When I talk about fatphobia being life threatening to fat people, I’m often told that I’m being over-dramatic. I don’t think so and here’s an example. Several news outlets ran a story recently about the manufacture of fat crash test dummies. It turns out that fat people are 78% more likely to die in an automobile crash, and the increase may be in large part because crash test dummies are built to model thin bodies, and thus car safety systems are built to protect only thin bodies. To combat this, a company called Humanetics is developing fat crash test dummies.

Here are some responses to this story:

“Instead of making obese test dummies they should actually use the 78% higher chance of death in an automobile accident to encourage weight loss for obese people.”

Even if there was a single study that exists where fat people were able to become thin long term, the message “Change your body size or you’ll die needlessly because we refuse to make safety equipment for you” is not encouragement, it’s criminal negligence.

“Hope none of this was paid for by our taxes”

Let me translate from asshole to English “According to statistics 70% of people are fat and I’m completely comfortable with their tax dollars paying for the safety of the 30% of us who aren’t, but you better not use their taxes or mine to pay for their safety. I’m an incredible asshole and I approve this message.”

“Why not put a whole extremely obese family in there to start with? Dad weights 400 mom weights 300 kids weight 280 and the dog weights 220. Lets see those test results!!!”

Asshole to English:  “I think that killing fat people and their pets is three-exclamation-points hilarious!!!”

“It shouldn’t be necessary to make obese crash test dummies. Overweight is one thing, obese is another. Its unhealthy and a drain on the healthcare system.”

Asshole to English Translation: “I think it’s cool to kill off entire groups of people if they meet my definition of unhealthy or if it makes healthcare cheaper.”

And this is what happens when we make appearance based discrimination into a national pastime, having wars against everyone who looks a certain way, funding research to figure out if a group of people who share a single physical characteristic can be shown to be more expensive than others etc. We get a world where people take to the internet (anonymously, of course) to suggest that some people don’t deserve to live based on their appearance.

Luckily this isn’t everybody. One thing to remember when we read comments like this is that these are left by a few people who, without much going on with their lives, have made online fat bashing their main activity during their free time (and, it would appear, many of their work hours as well.) They pounce on these kinds of articles, sharing them with each other and rushing to say that absolute most abhorrent thing that they can think of.

Obviously (or, it should be obvious), people of all sizes buy cars – many taking the safety rating of the car into account – and we all deserve to have a vehicle whose manufacturer actually included us in the safety system design. These crash test dummies are definitely a step in the right direction.

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A woman in Florida photographed a sign in a Dillard’s Department store that said ““Dear Santa, This year please give me a big fat bank account and a slim body. Please don’t mix those two up like you did last year. Thanks.”  If you’re thinking that the women shopping for clothes were appalled, you’re almost right.  The sign wasn’t in the womens department, it was in the girls department.  That’s right, cute stripey leggings and Christmas sweaters with a side of body hate, just what every little girl wants, whether she celebrates Christmas or not.

Dillard’s told WPTV that “the sign was put in the Girls department in error, and has since directed all stores to remove the sign from sales floors entirely.”  This leaves me with two questions:

1.  Where was the sign supposed to go?

2.  How could you think it was ok to put this sign anywhere but in a fire?

Gods forbid any woman or girl go more than 5 minutes without being reminded that, even if it were possible to be too rich or too thin, she definitely isn’t getting it done. And best to start as early as possible, why settle for just commercializing a holiday when you can use it to reinforce poor body image and fat hatred in little girls?

Of course this gets the inevitable “can’t you take a joke?” response. Anytime someone points out that an attempt at comedy may be hurtful, it’s almost immediately suggested that they lack a sense of humor, have a stick where normally there is none, that they need to learn to take a joke, etc. First of all, nobody is obligated to celebrate humor made at their expense so pardon me if I don’t think it’s hysterical to tell girls that they should ask Santa not to look like me.

Also, I’m having trouble distinguishing between the kind of body shaming that paralyzes girls and women, encouraging them to view themselves as constantly inadequate, spending tons of time, money, and energy approximating a stereotype of beauty, and that has encouraged a 119% increase in eating disorder hospitalizations for kids under twelve, and the kind of body shaming that’s somehow hilarious.  And let’s be clear that a couple talented people advertising people  could have come up with ten funny iterations of this that aren’t based on body shaming faster than you can finish a pumpkin spice latte.  Perhaps rather than complaining that people need to take jokes and pick battles we could invest time in creating funny things that don’t stigmatize people for how they look.

