Internalised fat phobia

A thread over at WATRD , has lead me to respond to the idea that the term "fat acceptance" and the movement that goes with it is somehow alienating to those who aren't fat.

I am not trying to embrace myself at the expense of others, you'll tend to think that if you embrace yourself at my expense.

If you are say, slim and you feel like you're winning in terms of self esteem, in the weight stakes, because you are slim and/or because you weight watch, or draft your diet. I'll let you into a little secret, you aren't; it's just that at best, you might be losing a little less than me.

Looking at the situation objectively, you are losing overall. To shift the basis of your self esteem from that of your existence (the fact of your being) to that of your weight, is a loss.

It only feels like winning because I might seem to be losing more. That's one of the main reasons people resent FA, because they sense it as a threat to their sense of 'wining'. That's a bad state to be in; for your esteem to rest on others lack.

Your illusion of comfort, rests on my discomfort, or your illusion of the latter. Think of the position that puts you in.

Those encouraging you down this road are performing a confidence trick on you.

They don't care a whole lot about the price you're paying for this, in terms of dieting, disordered eating, anxiety about whether you can keep your self esteem (i.e. your slimness)etc. Anymore than they care about the price I pay for seeing myself in the light they are painting me.

Oh, the effects are monitored, don't you like to check out your handiwork? There's talk about the worrying increase in eating disorders such as anorexia and does any woman (especially) eat normally or have a normal relationship with food? As 'fat discrimination' is monitored also, making sure that setting the non-fat against the fat is actually meaningful. Discrimination against fat people is worse than this or that group and so forth, so do they rethink their dissemination of fat shaming? Hell no!

Because the purpose of monitoring is to see the extent of their ability to manipulate us to do their bidding, to do what we are told. To see the key to getting us to follow orders and to disenfranchise some, in a democracies, where persuasion is key. This is all being filed away for future reference. If there was a groundswell against their behaviour and it was called out for what it was, that would promote a swift rethink. And surely, something else would be tried.

They manipulate us all, setting us against each other, knowing as always that if the emotions are strong enough, they will trump reason, almost every time. The overall agenda of creating a mental and emotional dependency on them by giving us the feeling that we are in control and responsible. This is a more effective than just ordering us about, directly. And in the case of fat people, take away our rights/ children and pick our pockets, making us subsidise and pay for the mismanagement of health.

The way we deal with health undoubtedly needs to change, it seems we cannot afford it. The problem is, varying interests don't want to change in the ways necessary to make that change positive, because they will have to lose control, possibly a lot, and they don't want that, so the public has to be brutalised to they can remain as they are, probably causing those underlying problems to remain and resurface later on.

But hey, later on is not now! And who knows, if they can get away with what they're trying to do with fat people, they can use that same pattern, on those who've been softened up by participating in this tranche. Being part of shaming others, prepares you for being shamed. Bullying, prepares you to be bullied yourself.

This could of course backfire in more ways than just FA. If people have a semi detached place in the health system, professionals being at the centre of their health care will change, by definition. It will only work if fat people pay up and shut up.

I do feel angry that we are all, fat and thin being used in this manner, when we trust the information and so called 'advice' we are given, we expect those we believe in to tell us the truth, not to manipulate and lie using science and research because we believe in empirical evidence.

All this to lose something that cannot be bettered, you cannot better the self esteem your were born with, based on the fact of your existence. The value and worth of your actions can add to this, but the essence of your worth is that you are.