No One Is Trying to Glorify Obesity
By: Christine Schoenwald
Tags: Fat, Self, TV Shows, Feminism, Equality

No One Is Trying to Glorify Obesity

Fat characters can be accepting of their bodies too.

Photo by Luísa Schetinger on Unsplash

Whenever something comes out with even a hint of fat acceptance, people start complaining that it’s glorifying obesity — the worst thing you can do!

Make fat characters be something more than stereotypes? Maybe even admirable? The world would spin off its access, and people might be forced to admit their biases and prejudices against larger people.

What does glorifying obesity even mean?

Let’s break it down: Glorify means to elevate, praise, promote, glamourize, and represent as admirable, even when it might not be. Obesity, as I’m sure you know, means fat, or as the online dictionary says, “grossly overweight.”

No one is trying to glorify obesity because it’s not an action, an ideology, or a thought-process. It’s a made-up construct to kill any fat acceptance or idea that fat people are actually human.

And glorifying obesity isn’t a real thing. Think of it like reverse racism or toxic femininity — there is no systematic preference or unwarranted privilege being given to the obese. — Shannon Ashley

When we see a positive fat role model, there aren’t any hidden messages. No cult-like figures are hoping to convert innocent thin people into fleshy, plus-size disciples by showing them happy, adjusted fat individuals.

In case you’re wondering, there’s also no fat club or alternate version of the Nxivm cult, where instead of being required to count your calories and skip meals, you’re told to gain as much weight as possible if you want to be accepted as a member.

Here’s the thing, being fat isn’t something anyone aspires to, nor is it a lifestyle, goal, or a trend. Fat hasn’t been fashionable since the 1900s. Fat is a state of being, a body-type, and no one is out to make you conform to a set of fat-standards.

Fat people have the right to love their bodies as they are and to live their best lives with or without anyone else’s approval. All we want is a little encouragement to be comfortable in the skins we’re in, even if there’s a lot of it.

Fat people have the right to love their bodies as they are and to live their best lives with or without anyone else’s approval.

When you see fat characters on Euphoria, Shrill, or Sweet Magnolias and they’re fully fleshed out (in both senses of the word) with storylines, problems, and triumphs, it’s something to celebrate, not censor. Diversity and representation are what everyone wants to see on their screens and experience in their art. We want to see ourselves, and we want to see as many different types of people as possible.

Seeing ourselves is reassuring, and seeing people vastly different from us is fascinating and helps us to see how we’re all connected. Reading a novel, seeing a movie, or watching a series with a fat heroine shouldn’t be any different than enjoying something with an average-sized woman in the lead.

Fat characters aren’t a brainwashing tool.

Shows such as Shrill, Dumplin, and even Sweet Magnolias, which have fat characters, aren’t trying to brainwash people into thinking living in a fat body is easy, popular, or a quick way to be accepted.

Over half the adults in the United States are fat, so if there was an evil plot to persuade people into getting fat, I think it already happened. Instead of berating people about their weight and making them feel like garbage, show them that they’re worthy of love, respect and that they have value.

Most people couldn’t handle being treated like a fat person.

We’re charged more for things like mani/pedis, clothing, and travel. All somebody has to do is look at a fat person, and they assume they know all the problems they have, their weaknesses, and if they had some trauma as a child.

Fat people learn to live with daily emotional abuse.

Most media doesn’t look at fat people in a positive light — let alone hold them up as a beauty and health standard.

Fat people are criticized for their laziness, lack of discipline, unhealthy habits, and lack of intelligence, which is why we grasp onto any positive representation we see. And, there’s not a lot out there.

When I was growing up, the only “fat” idols I had were Gilda Radner, who was super skinny but had been a chubby kid, and Valerie Harper, who played Rhoda on The Mary Tyler Moore Show. They dressed Rhoda fat, and the camera adds weight, so by T.V. standards, she was fat.

All the fat women in show business (and there weren’t a lot of them) were used as cautionary tales such as Mama Cass choking to death on a ham sandwich, which never happened.

If a fat body were considered optimal, fat people wouldn’t bully non-fat people.

Fat people don’t scream at average-sized people when they were exercising that they look too skinny — they also wouldn’t bully, concern-troll, or criticize them.

Fat people don’t stop people without fat bodies and tell them how much more attractive they’d be if they just put on forty pounds, or how all their illnesses and ailments would all go away if they’d only gain some weight.

The rage fat-self-love inspires is ridiculous.

All fat people or anybody wants is a little compassion and respect to live their lives. Still, when there’s a fat person on a show who lives their way and without apology, someone always wants to shut it down, screaming that it’s glorifying obesity or sending a harmful message.

Look, nobody is going to watch fat people and think, “Gee, I’m average-sized, my life would be sooo much easier if I were fat. I wish I could be fat-shamed, charged more, constantly judged, and treated like crap because my appearance doesn’t align with certain standards set up by society.”