Like this blog?  Here’s more cool stuff:

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Dance Classes:  Buy the Dance Class DVDs or download individual classes – Every Body Dance Now! Click here for details 

I’m training for an IRONMAN! You can follow my journey at www.IronFat.com

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If you’re on Facebook you may be aware of an update option where you choose “Feeling…” and then one of the pre-filled answers that include a little drawing to match your current feelings.  A member of the Fit Fatties Forum noticed that one of the options is “Feeling Fat”

 

 

 

 

 

While I’m happy that the face is smiling, this is irritating to me because fat is not a feeling.  It’s true that people have different definitions of what is being fat, and some people take the attitude that people aren’t fat, they have fat (I’ve already discussed my feelings about why that is problematic).  We can definitely discuss these things but what should be clear is that fat is a descriptor of appearance, and not a feeling. “Hmm, do I feel happy, frustrated, or fat today?”  does not make sense.

Generally when we use physical descriptors to describe how we feel, it ends up being derogatory and based on stereotypes (“I’m feeling blond” to describe something doing something ditzy, “I’m feeling fat” because someone hit the buffet or skipped their workout or whatever.)  Usually when people say that they feel fat, they are basing it on stereotypes about fat people – like that ridiculous “fattest thing I’ve ever done“ meme that went around a while ago.

I will admit that I sometimes get annoyed when a size 2 friend complains that she has to get out her (size 4) “fat jeans” because she’s bloated or whatever. It’s not that I don’t want her to feel her feelings, it’s that I know that all of my jeans are “fat jeans” and that the difference is that if an airline loses her luggage she can find “fat jeans” in her size at almost any women’s clothing store and I’ve been in huge malls where there wasn’t a single pair of jeans in my size.  It matters because suggesting that one can “feel fat” at any size  gets in the way of those of us who are trying to fight fatphobia and reclaim fat as a physical descriptor without a heaping helping of stereotypes and stigma along with it.

Thin women who “feel” fat are allowed to feel that way, and to talk about that if they want, but I would ask – is it necessary?  What are you hoping to gain?  Are you hoping to hear “You’re not fat“? Knowing that it adds to the crushing weight of oppression, stigma, and bullying that fat people deal with in our society, how important is it, really, for you to call them your fat jeans?

And why does Facebook feel the need to help out with this? I checked and there are NOT options on facebook for feeling short, tall, blonde, brunette, or thin.  Just fat.  And you know how that leaves me?

 

 

 

 

 

Like this blog?  Here’s more cool stuff:

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The approach of the “holiday season” means being bombarded with ridiculous diet advice (the holidays being one third of the Dieting Axis of Evil along with “New Years Resolutions” and “Bikini Season is Coming”.)  Since you’re likely to have to deal with this whether you celebrate the holidays or not, I’ve compiled a list of so-called holiday diet tips from actual serious online articles, with thoughts on why we might be better off skipping these tips:

10 Holiday Diet Tips You’ve Never Heard Before!

You’ve totally heard these tips before, probably in the same forum in which you are currently reading them, exactly a year ago, and the year before that, and the year before that, and the year before that.

Start Our Program Now and Get a Head Start on Your New Years Resolution

If you start earlier, you can fail at weight loss sooner while giving the diet industry (who are fully aware of the massive failure rate of their product) a boost on their fourth quarter earnings.  Or, you know, not.

Eat a Big Bowl of Fiber Cereal and Drink Lots of Water Before A Party to Avoid Snacking.

Spend the party in the bathroom with your friends awkwardly knocking and asking if you’re ok while you miss out on delicious snacks.

Buy Your Party Dress a Month Early and a Size Too Small for Inspiration to Lose that Last 10 Pounds

Frantically search through your closet on party day for something, anything, that fits and is party appropriate, end up going to the party uncomfortable in a dress that’s too small.

Save Your Calories For the Party by Eating Very Little During the Day

Show up at the party absolutely ravenous, bribe a cater waiter to get your hands on an entire tray of shrimp puffs, scarf them in the bathroom.

Make low-calorie egg nog with skim milk, egg substitutes, and artificial sweeteners.

