benign that it only affects those who inhabit it. Yet, it is socially acceptable to hate, loathe, harass, antagonize, persecute and bully a person based on a clothing size. And it's not okay.
When we hate one type of body, we start to hate them all. We compare and critique, hating our failures and then hating others who appear to be more successful. Then we start to hate those who are failing more than us so that we don't feel so bad about those guys that we hate because they're succeeding! Hate. Hate. Hate. It's a lot of hate, and it's vicious. VICIOUS I tell you!
This comparison and fear of physical failure not only creates shaming of larger "unconventional" bodies, but also backlash against those who fit into what we're told we should be. We become obsessed with hating bodies that we may never achieve, and so our insecurities start to manifest as "concern for" and "abhorrence of" those we deem more successful in this silly race towards perfection. This then turns into an autocomplete study that starts with skinny people are and ends up with ugly and disgusting. I'll say it again; a persons body shape is so benign that it only affects those who inhabit it. Yet, it is socially acceptable to hate, loathe, harass, antagonize, persecute and bully a person based on a clothing size. And it's not okay.
Skinny people included.
We also see an obsession with what skinny people put into their mouths; their diet is somehow public business, but more on that below.
Because our society refuses to positively acknowledge fat bodies, we associate the term "body positive" with rolls, bellies, and arm flab. We have started filling the world with verbal and visual conversations about these things and that, my friends, is kick ass! We must counteract the negativity that we are fed daily and so I say: YES TO PRO-FAT ACCEPTANCE! Yes yes yes!
But we cannot allow ourselves to confuse pro-fat with anti-skinny.
This synonymous mistake pops up everywhere, whether in movies called "Real Women Have Curves" or in comments that say "Bones are for the dog, meat is for the man". Since when did this form of body hate become a necessary stepping stone to someone else's self love? Here is a reality check: we are all in this together. None of us are allowed to love our body in this society, and thanks to that we all have our insecurities. We all feel like we're flawed in some way because we are all comparing ourselves to the same ideal. And none of us will ever feel like we're enough.
Skinny people are also the target of encouraged bullying; bullying that is surprising similar to the kind that us fatties know all too well. Ever heard these?
1. "You look anorexic!"
2. "You're so thin, you make me sick."
3. "Eat a hamburger!"
4. "You look like a toothpick."
5. "You're probably too skinny to breastfeed."
6. "Do you ever eat anything?"
7. "Must be nice to be so thin."
8. "Do you have an eating disorder?"
9. "You'd look so much better if you'd just put some meat on your bones."
10. "You're too healthy."
11. "How can you be insecure when you're so small?"
12. "You know, my other friend just got help for her bulimia."
13. "You're so skinny, I hate you."
14. "Do you need help?"
15. "You're skinny. You never have to worry about what you eat.
16. "'Real' women have curves."
17. "Why do you need to work out? You're skinny!"
18. "How much did it cost to get your body like that?"
19. "Of course you're cold! You have no fat on you."
20. "I wish I had your problem."
21. "Be careful or you'll get blown away." (On rainy or windy days.)
22. "You look like a boy."
Yeah. Dick moves, y'all. The above are dick. Moves.
I'm not here to tell you which is harder, being skinny, fat, right in the middle or anywhere else. Right now, it doesn't matter. All this body hate has gotta stop. All of it; no exceptions.
As long as we continue to demonize and degrade ANY body type, we will never reach true body acceptance as a society. And until we reach true body acceptance as a society, we will continue to see low self-esteem, depression, eating disorders, sabotaged relationships, employment inequality, sky-high suicide rates, and all sorts of other social infirmities. No more please. No more.
Every body is a perfect body. There ain't no wrong or "more right" way to be, and that's a fact.
SO, YOU'RE INVITED TO MAKE YOUR OWN POSTER AND SHARE IT WITH THE WORLD!
No need to include the Google autocomplete (unless you want to of course), but feel free to make a poster with your OWN slogan that challenges weight hate and size discrimination! Whatever speaks true to you, make it a poster and share it by posting it on The Militant Baker's Facebook, and it will go into the album!
Hop to it!
Make a poster. Love yourself.
Or maybe even both.
Social revolution awaits!
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