Fat Freedom

Fat shame can be defined through many different perspectives. In media, for the most part being fat is looked down upon because society’s obsession with thinness has become so inclusive to only “thin” people; the war on fat became the war on fat people. The diet industries, also needing a lot of “food” prey on fat people who because of fat stigmas, sometimes fall into different diets that sometimes just don’t work. This obsession with being thin has been long lasting, effecting generations of families. The media has destructed the image of fat people so much so that there have been reality shows such as The Biggest Loser that exploit the negatives of being fat.

            Often, the contestants will come out looking a lot more thin and “healthy”. As most of them come out they just look more acclimatized to society’s image of beauty and health. Not that when they were fat that they were unhealthy, which is widely assumed by the viewers and others.

Here is a link to a depiction of one of the contestant’s before and after photo, from when they started they show on the left, and when they ended the show on the right.

depiction of the biggest loser

            Often the people who lose the weight on these diets, gain it back, which means more money for the diet industry and more contestants for the show. The diet industry influences a mass amount of people into believing that they’re not beautiful because of their body type. The basis that people who are fat are: lazy, gluttonous, wild and primitive, needs to be de-bunked and the truth of the fat “dilemma” needs to be put out there. The diet industries, along with the “war on fat” have been two of the most destructive forces against the image of fat in our media and society. We are obsessed with being thin, we can’t imagine gaining weight and if we did, we have to lose it or we won’t be “attractive” or our own self-image will no longer be accepted by ourselves or by society. This can be a perspective of fat shame and that is how debilitating these stigmas can be.

            Fat shame is more than just about losing the weight it seems. It also seems to be about losing the personality or the character of being fat. In many perspectives of fat, being fat is considered being lazy, or wild but this is just not so and accounts for one of the many stereotypes portrayed among people who are fat. In the show The Biggest Loser, the instructor forces the contestants beyond their physical abilities because these stereotypes are so widely assumed and accepted. So even though a fat person may not carry these stigmas that they are stereotyped by, it seems that these traits, pushed upon them, are the ones that are seen in society as most primitive. And primitive things must be sub-par to our own culture. A great example of this is Venus Hottentot, who, because of her large proportions around her chest and butt area was put on display as being one of the fattest people on Earth.

            Mainly the point is that fat shame shouldn’t exist. These stereotypes that society forces on people of different body shape doesn’t account for the fact that people are born different. Some people will inherently have different body shapes than others and this should be celebrated, not seen as primitive because it’s different. It’s never a choice to be lazy, wild and uncouth when you’re fat but if you are, these are all stigmas that lay with you until you “lose the weight” or the primitive stigma that we have constructed over the image.