Oh…I just…I can’t even…Just…  Ok, by the underpants rule you can totally make this beverage if you want and I will support you in drinking it, as long as you support me in not drinking it.

Only Eat Desserts that Are Truly a Sensual Experience for You

This author has a different relationship with food than I do…  I don’t find orange sherbet to be sensual at all but I will eat the hell out of it.

Don’t Taste The Food While You Cook – Those Calories Add Up

Serve your guests delicious-looking appetizers that taste like a salt lick, or like nothing at all, who knows?  If only there was a way to tell how the food tastes before we give it to other people…  The person who wrote this article obviously never watched Hell’s Kitchen or Chopped.

Choose Foods that Won’t Make You Feel Guilty the Next Day

Here’s the super secret trick to guilt-free eating:  Eat. Don’t feel guilty about it. Done.

Bring Fruits and Veggies to Parties and Work and Remind People About Their Weight Goals, They’ll Thank You!

They will not thank you.  They may, in fact, throat punch you. There’s nothing wrong with bringing fruits and veggies to the party, there may well be something wrong with being what we Southerners call a “superior sumbitch,” you may be able to avoid that by skipping the second part of this advice.  Instead consider “Bring fruits and veggies to parties and work and then shut up about it – find something more interesting to talk about than weight goals.”

Enjoy Fat Free Mock Versions of Your Favorite Holiday Foods, You’ll Never Miss the Full Fat Variety

I doubt that very much, and I do not think that the words “mock” and “food” should be put together.

Divide Foods into Naughty and Nice

Use the holidays to ease yourself into a disordered relationship with food.

Don’t Read Articles About Holiday Diet Tips

You caught me, this one didn’t come from an article, it’s my advice – take it or leave it.

Like this blog?  Here’s more cool stuff:

Become a Member For ten bucks a month you can support size diversity activism, help keep the blog ad free, and get deals from size positive businesses as a thank you.  Click here for details

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Book Me!  I’d love to speak to your organization. You can get more information on topics, previous engagements and reviews here or just e-mail me at ragen at danceswithfat dot org!

Dance Classes:  Buy the Dance Class DVDs or download individual classes – Every Body Dance Now! Click here for details 

I’m training for an IRONMAN! You can follow my journey at www.IronFat.com

If you are uncomfortable with my offering things for sale on this site, you are invited to check out this post.

I received this comment a few days ago (presented here exactly as it was sent to me, all of the ellipses are part of the original comment)

“honestly, I am happy to see that you love your body no matter the size…..but… being fat puts alot of extra pressure on your joints…so you might not be “unhealthy” but you won’t be able to walk when you’re older….”

Her concern for me is staggering, bless her heart (and I say that in the true Southern tradition.)  You know, so many ableist psychics leave comments here but none of them ever give me lottery numbers. Jerks.

So even if this was a forgone conclusion, the worst thing that I could do is attempt weight loss since the vast majority of weight loss attempts (including all of mine) end in weight gain.  In fact, it was only when I stopped trying to lose weight that my weight finally stabilized.  But to me the way that this is most messed up has nothing to do with that.

It’s possible that I won’t be able to walk when I’m older.  It’s possible that I won’t be able to walk tomorrow.  If that happens, I’ll join a number of people who currently can’t walk.

People using the possibility of disability as a way to try to threaten/manipulate the behavior of fat people is ableist, it’s totally fucked up, and it needs to stop.  People with disabilities/disabled people (there are people who identify as one, the other or both) are not cautionary tales. (To be clear, while I do want to look at the intersections of these oppressions, I am not trying to compare the oppressions that are faced by each.)

At the intersection of ableism and fatphobia lies a mountain of bullshit.  Whether it’s suggesting that fat people shouldn’t want to be fat because then they might become disabled, or suggesting that the world should be made more difficult to navigate for fat people with disabilities, the idea is that there is only one “good” body and any deviation from that is something that is bad and to be avoided.  The truth is that it’s not people’s bodies that disable or other them, it’s a society that is built to accommodate only one type of body and that treats other bodies like some kind of aberration or inconvenience, refusing to accommodate them.  So essentially people who “threaten” fat people with disability are saying “We’re going to continue to oppress disabled people/people with disabilities, so you don’t want to become one.”  So. Fucked. Up.

