Fatphobia

The Effects of Fatphobia: Adolescent Girls And a Negative Sense of Empowerment

Inaya Denae Felder

April 25th, 2022

Adolescent girls and their exploration of sexuality are put at risk by the fetishization of fatphobia and the facade of body positivity. An oppressive philosophy that propagates hate speech toward fat people and instills a fear of fatness. It is a widespread phenomenon in a society where thinness is revered as aesthetic, while fatness is ostracized, demeaning, unattractive, and even shameful. This is something that we continuously recycle across the lifespan of our society and throughout history, and I think it has had the most impact on girls during their adolescent years and carries over into young adulthood. Because society rejects these young girls, it can result in these girls sexualizing themselves in order to prove to society that they too can be desired and be considered "sexy"; this negative response to their environment then gets wrapped up in the veneer of "Body Positivity" and "Women's Liberation". Of course, teaching teenage girls to be comfortable in their sexuality and body is a beautiful thing, and will ultimately have a healthy mental impact on these girls growing up, but when these “liberations” are twisted into an oversexualized narrative. The concept of sexualization is closely tied to fatness. When smaller girls wear shorts, no one is concerned. But when a larger woman wears a pair of average-sized shorts, it looks out of place and is considered inappropriate. The length of shorts, skirts, and dresses get shorter as your thighs and butt get bigger and rounder.

Firstly, we’ll be looking into the history of fatphobia and its surprising roots in racism and religion. My research lead me to Sabrina Strings' book, “Fearing the Black Body:

Racial Origins of Fat Phobia”, where she discusses that while obesity is a major worry in today's medical industry, it wasn't always so. Going back to the 19th century in the United States, thinness has always been viewed as the ideal body type; and is the only thing that the media pushed out until about five years ago. As we delve into the history we uncover that the trans-Atlantic slave trade, along with Protestantism aided in on and recycled the ideologies that fatness was a sign of immorality and racially inferior, when it originally represented wealth and health. During this time there were still a lot of racial talks, and as it grew it started to put forward that black people were genetically more voracious, and the more it went on the more white Americans were influenced to be scared of black Americans; because we were being described as animals, that were to be feared and degraded. All of this went along with black Americans always being identifiable through our weight and skin color, and if we fast forward to the current day young black girls and other fat teen girls and women are often slut-shamed and told that our bodies make white America uncomfortable. Because of this, eating disorders like Anorexia and Bulimia are at risk of being developed, while also making these disorders popular and normal in mainstream America.

Now, we take a look at current America and its oversexualized version of “Body Positivity”, the beauty standards of modern America have shifted their view back on fat women and it's only put a microscope on bigger women's boobs and butt, which leaves out the realistic parts of having fat; which is that you get it everywhere: thighs, stomach, back, upper arms, chin. When mainstream media does this it glamourizes only certain parts of our bodies and this singles out and creates unrealistic expectations for bigger women, seeing that the societal ideal body is “big boobs and butt with a completely flat stomach” this is unattainable for most women and leaves a lot of flat teens and women feeling less than. On the other side of the spectrum, this glamourized version of fat can be a pipeline to young girls thinking they have to be provocative and “sexy” to prove that they are desired by others and worthy of being in the forefront of media. And because skinny, thin, and thick are pushed as the most desirable body, most men feel embarrassed to be seen with a bigger woman; this all leads us to hookup culture which leaves a lot of fat young women feeling unfulfilled and used by their male counterparts, and can lead to internalized shame during intimacy with future partners. Because fat people are shamed and told they're being open about their food and sexual appetite makes people uncomfortable any type of desire or hunger is viewed as greedy and undisciplined; which is how a lot of fat-shaming begins. When you’re fat normal things like loving ourselves, eating in public, slightly showing our body, and having a sex life is considered us rebelling against society. And because of this it largely shapes how fat women deal with things like rejection, acceptance, and relationships, speaking personally my fatness is something that I’m always conscious of. Simple things like going on a date or going out to party with friends become exceedingly stressful and anxiety-inducing, since I’ve been a college student I’ve experienced already a handful of fat-shaming moments when going out to parties or even when trying to make friends. Where I was rejected because I didn’t fit the aesthetic of a friend group, or random boys in parties stand across the room and mock me as I try to dance and have fun with my friends. Or the time my sister (who was 2 at the time) had called me fat, of course, this was an innocent mistake, but the fear that comes behind it is immense. I say all of this to state that this way of living is agonizing to say the least and during intimacy, any slight discomfort from the partner will cause the fat partner to instantly connect it to them being bigger, even if that isn’t the reasoning to the discomfort. These insecurities can cause wedges in their relationships and can make the bigger partner begin to be colder to their partner because they fear that they are not fully accepted for how they truly are, these things ultimately keep bigger people from wanting to pursue future relationships, in fear that they will be rejected or worse, shamed because of their size. Like Christine Schoenwald (2020, March 3) from her Ravishly article, where she discusses how fat-shaming impacts fat people's relationships. In this article she shares a time when her ex-lover had stopped being attracted to her once she gained weight and how their sex life started to feel like she was a sex worker and not his partner, she states “After he, left, I couldn’t stop thinking about his not kissing me. The more I tried to analyze it, the more it translated in my brain to him not finding me attractive anymore. I had gained weight, and where before I had been cute and chubby, now I was undeniably fat”. All of this often leaves bigger women considering if they should even put the energy into getting to know someone, so all of the stressors that come with hookup culture and dating are just amplified because our bodies are being constantly examined and we’re always being weight checked.

