Self-Care for Fat Liberation: Reclaiming "Fat"

Written By Bree XVI

Rather watch than read? Check out the video: Self-Care for Fat Liberation: Reclaiming “Fat” 

Reclaiming the word fat can be both an act of self-care and an act of fat liberation. The information and ideas shared here are based on my own personal experience navigating fat positivity and fat liberation for the last 12 years, as well as a 40-person study that I conducted as part of my master's thesis in grad school. In that study, i looked at the reported impact from various lived experiences on fat people's body image, and the different strategies that they use to feel empowered in their bodies. 

THE FEAR OF “FAT”

The word “fat” has a lot of really shitty negative connotations. Lots of folx use it to insinuate negative feelings. Many people are straight up afraid of becoming fat and are afraid of fat people. They think that being fat means that you're lazy, ugly, or gluttonous, that you're never gonna find love or sex—and that's just not true. There are lots of different reasons why people might be fat, and honestly those reasons don't even matter. At the end of the day, everybody deserves respect and human rights—including fat people 

RECLAIMING “FAT” AS SELF-CARE 

The way that reclaiming the word “fat” is an act of self-care is the simple notion that by reclaiming it as a positive term or a neutral term, we're challenging the internalized fatphobia that we've all been conditioned with. Fat people aren't the only people who have internalized fatphobia—literally everyone in the whole fuckin’ world has internalized fatphobia. When we reclaim the word “fat” to challenge our own internalized fatphobia, it helps us shift our own personal perspective of what the word “fat” means from being something negative to being something empowering or objective. Like, “fat” is just a descriptor, just as “thin” or “tall” or “short” are all simply descriptors. 

Even though the word “fat” is a descriptor, it really can be empowering to reclaim something that you’ve felt so shitty about for so long, or you've been told is wrong, or has been used against you as an insult. Once we take it back for ourselves, it's almost like, “Nothing you say can hurt me because, like, oh, you're gonna call me fat? Well, guess what, bitch, I already know I'm fat and I got no problems with it!” In fact, in the study that I conducted, most people reported that reclaiming the word “fat” was one of the most empowering acts of self-care that they do for themselves. 

RECLAIMING “FAT” FOR FAT LIBERATION

The way that reclaiming the word “fat” can contribute to fat liberation is that when we use it as a descriptor or even a positive word, we are overtly challenging external fatphobic ideals. If we did continue to use the word “fat” as a negative term, we would be contributing to the systemic notion that there is something wrong with being fat. Even avoiding using the word “fat” perpetuates this notion.

So, when we use the word “fat” with other people, with friends, with family, at work, we don't even necessarily have to have a direct conversation— simply using the word “fat” gives it this visibility of neutrality or positivity and challenges fatphobia outside of ourselves. 

WHAT IS FAT LIBERATION?

Fat liberation has to do with our rights, dismantling policies that are fatphobic, and addressing systemic oppression of fat people. It might not seem like you're doing that much by just using the word “fat” in your everyday life, but I really do believe that a lot of the work that we can do on the ground level is in our own personal communities, because that shit can trickle up. If and when there are policies to be voted on that impact fat people, if we can impact those around us to shift their view of what it means to be fat and to see the many ways that we're discriminated against, then those people will become allies who can help us in our fight for fat rights. 

A few examples of how fat people are discriminated against are that there are no laws to protect people from being fired from their jobs for being fat, and many fat people continue to experience medical discrimination. Fat folx are frequently misdiagnosed or mistreated by medical professionals, having their symptoms blamed on being fat instead of seeking the true cause. 

RECLAIMING “FAT” IN EVERYDAY LIFE 

One simple way that you can reclaim the word “fat” in your everyday life as a form of self-care and as a form of fat liberation is to start using the word “fat” as a personal identifier. I call myself “fat” all the time—when I write my own bio for an article online or a book that I was published in, I always describe myself, among my many other identities, as a person who is fat. I also put it in my Instagram profiles, both my personal and my business profiles, as well as on my business website. I feel like the more that I use it and I put it out there, the more empowered I really do feel. It also provides visibility for other people who are fat who may be interested in whatever I'm doing, or just want to follow somebody who's fat so that they can curate their social media feed to reflect more fat joy.

It might feel weird at first if you're not used to using the word “fat” because, like I said before, this is just something that we've all been conditioned with. It might feel strange, it might feel awkward, but I promise that the longer you use it, it just becomes second nature. Now, I don't even second guess using it. It just is. There's no meaning other than letting people know that I'm fat. 

Another way that you can incorporate reclaiming the word “fat” in your everyday life is to make sure that you’re using the word “fat” in conversations with others—and specifically use the word “fat”, not any of the other words that some people use in place of the word “fat”. I think using the word “fat” specifically is really important. When we incorporate it in our everyday language with no value judgment, it cues other people into recognizing that there doesn't have to be a value judgment with the word “fat”. 

Navigating Outside Opinions

I've noticed there's a 50/50 split in the way people respond to me using the word “fat”. If they haven't heard me or someone else use it before, either they:

Don't say anything at all (but you can kind of see in their face that they're short circuiting or calculating what they think I’m insinuating when I'm not insinuating anything other than fat as a descriptor.)

Or,

There's people who do have a reaction and they'll be like, “Oh, you're not fat!” Or, “Oh, don't say the word ‘fat,’ like, that’s not fat!” 

That's when a direct conversation is definitely warranted and I will go on to explain, “Well, I don't think there's anything wrong with the word ‘fat’ and I use the word ‘fat’ as a descriptor, so if you're gonna talk about me then I want you to use the word ‘fat.’” A few times, I’ve had non-fat people require my permission to use the word “fat”. Sometimes this kind of interaction can be annoying, but for me, it just depends on the day. I think I've had so many of these conversations now that I'm just kind of used to it. 

If you have the capacity to engage in this kind of conversation, it can be really transformative for the person on the other side of the conversation. We have no idea the myriad of ways that us advocating for ourselves and other fat people could help us in the long run, whether it's at the legislative level or the personal/interpersonal level. Let’s say you have a conversation with someone that helps them adjust their perspective of the word “fat” and then they have other fat friends or fat family members—it could totally shift the way they interact with, talk about, and talk to those other fat people in their lives—and you could have been the root of that introspection and change. 

MORE FAT LIBERATION RESOURCES 

As always, I am by no means the only person you should be seeking this kind of information from. I bet if you just search for “fat liberation” and “fat activism”, you’ll find soooo many people who are also doing fat liberation work who have a lot of important things to say. 

Here are a few recommendations to start: 

WANT TO WORK WITH A FAT LIBERATIONIST PRACTITIONER?

Check out my sliding scale peer counseling services: Empower Hour and Shoot the Shit. Or perhaps you’d just like to pick my brain through consultation. Oooor maybe you’d like to do a body-centric Uno Card Tarot Reading. Whatever you choose, I look forward to connecting with you! :)

Bree XVI
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