This is the faulty logic that leads to a culture where it’s ok to make seats that businesses know don’t accommodate everyone, and then blame the people they chose not to accommodate  – and encourage others to blame them – sometimes going so far as to charge them more to access the same service.  This is the big steaming pile of bullshit that leads to people suggesting that fat people with disabilities/disabled fat people don’t “deserve” mobility devices because it’s “their own fault” – as if the idea that people should have to prove that their disabilities aren’t their fault in order to be accommodated isn’t abjectly horrifying. This is what leads to the terrible treatment of disabled fat people/fat people with disabilities  (taking pictures of them without their consent, making fun of them, yelling at them as they pass etc.) that causes fat people whose lives could be improved by mobility aids to choose not to use them to avoid shaming and stigma.

People of different sizes and abilities exist and it doesn’t matter why.  To me it is far more important to create a world that accommodates as many people as possible, than to try to pit us against each other, or justify lack of accommodation as something that is for “our own good.”

Like this blog?  Here’s more cool stuff:

Become a Member For ten bucks a month you can support size diversity activism, help keep the blog ad free, and get deals from size positive businesses as a thank you.  Click here for details

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Book Me!  I’d love to speak to your organization. You can get more information on topics, previous engagements and reviews here or just e-mail me at ragen at danceswithfat dot org!

Dance Classes:  Buy the Dance Class DVDs or download individual classes – Every Body Dance Now! Click here for details 

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If you are uncomfortable with my offering things for sale on this site, you are invited to check out this post.

Recently I’ve written about the government funding discrimination against fat people from spending over $200,000 to get an estimate of a measurement (an exact measurement of which can be obtained with a scale and tape measure), to helping employers discriminate against fat employees, to spending billions on the “obesity epidemic” when it could be solved for free today.

In each of those blogs I did my best to rationally explain why these things were terrible, and discriminatory based on logic, math, research, and the belief that life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are inalienable – not size, health, or healthy habit contingent.

Because we’re all steeped in fatphobic culture, fat people – even those of us who are Size Acceptance Activists – can get overwhelmed by the amount of fatphobia that exists (and the amount that is perpetuated by the government) and think that maybe it’s us.  If that happens to you I suggest a little mantra that has helped me a lot:

It’s not me, this is some fucked up bullshit.

Feel free to edit it to work for you (It’s not me gosh darn it, this is bull hockey…) but rest assured that if you’re noticing that fat people are facing a tremendous amount of stigma, bullying and discrimination – much of it paid for by our own tax dollars – and you are thinking “holy shit, that’s totally fucked up bullshit” (or, you know, “wow, that’s messed up”) then please know that you are not wrong, it is not you, and it is not ok.

Sometimes when we think about activism and social change we think about petitions and speeches and rallies – whole movements with big activities and lots of people.  The truth is that social change starts with each of us saying “that’s not ok,” and then “I won’t allow that to go unchallenged” and everything else – all the petitions and protests, all the rallies and rabble rousing – comes from that place.  Never forget that in our fatphobic society refusing to hate ourselves is an act of revolution, and every time we see size-based discrimination and say “No.”  Whether it’s with a blog post, a petition, to a friend, or just in our own heads, we are engaging in activism.

This is going to be a long, difficult, painful fight, but we are going to win, and we make progress every time we notice the fucked up bullshit and every time we say “No.”

Like this blog?  Here’s more cool stuff:

Become a Member For ten bucks a month you can support size diversity activism, help keep the blog ad free, and get deals from size positive businesses as a thank you.  Click here for details

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Book Me!  I’d love to speak to your organization. You can get more information on topics, previous engagements and reviews here or just e-mail me at ragen at danceswithfat dot org!

Dance Classes:  Buy the Dance Class DVDs or download individual classes – Every Body Dance Now! Click here for details 

I’m training for an IRONMAN! You can follow my journey at www.IronFat.com

If you are uncomfortable with my offering things for sale on this site, you are invited to check out this post.

The CDC has created a tool that they claim will “Assess the costs of obesity as it relates to their bottom line.”  You can bet your sweet bippy there will be lots of swearing in the blog today.

They claim that their tool allows employers to input BMI data and find out how much employees will cost the bottom line based on their “estimations” about prescriptions, hospitalizations, and work days lost.

