I am in support of bodies of all shapes and sizes being as healthy as possible (because we all can’t reach one specific type of health, that’s unrealistic and ableist) but ultimately health is personal and not the business of anyone but ourselves! Moreover I am very passionate about removing the stigma of fat. This stigma hurts fat people (I would say it hurts thin people too!) and poses a far greater health risk than body weight. It is assumed automatically that thin = healthy, and I bet when you actually think about that assumption… it starts to unravel. Do you know thin people who don’t exercise and eat poorly? I do. But those people are not told by their doctors that they need to lose weight, because they might not have any visible markers of fatness (read: poor health). And that’s how fat is pathologised and that’s why this kind of assumption works against everyone, because even thin people aren’t getting the health care they need when their health workers are relying on fat as a measure of health. The truth is, healthful and not-so-healthful behaviours are performed by EVERY sort of body. Our health care workers shouldn’t be so lazy as to assume the not-so-healthful behaviours are the domain of fatties only.

When it comes to health, I encourage people to question the messages they are receiving, especially when those messages are generalised and vastly different to actual health care research. Health is personal and there is no one direct path to good health, because we all have a vast array of highly individual factors. No person should be shamed into being “healthy” (read: thin), but unfortunately it seems that this is the accepted defense against obesity (BOOGA BOOGA) in this day and age.

Fat acceptance is a dense and fascinating subject and an important social justice issue that many dismiss because addressing one’s own assumptions about fatness is very challenging. Understandably too when we’re told over and over, every day, that our bodies aren’t good enough unless they are thin. Fat acceptance is not about encouraging everyone to be fat. Fat acceptance recognises that people have different body shapes and fat people are vastly underprivileged and grossly pathologised when it comes to: health (including mental health), representation and visibility (not just in the media, in every day life!), clothing, and public spaces.