Stepping Stone
As some of you may know, I've been involved in this movement in some form or another for about 12 years and have been running BFB for nearly 8 years. And for the longest, longest time I considered the passage of anti-fat discrimination laws to be the peak of what we've been trying to accomplish. I now realize that passing said laws will be not the last step, but the first.
I've started reading Anna Kirkland's Fat Rights and there are some important points she makes right off the bat. The biggest one that resonated with me was so powerful I reconsidered my long-held stance: passing anti-fat discrimination laws won't make sizism go away. Rather, like racism, the real threat is that said discrimination will boil under the surface while people talk about how we're in a "post-sizist" society and such due to these laws. "But it's illegal to fire a fat person!", and so forth.
There is a long, long history of fat hatred that we're up against which comes from a place of ignorance, a place of fear - a dark place. There are some people who will thwart down fat positivity every chance they get. There are some people who will promote diet agendas in fat positive spaces. There are some people who will chance death on the operating table to Not Be Fat. There are some people who will starve to be thinner. There are some people who will lose weight, and regain it, and lose it again. There are some people who will post hate-filled comments on blogs and news sites.
I see a lot of these peoples' actions caused by the societal view of fat people: fat first, people second. This also says to me that the motivation to classify fat as a disability or as a disease isn't being done to ultimately accommodate let alone celebrate our size, no; it says to me that it's a wholesale attempt to eliminate fat. People look at us and they may be disgusted. They may feel pity. They may feel all of these negative things, none of which are ultimately wanted, deserved, nor correct.
But if we can chalk it up to disability, disease, or behavior we can try to correct it. Because being fat is something "wrong".
If we want this to be about people - people who are fat - then why are we so quick to embrace fat? I say it's in order to neutralize that word's negativity first, and eventually turn it into a positive thing. I'm not under some delusion that this is a quick win and will happen the moment a state or province passes an anti-fat discrimination law. This is so heavily ingrained in our current society that it may take generations to change. This is why we've seen the emergence of people who claim to support fat rights and yet are intentionally losing weight; it's a way to not challenge the boundaries set by society and yet be ready to hop on board when things in our movement really take off (ie, when we challenge and overrun said boundaries.) The worst of both worlds, in my opinion, but a very difficult place to get out of.
Due to all of this society has failed to step up and give us, as a group, the rights we deserve. Our human rights are being gutted and taken away from us, which makes this an instance where we need the law to step in. An injustice? Absolutely. A civil rights issue? Absolutely.
Ignorant and stupid comments from people who are threatened by us underscore that it's important for us to work on the societal aspects of fat, too. That's why pointing out sizism and fat hatred in the media and in government is something we not only should do but must do. Anti-fat discrimination laws can help catapult the discussion of sizism from blogs and sidebar articles to the front pages of newspapers, the chambers of Congress, and beyond. In essence, getting these laws passed is setting up the platform to further our cause.
It's not the end of what fat acceptance and fat rights need to do; rather, it's only the beginning.
USA Today: Sizism almost as frequent as racism | Quick Hits: The Rainy Sunday Edition
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Wonderful post, Paul.
I have just started Kirkland's book too.
http://diceytillerman.livejournal.com/
I'm totally with you on the first-step thing. Oh, christ, am I with you. When I was attending the hearings in Massachusetts, and thinking about the place that this particular kind of activism had in my life, and what I hoped would come from it--in fact, when I was asked that question by a journalist--I kinda pulled up short in my head. Like, NO WAY would it change people's actual feelings about fat. Just like employers and prospective landlords keep on having their sexist, racist, homophobic, classist thoughts, and find little ways to effectively discriminate in spite of existing legislation, so will fat continue to be a negative trait in the minds of most people for a long time, and people will find ways to discriminate.
HOWEVER, my feeling is that anti-discrimination laws will at least make people stop and think: how is this going to look? I don't care if they're on board in their own head. In this case, the thought doesn't count. It's the behavior that's important. What ARE big steps, legally speaking, is when we have more people ready to sue on the basis of legitimate cases of size discrimination. Because that means that those people are ready to come out as fat, they're ready to initiate a public discussion and debate about fat with themselves as the center. That's scary. But when we have lots of people ready to do that, and not just fade away and mutter, well, I didn't really want that job anyway... That will show that change is happening in the souls of the fatties. And that will be a great thing.
