The message is loud and clear, you will not be liked, loved, or accepted if you are not the ideal size. So the steps that we have to take are to talk about our fear of fat, to talk about what we're afraid that we won't get, that we can't have if we are not thin. I am a large woman. So we need to tell our stories, we need to listen to each other's stories. And thirdly, we need to listen to what the science says.
Science is our ally.
There is a lot of research out there that contradicts the cultural myths. The health risks of being large are greatly exaggerated. Dieting hurts us. It's as simple as that. So learn what the science says, and also learn how the science validates our stories.