There are so many ways that this is fucked up that it’s hard to know where to begin.  First of all, the calculation of these numbers are dubious at best for a number of reasons, starting with the fact they are based on BMI which is a simple ratio of weight and height that has many, many problems in this and any context besides providing a ratio of weight and height.  Also, attempts to calculate the costs of obesity in the workplace have been gravely questionable.

An NBC news piece asks “Is the CDC Fueling Anti-Fat Bias in Workplaces?”  Anyone who really needs to ask this should immediately go eat a big bowl of No Shit Sherlock Flakes, a dish which apparently isn’t on the menu at the CDC’s cafeteria.  According to Deborah A. Galuska, associate director for science at the CDC’s division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity.

“To our knowledge, no organization has used the LEAN Works! tool to ‘target’ overweight workers for termination.” She points out, too, that the cost calculator’s webpage states: “CDC’s LEAN Works! should not be used to promote discriminatory practices such as considering weight in hiring or other personnel decisions. Weight discrimination is a serious issue and evidence indicates that it occurs in the work place.”

Well Deb, can I call you Deb?, I feel better already! No wait, I really don’t.  You have no idea how people are using this tool and you know it. What you do know is that you just told businesses that the government wants them to know that employing fat people is bad for the bottom line. “To our knowledge”  Really? I’m sure you’ll understand that your promotion of this tool seems to me to be a clear indication that you don’t have any knowledge to bring to bear on this situation.  To test that, let’s do a quick multiple choice text:

Q:  How can you tell if a tool you created is likely to promote discriminatory practices?

     A: Experts can’t think of away it could be used to promote discriminatory practices

     B:  You have to tell the intended audience not to use it to promote discrimination.

     C:  Sorry I didn’t hear the question because I was busy promoting discrimination.

According to Deb, “Informing employers regarding the cost of obesity to their organization can help make the business case for providing a healthier work environment — one where nutrition and physical activity is valued.” First of all, you can’t tell from someone’s height/weight ratio (BMI) how highly they, or their employer, values nutrition and physical activity.  Further, Ms. Galuska cannot show a single study wherein any changes in work environment have led to a long-term change in the BMI of employees.  In fact, not a single study exists  of any intervention wherein more than a tiny fraction of people have been able to create and maintain long-term body size manipulation and no study finds that even that tiny percentage are more health. The research that does exist regarding corporate wellness programs is highly questionable.

I think that if Deborah A. Galuska can’t think of a way promote to promote the creation of healthy work environments without promoting a tool that she has to tell people not to use to discriminate in hiring, then she should be fired immediately and replaced with someone who has some kind of base level competence to do her job, and that goes for her bosses – Janet Collins, PhD, Division Director and Ann O’Connor, MPH, Deputy Director, and anyone who is involved in the creation and promotion of this discriminatory tool.  A healthy workplace includes not just physical health, but mental health and for that you need an environment where people don’t face stigma and discrimination.

 

If you’re not bothered by the government encouraging employers to discriminate against employees based on their height weight ratio – in fact giving them tools to do so – ask yourself where it ends.  Ask yourself if you’re really comfortable with a world where the government encourages businesses to hire people on the basis of appearance and guesses about possible future healthcare costs rather than job skills.

Activism Opportunity

Let the CDC officials responsible know what you think:

Contact Deborah Galuska:  dgaluska@cdc.gov

Contact Janet Collins:  JCollins@cdc.gov

Contact Ann O’Connor:  aoconnor@cdc.gov

Contact CDC Director Tom Frieden:  Tomfrieden@cdc.gov

For good, research-based information about workplace wellness, check out http://salveopartners.com/

Like this blog?  Here’s more cool stuff:

Become a Member For ten bucks a month you can support size diversity activism, help keep the blog ad free, and get deals from size positive businesses as a thank you.  Click here for details

Book Me!  I’d love to speak to your organization. You can get more information on topics, previous engagements and reviews here or just e-mail me at ragen at danceswithfat dot org!

Buy my book:  Fat:  The Owner’s Manual  The E-Book is Name Your Own Price! Click here for details

Dance Classes:  Buy the Dance Class DVDs or download individual classes – Every Body Dance Now! Click here for details 

I’m training for an IRONMAN! You can follow my journey at www.IronFat.com

If you are uncomfortable with my offering things for sale on this site, you are invited to check out this post.