{"id":78777,"date":"2025-06-04T10:23:27","date_gmt":"2025-06-04T14:23:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/?p=78777"},"modified":"2025-08-11T10:11:59","modified_gmt":"2025-08-11T14:11:59","slug":"were-forgetting-how-to-accept-and-love-fat-bodies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/were-forgetting-how-to-accept-and-love-fat-bodies\/","title":{"rendered":"We’re Forgetting How to Accept \u2013 and Love \u2013 Fat Bodies"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Fat acceptance has been waning on a societal level \u2013 but we don\u2019t have to let it, this op-ed asserts. (Credit: Candice Helfand-Rogers)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Singer Halsey\u2019s new song, \u201cHand That Feeds<\/a>,\u201d debuted late last week. It features Evanescence lead singer Amy Lee \u2013 an exciting collaboration of voices that I was eager to enjoy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But then I watched the video. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Halsey herself is the focal point at first \u2013 she croons to camera between long shots that are trained on her\u2019s and others\u2019 lean, lithe bodies, all of them dressed as ballet dancers navigating a violent, post-apocalyptic urban landscape. Then Lee enters, her vocals as clear and as strong as they\u2019ve ever been. But Lee, who is also older and bigger<\/a>, is not given the same visual treatment as her co-star. The edits of her are faster, distorted or awash in strobe lighting; she\u2019s shown shoulders-on-up, or behind a metalworking device that hides her body; her outfit conceals in ways the tights and tutus around her do not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m aware that some may scoff, attributing my observations to hypersensitivity. But this isn\u2019t a new phenomenon. Heart lead singer Ann Wilson, and Carnie Wilson of Wilson Phillips \u2013 both plus-size women \u2013 were given similar staging, framing and costuming directives in music videos that featured them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Except\u2026 those other examples are from the early 1990s. Truth be told, I thought we were past this. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But this year, I\u2019ve repeatedly seen proof of a regression in body positivity and fat acceptance<\/a> crop up. Another example is Elisabeth Moss\u2019 recent cover story<\/a> in Variety, which sees the now-slightly-heavier actress styled more like a schoolmarm than a celebrity, her body hidden behind oversized dresses and cover-up garments. As though the added pounds are offensive and must be concealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Smallness, it seems, is once again en vogue. Weight-loss drugs Ozempic and Mounjaro have accelerated this shift, along with the return of early-2000s fashions that are downright uncomfortable for certain body types to wear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, once again, thin is \u201cin\u201d \u2013 which means we fat people are meant to be \u201cout.\u201d Or at the very least, \u201caway.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

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Related<\/h4>\n <\/div>\n \n
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\n \n \"Body-Shaming\n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n
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\n \n Beware the Allure of Low-Hanging, Body-Shaming Fruit\n <\/a>\n <\/h3>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n\n

This isn\u2019t just my imagination \u2013 experts and fashion insiders alike have been sounding the alarm for months. Celebrity stylist Ariel Tunnell noted to NBC News<\/a> last December that \u201cwe are taking a step backwards\u201d from what had been \u201ca bigger push for inclusivity and body acceptance.\u201d And Vogue Business, atop its annual size inclusivity report<\/a> published last fall, noted that \u201cprogress has stalled,\u201d and \u201cwe are facing a worrying return to using extremely thin models.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This backslide can be tied to similar regressions around acceptance of people in other marginalized groups: Members of the LGBTQ community, people of color and disabled <\/a>individuals. And this bigger shift is occurring, in no small part, because of the re-election of President Donald Trump.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to he and his base longing for a return to the prevalence of \u201ctradwives<\/a>\u201d as the womanly norm, Trump\u2019s second term has brought with it militarism, oppositional suppression and populism \u2013 the building blocks of fascism. Another noxious brick propping up the autocracy? Visual conformity. Late professor and author Brian Pronger referred to the phenomenon as \u201cbody fascism<\/a>,\u201d in which aesthetic norms are not only heavily encouraged via social pressures, but also imposed upon people by punishing deviations from the norm. (See also: The Trump administration\u2019s treatment of transgender people<\/a>.) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And as noted in a recent New York Times piece<\/a>, \u201cthere is a very specific look associated with women [especially] who subscribe to the Trump worldview\u201d \u2013 flowing tresses, high heels, sheath dresses. Yes, it\u2019s unquestioningly women who are more impacted by this quite-literally-narrowing definition of what\u2019s \u201cgood.\u201d The erosion of our collective right to bodily autonomy<\/a> has extended beyond what we do<\/em> with our bodies, and into how we look<\/em>. For women of color, it\u2019s even worse \u2013 as writer Leslie Vargas pointed out in an op-ed for AFROPUNK<\/a>, weight discrimination is racist to its roots, a means of \u201cpathologizing larger Black bodies as undesirable, uncivilized, and inherently inferior\u201d to reinforce white supremacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But here\u2019s the thing.<\/em><\/strong> We don\u2019t need to perpetuate the bigotry that sees us fat people given fewer professional opportunities<\/a> and personal connections<\/a> simply because we’re once more being pressured to do so. And we certainly needn\u2019t go back into hiding ourselves in any way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Organizations like the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance<\/a> and individuals like Jae\u2019lynn Chaney are trying to light a path forward. She\u2019s a fat acceptance activist who speaks out against fatphobia via her blog<\/a> and popular Instagram account<\/a>. And she\u2019s not alone<\/a> in this work. The NAAFA’s Tigress Osborn<\/a>, model Enam Asiama<\/a>, motivational speaker Mermaid Ch\u00e8 Monique<\/a> and size inclusivity consultant Andrea Kelly<\/a> are also among those fighting the good fight in a public way. And there\u2019s even an annual event \u2013 Fat Con<\/a> \u2013 where fat people can gather to celebrate and collaborate on how to make ours a more equitable world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a New Year\u2019s blog post<\/a>, Chaney said acknowledgment of the problem is critical to solving it. \u201cFighting fatphobia requires conscious effort and collective action. By recognizing bias and actively challenging it, we can create a society where all bodies are valued and respected.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We can also push back by simply refusing to let toxic messaging take root, within each other or within ourselves. My love of my body \u2013 regardless of whether it’s “in” or not \u2013 is hard won and carefully preserved. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s not let that go out of style ever again. ◼️<\/p>\n\n\n

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Related<\/h4>\n <\/div>\n \n
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\n \n \"\"\n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n
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\n \n Why That Ad Featuring ‘Body Positivity’ Isn’t as Great as You Think\n <\/a>\n <\/h3>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our increasingly conservative political landscape is sparking a tolerance regression, including around fat acceptance, Candice Helfand-Rogers writes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":78795,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"autoblue_enabled":true,"autoblue_custom_message":"Fat acceptance has been waning on a societal level \u2013 but we don\u2019t have to let it, this op-ed 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