Now we migrate into modern-day body positivity and women's liberation, where from 2010 til the current day feminists are still discussing editing and photoshopping your body while trying to sell it as natural. It's gotten so severe that fat women and young girls will post regular videos and pictures of them doing regular things, and if you go to the comments it is them being congratulated for being “so brave” and people asking for tips on “ how we got so confident and comfortable to show our bodies”. This gives the tone that we overcame some type of challenge or tragedy in our life, or you’re treated like a charity case because you wore a crop top, these fake positive comments can be more harmful than out-right fat shaming, its understandable that these things are meant to be compliments, but that’s not usually how they come off. These fake body movements also contribute to parts of capitalism, because companies profit off of “inclusive” slogans and upcharge on plus-sized clothing. Making it extremely hard for bigger women and girls to find nice clothes, and when companies do design clothes for plus-sized women they are often the “ugly” options and covered-up articles of clothing. This is key to what a lot of plus-sized women try to do to feel truly empowered, is by expressing ourselves through our clothes and makeup; but when we try to do these things we are labeled as clown-ish and sloppy. All of this adds to the silly fat friend narrative, or how it’s commonly known as a “DUFF”. Which stands for the Designated ugly fat friend, and often in the majority of skinny friend groups that’s all you’re expected to be, whether it's a conscious or subconscious thing. We try to be confident

In conclusion, I hope that one day we can change this unhealthy stigma of being fat and that we remember that “fat” isn’t a bad word, it's just a description of you, but it is not who you are and that is not all you have to offer. You shouldn’t be scared to be who you are because society might reject you, don’t fear your appetite whether it's with food or intimacy, we are human also so make sure to take care of your body. And don’t be scared or too anxious to try new things in fear of being laughed at, build a relationship and bond with your body that will be unbreakable. Fall in love with it. We deserve to love ourselves. Though we can’t control how society views us, we can always control how we react to our environment and how much we take from it.

References

Staff, W. (2018, May 18). Fake body positivity movement

https://www.cosmopolitanme.com/opinion/are-we-in-the-midst-of-a-fake-body-positivity-movementhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYyKSb8JEC4

Cottais, C. (2021, July 19). Fatphobia is the socially acceptable discrimination

https://www.growthinktank.org/en/fatphobia-a-pervasive-and-socially-accepted-discrimination/

Noir, T.N, Tee Noir ( 2020, May 18). The Token Fat Friend

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LVe9CELws4

Mooney, T. (2022, August 20). Racial origins of fatphobia

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/fat-shaming-race-weight-body-image-cbsn-originals/

C.C, Crespo (2022, March 25). Analysis of Kat Hernandez: Fatphobia, Fetishization and fake confidence

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYyKSb8JEC4

Schoenwald, C. (2020, March 4). Impacts of fat-shaming on Intimacy