[Dryerase] Alarm!--Youth column

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Youth column--July 26

The Politics of Fat Discrimination

By Anita O’Shea
The Alarm! Newspaper Contributor

Gurl is a gutteral and raw growl of who I am, to how I see myself. If I 
must be defined it will be on my own terms, WITH my own terms.–Janice 
Klux, Cutlass #4

Growing up as a fat gurl, I was made acutely aware of fat-phobia.  Fear 
and hatred of fat is something that is deeply ingrained in all of us in 
the US.   Ironically, in a country with rampant over-consumption there 
is a heavy pressure on everyone to be “fit” and thin. However, being 
thin does not always equal being healthy. Where survival of the fittest 
is most often the survival of the richest, being a healthy human being 
is not a priority in the U.S.   Fitting into this society involves 
abandoning self-respect while the media, the medical industry and the 
diet industry feed off of our insecurities.

Evidence shows that dieting, diet pills, plastic surgery, and eating 
disorders are less healthy than just being fat. Eating disorders such as 
anorexia nervosa and bulimia are indications that we live in a society 
where our size takes precedent over our physical or mental stability and 
health. Diet pills (such as Fen/Phen) are known to have serious and 
potentially deadly side effects. Weight-loss surgery often doesn’t work. 
Whatever weight one may have lost is gained back and side effects—such 
as dangerous vitamin deficiencies—can last a lifetime.

According to the “International Journal of Obesity”, ninety-five percent 
of people who lose weight on diets gain back every pound within three 
years. This obviously contributes to serious self-esteem problems, as we 
are all expected to have the willpower to change our weight, even though 
the way we look and our weight is often determined at birth.

GROWING UP FAT
Growing up surrounded by negative images of fat people, needless to say 
I was a rather insecure adolescent. I’m pretty used to getting made fun 
of for being fat, for not shaving hair, for the way I dress and also for 
being an all-around queer/gender-deviant, for being politically active, 
for being a radical. Neither being queer nor being fat were things I 
could choose.   I don’t even think that I have a real choice when it 
comes to being an activist. To me there is no option but to fight back; 
the discrimination of fat people, of queer people, of youth is directly 
tied to my own experience of oppression. Furthermore, the oppression of 
people of color, of the poor and working class, of disabled people and 
of my elders are all directly linked to fat phobia, to sexism, 
heterosexism and age-ism and is ultimately rooted in a for-profit system.

FAT AND FEMINISM:
The fact that I am a feminist and also a female-born person, has 
contributed the most to my experience of taunting and discrimination. As 
much crap as I got and still get for being a feminist—for being too 
loud, too expressive, for taking up too much space —it is feminism that 
has directly led me to an understanding of all these issues and of the 
connections between them. The third wave of feminism, from the early 
90’s on, especially deals with issues of body image. I was fortunate 
enough to get my hands on some literature (like Body Outlaw) that 
illuminated what eating disorders are and how they stem from a 
ridiculous standard we have as to what beauty should be.

Eating disorders affect everyone, but beauty standards are tied to the 
broader exploitation of women and gurls.

THE MEDIA, WOMEN, AND FEMINIST SOLIDARITY
The media tells us what we should look like everyday.   TV shows and 
advertisements portray women and men as skinny, rich and therefore happy 
people. Commercials for diet pills, food, drinks and exercise machines 
are fed to us constantly. These media images also put pressure on us all 
to conform to socially constructed gender roles. It is often the youth, 
and very young women who are targeted by the media. Gurls are becoming 
self-conscious about body image at younger and younger ages. By creating 
unattainable standards for what women’s bodies should look like, women 
and youth are kept constantly occupied with their body image and their 
own self-doubt.

Women become obsessed with making themselves fit into different 
standards of beauty and seldom question where these standards come from. 
It keeps women from questioning a sexist society and also from 
organizing and finding their power and solidarity with other women.

Unfortunately, being a feminist and speaking out against fat-phobia does 
not always guarantee being well received by other feminists. I’ve 
brought up size-ism as a serious issue in some of my classes at UCSC and 
it’s difficult for me when I feel like I’m not taken seriously or when 
the discussion of fat-hatred is not pursued. A fellow fat activist 
Natalie Boero said the discussion of fat-phobia is not just “some 
bourgeois feminist distraction.” There are connections between fat 
phobia/size-ism and other forms of oppression like sexism, racism, 
heterosexism, gender-phobia, ableism and ageism.

All the different forms of oppression come together in a variety of 
ways. To build an effective movement against fat-phobia, the leaders of 
the movement need to be the ones who understand the most about the 
intersections of oppression. Racism compounds fat discrimination on many 
levels. Women of color who are fat, or any size, will also face the 
added burden of racism when they are on the job, getting paid, looking 
for housing, seeing media images, being treated by health care 
providers, etc.

The most militant leaders, the least likely to sell out, are those “on 
the bottom”: women, especially women of color, lesbians, youth, and 
disabled women. As a fat white person, I feel the movement against 
fat-discrimination needs to form coalitions with those fighting other 
forms of oppression. Fighting against fat-phobia ALONE is not going to 
truly change our circumstances as fat people. We need to fight to change 
a system that produces and condones discrimination of all types.

CAPITALISM AND FAT-PHOBIA:
Under capitalism, we are made to feel that we constantly need to attain 
something more, to get more money, status, and power. Money determines 
our success. We need the best products to be happy and we need to 
continue buying to be content. If we can’t afford these products we are 
made to feel inferior. Capitalism is the source of fat-hatred and all 
the self-loathing and insecurities that manifest as eating disorders, 
yo-yo dieting, plastic surgery and taking diet pills.

The media tells us to keep buying products we don’t need, which keeps 
the consumerist machine moving. As Nomy Lamm says in the book Body 
Outlaw (edited by Ophira Edut), “The diet industry makes over $30 
billion a year relying on your fear and hatred of fat. They don’t care 
about your health and happiness, they care about your money.” According 
to NAAFA, the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance, the 
numbers now are more like $50 billion.

FAT ACTIVISM
As a fat, feminist, young, gender-queer, radical, dyke, freak, I have 
committed myself to being an activist, and to fighting all forms of 
oppression. The economy of capitalism functions by how well it can 
divide and conquer.   It assures that people in communities and 
movements are fighting so much amongst themselves that they won’t work 
to retaliate against the lack of jobs, healthcare, childcare and 
welfare. That’s why it is essential that we all realize our common 
struggle and understand the diverse and flabulous differences we all 
have.

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Anita O’Shea is a member of Radical Women, a UCSC student, queer youth 
organizer and a DJ on Free Radio Santa Cruz. You can contact her at: 
rwbayarea at yahoo.com. Or for other resources go to: www.fatso.com, 
www.naafa.com , or www.adiosbarbie.com.
 
All content Copyleft © 2002 by The Alarm! Newspaper. Except where noted 
otherwise, this material may be copied and distributed freely in whole 
or in part by anyone except where used for commercial purposes or by 
government agencies.

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