Hey, sorry to bother you, but I was wondering if I could ask a question about fat acceptance/fat liberation. I want to join this movement because I know fatphobia is real. I know discrimination, stereotyping, lack of access to medical care, and so much more are real. I completely agree with the social justice aspect of the movement. What gives me pause, and makes me hesitate to endorse it, is the medical misinformation. Like, anti vax level medical misinformation. I’ve seen people say that long term weight loss is essentially impossible, and it just isn’t. I know people online and off who’ve done it. I’ve also seen people claim there are no health consequences of fatness. There are. Again, I’ve known people who’ve suffered them. Whether or not being fat is healthy has no bearing on how fat people should be treated, but we should be honest about it. Anyway, I was wondering how you navigate this?
so, the misinformation people may or may not spread about the healthiness of fatness doesn't really come into play in terms of my own support for fat liberation. the acknowledgement that (within our shared hegemonic understanding of health) not all fat people are healthy, just like not all people, full stop, are healthy, and not all habits are healthy, has no bearing on whether or not people are free to move freely, be treated with dignity, and have access to basic necessities.
i think the problem you're running into is an attempt by some more assimilationist types to rehabilitate fatness into the body politic by claiming its healthiness, or even leaning into "born this way" style arguments that (in their mind) take the "blame" off of fat people for being fat. this didn't work with being gay or trans, and it won't work with being fat: reactionaries will continue blaming, punishing, and attempting to destroy bodies they don't like, regardless of how you dress it up. your job as someone invested in fat liberation isn't to make value judgements based on health at all. it's to remain steadfast in your commitment to liberation for everyone, regardless of how they look or how they choose to live their lives.
the confounding factor of anti-fatness at every level of society makes it really, really difficult to know just how much weight/size influences all sorts of health conditions. how many more fat people would live into old age if they got the surgeries they needed? didn't face medical neglect? didn't die from disordered eating and its long-term effects? didn't die from cancers gone undetected by doctors who claimed weight loss was the answer to all a patient's problems? it is impossible to know. but if more people committed to caring for fat people as full persons first - not numbers or burdens or problems - we may be able to start approaching issues of health and longevity in better faith than we are now.
if you're struggling with reading contradictory, inaccurate, or concerning information on weight and health, consider refocusing on the much more urgent issue of fat people having access to basic necessities, equitable relationships, and life-saving medical care right now. i don't believe everything i read about weight, nutrition, etc., regardless of who is saying it. but i do believe in the importance of taking action against structural fatphobia no matter what kind of body discourse happens to be floating around.
