How many weeks has it been since the world came screeching to a halt and we all sequestered ourselves at home to save the world? 40 days? Who’s counting?
Through all of the anxiety and collective trauma of a global pandemic- one thing remains clear- people are more terrified of becoming fat than dying.
How quickly did folx begin to use the pandemic as a tool to tout fatphobia through pushes to use this time to lose weight or diet. Others used the global trauma where lives are being lost to suggest that your diet can protect you from contracting COVID-19 (it can’t.).
Choosing to participate in a push-up challenge with your friends, dieting, counting calories, or downloading weight loss apps is your prerogative, but I ask those who are-- why? We have been sold a bald-faced lie that diet will save us from death. The biggest lie we’ve been told is that folx in larger bodies die sooner than those in thinner bodies. Research indicates, though, that those in higher BMI categories live longer than those in the “normal” weight range. (Huge quotes around normal because that is a totally made-up notion). What kills folx in larger bodies? Fatphobia.
As we sit in our homes, were sitting with things we may not have unpacked yet within us. I have so much empathy for folx that are continuing to diet or use exercise to punish or harm themselves. Diets suck, they don’t work, and counting calories is boring. Exercise is wonderful when done joyfully and from a place of love, not punishment. I can feel wholeheartedly how the stress and trauma of quarantine, job-loss, empty shelves at the grocery store would cause one’s disordered eating or eating disorder to rear its head. What I have so much anger towards is folx using this time as a platform for fatphobia- whether it’s veiled through “funny” *not* funny memes about gaining weight during a quarantine, or it’s through the promotion and sale of products that are the diet culture equivalent of snake oil.
During this time, I ask you to invite more gentleness with yourself and your body. Allow it to change during this time because your body is doing all it can to protect you. And that protection may be food. That’s okay. I also ask that you check-in with how you may be harming fat folx in your community. That meme that you shared with the fat joke may be harmless to you, but it is a dagger to those who’s body you’re making the butt of the joke. Ask yourself what purpose sharing your workout on social media serves. Would your workout mean the same if it was for you alone? Does sharing that workout alienate fat folx in your life?
We are already participating in beautiful altruism during this time by staying home and wearing masks for vulnerable folx we may never meet. Participate in altruism by ending your personal promotion of fatphobia.