Marina
I think anti-discrmination laws based on size would be a good thing, especially to stop employers from forcing mandatory "wellness" policies and Biggest Loser competitions on workers, and health insurance companies from denying benefits to people on the basis of weight alone.
Of course, people will continue to hate on others for simply being larger and the medical community will continue to scream about the dangers of fat, you'd be living under a rock if you think that would ease up. But if these laws were passed, and it made these same people do some serious squirming and teeth gnashing, that's OK with me.
I was shocked and offended a week ago when I saw the latest Subway ad where a guy with a burger combo was told (with props falling on him as well as a voice-over) that it also came with: elastic waist pants, seat belt extenders, loss of girlfriend, therapy and extra large deodorant.
This week, the same ad aired minus the "loss of girlfriend" and "extra large deodorant" parts, so someone somewhere must have decided (or been convinced) that implying that fat people are universally single and stinky was a bit too much between this week and last.
I have total respect for Anna Kirkland. I got a copy of her book just before flying out to Massachusetts for the hearing on a proposed height/weight law there and decided I would enjoy her writing after I flung myself at the stupid, stupid boulder of fat oppression in this particular way.
I need to go read more than the first two or three chapters of her book now, but I'm pretty sure I'll agree with her assessment. I can say right now that basing access to civil rights on any argument is a precarious way to secure equal opportunity. I would rather we could all claim such access based on being human beings. Human rights, not civil rights.
That said, I will use any and every leveraging point possible in trying to shift and get the stupid, stupid boulder of fat oppression out of everybody's (fat and thin) way. Well, I'll use leveraging points that don't reinforce or reinvest in or reinscribe fat hate, as I see it. So, no, I won't endorse weight-loss goals. I won't do anything negative about fat.
A point I posted about recently on the fat studies list is the urge to place blame. I refuse to engage in any effort to locate where we might place the blame for the existence of fat people. I refuse. Instead, I operate from the belief that the existence of fat people is not negotiable. I suggest instead that we celebrate weight diversity. For example, when my least-favorite "obesity" hysteria-monger Kelly Brownell wants to act like fat people should be grateful to him because he shifts blame for our existence from our own alleged gluttony and sloth to the allegedly "obesigenic" environment, I hate him even harder. That's just reinforcing fat hate from a fun, new angle. Every time someone asks, "Why am I fat?" or "Why are people fat?" or "Why are people gaining weight?" those are questions about placing blame for fatness. I'm opposed to the urge behind those questions and to the anti-fat nature of such questions.
I worked my fat ass off to get people out to testify in support of the height/weight anti-discrimination law in San Francisco. That doesn't mean San Francisco is at all free of weight discrimination. It means that if people of all sizes ever bother to take a real stand against fat hatred, there'll be a nice, legal basis for doing so.
Civil rights legislation do not function as on/off switches for oppression.
In my imagination, what does function as a highly effective and quick on/off switch for prejudice and discrimination is widespread social derision and ostracism. When enough people react immediately and righteously to fat hate as if it were the stupidest, ugliest, nastiest, smelliest, most uncool way anyone could possibly imagine behaving...then, I imagine it will go away really fast.
Picture: someone makes a fat joke and everyone's response is, "Eww!" and "How dare you?" or just a bored and dismissive, "Too bad, I thought you were cool. Bye."
Picture: a public figure makes a fat-hating statement and that is an immediate and unquestioned career killer.
We all have that power over that on/off switch all the time.
A neighbor whom I only know in passing crossed my path on the sidewalk one day. Her idea for small talk was to tell me I looked good and must be losing weight. I told her I was not losing weight and that I always look good. She insisted, several times, on trying to push her weight-loss compliment onto me. Each time, I responded with increasing clarity that I did not welcome her definition of me. Finally, I said to her, "I'm not dieting, I would never do anything so stupid." She had real difficulty comprehending what I was saying, I imagine because it had no basis in her existing worldview. But I continue to see her on the sidewalk and she has never once mentioned my weight since. Something got through to her.
I was at the dentist for a regular tooth cleaning and the hygienist got bored and tried to make conversation. Of all the possible things she could think of to discuss with a very obviously very fat person (me!), she said, "Who do you think is going to win in tonight's final episode of The Biggest Loser?" I told her that I would never be bothered to watch a tv show that is based in cruelty about people's weight. She didn't understand, really. She tried once or twice more to explain the show to me, as if I were missing out on something. Each time, I said in a different way that I would not invest my time in a show that's mean to fat people. She finally said, "You don't watch tv then, do you?" Actually, I don't. (Although when I visit my parents, I enjoy their nightly Jeopardy habit, and I flip their channels to Cesar Milan, Dog Whisperer.)
