my right to fat.
Like so many of my fellow body and fat liberationists, I have strong feelings about this Ozempic era we find ourselves in, and the way in which using these drugs to lose weight has quickly become a part of our daily lives.
Don’t get me wrong, I advocate for and believe in bodily autonomy. Always. However what I’ve come to notice is how many people who are choosing this route become defensive about their choice, and subsequently throw folks in larger bodies to the fat-phobic wolves.
It’s giving playground antics.
It’s giving “I’m better than them!”.
It’s giving I’ll deflect your bullying onto others so I don’t get hurt.
If we truly believe in bodily autonomy, then someone’s right to choose weight loss should be no different than someone’s choice not to.
Yet, that’s not always the case is it? Because ultimately, society has decided that weight loss of any kind is better than not. It has been decided that even if you spend your entire life losing and gaining the same weight, that’s better than the perception that you’re not ‘trying’ at all.
This is the same society that tells us that we can “have it all”, but endeavours to destroy women in particular when they become successful men feel threatened. The same society that would rather you were always a work in progress, than living a content and joy filled life. A society that has created your deepest and darkest insecurities, then asks you to pay them to fix all your problems. The society that praises straight sized folks for healing their body image, and ditching diets in the name of health whilst destroying fat folks for doing the exact same thing.
Diet culture hypocrisy is WILD, and now we’re seeing people within it argue amongst themselves about who is making the “better” choice. The “healthier” choice. I’m watching as they stitch TikToks, shaming each other for choosing the “easy” route, or why “natural weight loss” is better.
They can continue to fight with one another, and we can continue to share our lived experiences, advocate for our fat communities, and work towards fat liberation.