Why Fatphobia Needs to End
By: Hijabi Of Colour
Tags: Human Rights, Fatphobia, Discrimination, Fat, Mental Health

TW: Disordered eating, self-harm. Please read with caution.

Ever since I was little, I was criticized for being overweight by my peers, doctors and even family members. People would essentially teach me from a young age that my body was not to be desired. It hurt a lot to hear others criticize my being on something so seemingly trivial.

I believe that it is because of these comments on my weight that I have developed low self-esteem. Some would call me a ‘pig’ after I ate ‘too much’ or sometimes food was withheld from me because I was seen as an unhealthy body. It was in my early teenage years that I began taking out my bottled up feelings about my weight on myself. At the age of thirteen years old, I began self-harming because the bullying at school was too much to handle. Not only was I bullied for being physically disabled, I was shunned for being fat.

Throughout the years I have come to learn that people’s problems with my weight are, in fact, not my problem. It took me years of going to an outpatient program at my local hospital for my binge eating disorder to realize that I am not to blame for my body. There were so many people struggling with the same issues, and that felt really comforting. If so many people are struggling with this, how could it possibly just be me?

Society needs to stop judging fat bodies, especially when they do not know the circumstances that got the person in that situation to begin with. For example, I am in a wheelchair and it is hard for me to exercise in the same ways an able-bodied person can. Furthermore, the awful names I was told that I was growing up had an obvious impact on how my body developed. If you do not know the circumstances, please do not judge me. Even if you do know the circumstances, why is my body such a bother to you?

I truly believe that people who pick on others for whatever reason it may be have insecurities themselves and need help. While I do not excuse the actions of anyone who fat shames, that person clearly has issues of their own they must work through. I have learned that the best thing I can offer myself is compassion, and I try to extend that to other people if I can.

That being said, fatphobia must end because it has a great impact on the opportunities fat people have. For example, I went into a job interview once and they asked me how I would be able to keep up with the fast paced nature of the job because of my weight. This spiralled me into a deep depression and another binge eating session. However, I began realizing that this is a systemic issue and certainly was not just happening to me. We see underrepresentation of fat people everywhere; in the modelling industry, in our workplace, and even in our friend groups (yes I said it).

We must work together to abolish fatphobia. That starts with education on accepting all types of bodies. It starts with telling (and demonstrating) to our children that fat bodies are normal. This should also be taught in workplaces, schools, and the medical profession. It also means getting rid of the Body Mass Index (BMI) measurement. This is a tool that is used as a ‘one size fits all’ in the medical profession, and does not take into account individual factors that contribute to a persons weight.

Please work with me to end fatphobia by sharing this article far and wide. Nobody deserves to be excluded on the basis of their weight.