We're building a grassroots community of resistance to oppression. Every single interaction that we have, that resists fat hate and moves toward weight neutrality and celebrating weight diversity, helps us create more social justice on our issues. Every blog, every website, every 'zine, every dance performance, every testimony before government bodies, every piece of legislation, every fat studies book like Anna's, every conversation in which we refuse to go along with fat hate as if it were at all okay or normal.
I don't make a distinction between which of these options is going to demolish fat hate for good. I don't even really think about demolishing fat hate for good. I just throw myself at whichever of these options is most available or most fun in any moment and I keep doing that over and over and now it's been 15 years that I've been doing this boundary-setting practice and I can look back and see a certain amount of change, a certain number of people I've maybe inspired, a certain expansion in the liveable space the I enjoy and that others might enjoy.
I don't separate it out by government and media and other categories. I think of internalized oppression and the IRL experience of weight prejudice and discrimination as two battlefronts. I believe that it's necessary to confront fat hate on both fronts, each one of us, if we're to make noticeable change and social justice. If I'm not confronting my internalized oppression and I'm only a warrior in the world, then everything I do will be permeated with my unacknowledged and unaddressed and unwelcome fat negativity that I still carry. And if I only do self-help in my armchair at home and never confront fat hate in my world, then no matter how strong I become personally, prejudice and discrimination will still be rampant piles of stupidity that I have to wade through every time I open my door. If, instead, I fight on both fronts, then it's possible to get a positive feedback loop started. Confronting my internalized fat hate will help me address it in real-world interactions. Confronting fat hate in my world will embolden me to let go of negativity that I carry inside me. And around and around.
Moral of the story? Anna Kirkland rocks!
Time to write a new book, Marilyn. Seriously.
I think you have the first chapter right there!
I thought I posted this earlier, but I offer here an overarching apology for my total windiness in posting. Long and windy!!! Y'all rock! Thanks for kind words, too...
I'm under no illusion that we're going to win the hearts and minds of the fat-hating majority overnight. And legislation is but a pipe-dream right now in all but a handful of places, so any discussion is pure speculation. But what was it John Wayne supposedly said: "If you've got them by the balls, their hearts and minds will follow"? If rational argument and coherent discourse can win enough of the right hearts and minds to get laws like those currently under consideration in Mass. onto the statute books - laws which will give fat people vital recourse against the social, economic and institutional ways in which fat people are discriminated against and denied opportunities on a daily basis - we will then have the fatphobes by the proverbials. I doubt anyone is naive enough to think that legislation in itself will automatically result in an end to the size fascism now taking hold in society. But it could at least restore some people's faith that there might just be some justice in the world, and make day-to-day life that much easier. In time, the masses too might begin to think more deeply about WHY what they are about to say or do has been deemed unacceptable, and if not come round to our way of thinking at least cease declaring themselves our enemies.
"It is possible to be fat and fit; not everyone is meant to, or can, be thin. The scourge of modern society is not obesity, but body fascism" - Amy Lamé
So, Richie, how's the start-up of your blog comin'?
I don't want to beat a dead horse about it, but I'd just like to re-state for the record that I believe your perspective to be unique and underexposed, and your writing style to be well-suited to blog authorship. If you're intimidated by the scope of starting, writing, and maintaining your own blog at this time, how about offering up your services as a guest blogger? I seem to remember reading that the team at Shapely Prose has expressed an interest for anyone who wants to fill in while they do things like earn degrees and write books.
And Marilyn, my suggestion for you to write another book was completely based on the fact that your comment was so incredibly insightful and compelling that the world needs to hear more from you. I, in no way, was slighting you because of the length of your comment. In fact, I thought your comment was so engaging, I found it far too short (and hence my desire for you to write another book).
Kelly, all I can say is 'watch this space'. I have toyed with the idea of pressing my long-dormant LiveJournal into service, but then remembered that LJ restrict commenting to registered users, which isn't really something I'd want. I've also signed up for a Blogger account, but never progressed beyond the 'name your blog' page (all the variations on my BFB moniker appear taken, and a more imaginative / fat-related nom de net continues to evade me).
But once again, I appreciate your feedback and your compliments on my style
"It is possible to be fat and fit; not everyone is meant to, or can, be thin. The scourge of modern society is not obesity, but body fascism" - Amy Lamé