Thursday 24 January 2013

Accepting obesity affects everyone

I've been having the usual disjointed interchange with some fat phobe who's showing their patooty. This person does the same thing a lot of anti progressive types do. Complains bitterly about others making themselves victims, by presenting themselves as a victim of that.
Now I hasten to add this person was like most fat haters being totally disingenuous but trying to front their excuse for pure mindless hate. This leads to the curious effect of them not understanding their own argument.

Their complain came in the form that fat people are claiming to be the only 'victims' of body bias. For a start, I claim more that we are victimized rather than necessarily victims-it depends.

This sortie has come up time and again, feminists like this a lot too. Any pointing to the unacceptability of being converted into disease is trivialized or erased-not trivial enough to stop it though.

When that doesn't quiet fatz, it becomes "You think you're the only ones". The upshot? I explained to this person that 'obesity' victimizes slim and thin people because it underlines a principle that can be applied to any weight.

Your body size as a collection of your wrong decisions, behaviour, morality. It's a full inventory of judgement at a glance.

Predictably, this person is confused and blamed me for this confusion! They couldn't work out that I was agreeing with their ever so disingenuously made point, in reverse if you like. That 'obesity' has enabled more body bashing for everyone.

Accepting 'obesity' means you accept 'thin bashing', as the premise is no different, calling people anorexic because they are thin, which is still a diagnosis point for AN, is also the same as turning fatness into an ED, which is what much of the field still does. 

Bullying others using that premise acclimatizes your own mind to receive the same bullying. It's hard to refute, perpetrating it, means you rarely do this in your mind. Shouting fat people down means you've never heard nor allowed others to do so either.

In the moment your size is invoked it joins on to what you've been doing to others. The reaction you've seen in them and how you've felt about it.

That latter especially can be a doozy. Your own contempt becomes what you imagine is the same coming at you, and that can really sting.

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