It’s “Say Something Sunday,” a day dedicated, at least on this blog, to personal Size Diversity activism. I’ve got some suggestions below and/or of course you can do your own thing and feel free to leave a comment about it. If you have ideas of things to do for Say Something Sunday I’d also love for you to share those.
I did the math and if everyone who views the blog each week did one piece of Size Diversity Activism a week, it would add up to over 1.5 million body positive messages put out into the world this year. Multiply that times the number of people who might see each of those messages and things start to increase exponentially. To be very clear, nobody is obligated to do activism so if this doesn’t appeal to you that’s totally cool, I’ll be back tomorrow with your regularly scheduled blog post!
The theme this week is the Good Fatty/Bad Fatty Dichotomy. This is the idea that fat people who do the “right” things according to those who think that they have the right to judge us deserve to be treated better than those who don’t do the “right” things. This can also be perpetrated by fat people who suggest that they should be treated with respect because of how they eat or the exercise that they do, or that they are better than “those other fat people”. This is bullshit and it needs to die. (for a longer explanation, check here.) There is absolutely no justification for treating fat people badly. So when you see this, whether it’s in an article, comment second, social media, or in conversation, you can point out that all people deserve respect regardless of body size or personal choices.
If you want to do more of this kind of thing, consider joining the Rolls Not Trolls group on Facebook, it’s a group created for the specific purpose of putting body positive things in body negative spaces on the internet and supporting each other while we do that. It’s a secret group so if you want to join just message me on facebook (I’m Ragen Chastain)
Have a great Say Something Sunday!
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Dances With Fat 
I couldn’t say anything, because he was in a the show I was watching, but I recently watched George Takei’s bio, and he fussed at his husband for being heavier, and also at Wil Wheaton, then his husband commented that he tends to do that. For someone who otherwise fights for acceptance and justice, it really bothered me. I wonder if there is a way to drop him a note…
I saw someone speak out on Takei’s FB page about a sizeist joke he’d posted that hinged on the assumption that eating candy bars = becoming fat = diabetes. She was shouted down by his fans and later he posted “in reference to my earlier post: how many politically correct people does it take to screw in a lightbulb? A: THAT’S NOT FUNNY.” I unfollowed him after that.
Unfortunately, George Takei is well known for that. I’ve left comments on his facebook fan page, and eventually unliked it. I felt like someone who has been part of a movement for acceptance should be a hell of a lot less quick to judge fat people.
It ties into the thought process of “well, I can’t change being gay, but they don’t HAVE to be fat.” Which is BS on multiple levels. Not the least of which being that even if someone chose being gay (I’m bisexual, and I can assure you it wasn’t a “choice”) it’s no one else’s business who someone loves or has sex with or whatever. Same as my weight is no one else’s business.
Ah, but a gay person can choose to starve themselves of love, and live a celibate life, thus avoiding the bigotry in the world, so it’s all good, right? Just like the good fatties who starve themselves, to try to avoid the bigotry.
Wait.
Sounds like “Uncle George” still has some learning to do.
I too was appalled at his behaviour over his fat jokes. You’d think that the oppressed would stick together.
I was at a party…mostly family; and despite them knowing about my unease with the whole diet/monitor/complain—they were just too carried away by one person’s 3 lb loss, and a “new” diet.
Had to leave. Sometimes its ridiculous that I’m still saying something and this keeps on and on. Jenn
I did a little something, although I know I could have done more. I was talking with somebody at church coffee hour today about how the HS campus where he works (my old school) lets students leave to buy lunch at the assorted fast food joints down the hill and he started emoting about the awful!number!of!calories in the stuff they brought back with them. I firmly steered the subject toward the reasons the policy exists, among them the notion that people who are old enough for JROTC and jobs involving sharp objects should be making some of their own decisions and accepting potential consequences thereof. I didn’t actually say, “No, the calorie count of the food they choose to consume is not a reason to close the campus, good grief,” though.
Teens need lots of calories, and I’m sure there are plenty of thin teens eating these foods without the “food police” complaining.
Moreover, closing the campus at lunch will make it worse for those kids who actually go home for a healthy meal during that break. The ones whose families serve up balanced meals that are actually edible and tasty, as well as nutritious, and maybe even organic and vegan and all that jazz, that they couldn’t get if they ate at the cafeteria.
When I was a kid, I went home for lunch, and it was great! Then we moved, and I had to stay there, and eat at the cafeteria, and it was awful.