Some of the things I appreciated about Steven Universe as a fat person who experiences oppression for their weight:
The main character is fat
That is not portrayed as a negative thing
Steven is allowed to eat food. He never has to earn or justify it. He nourishes his body, and the show doesn’t mock him for it. He’s even shown eating foods that aren’t nutrient-rich, and it’s still portrayed positively.
None of the fat characters are ever shown to love food because they’re fat from what I remember.
The fat characters are allowed to bond over food.
Steven’s weight is never really mentioned. It’s just his identity, and he’s allowed to be who he is.
Rose Quartz is portrayed as beautiful, even the epitome of beauty to many of the characters, and she is fat.
Pink Diamond chose to look like a Rose Quartz, and she never once hated her fat body type. She liked how she looked. Becoming fat was never a negative thing. And although weight is not a choice in real life, the fact that a skinny character chose to be fat while never viewing it as some sort of fault is really just…so meaningful to me.
Rose doesn’t wear shoes, and other fat characters like Steven wear flip flops. Usually fat people are forced to cover up, including their feet. A fat person’s feet are often viewed as gross or unsightly due to fatphobia. However, the fat characters in Steven Universe are allowed to wear what they want!
Fat characters were not designed with tiny hands and feet. Many artists design fat characters with small hands and feet to infantilize and cute-ify them. It’s done to make the fat character an “acceptable” version of fat. Sometimes it’s done to make a character look smaller, other times it’s done by artists like fat fetishists who want to emphasize a character’s weight by drawing disproportionate fat bodies. Instead, characters like Steven and Rose are allowed to be big!
There are a plethora of fat body types drawn. They don’t just draw one body type and call it a day, and they definitely don’t just draw a “thick” body either.
Rose and Steven’s gem are on their STOMACH. Their power, what makes them special, what makes them a DIAMOND and powerful and strong and graceful is connected to their stomach!!!!!! Their stomach isn’t shameful, it’s something to be proud of! Rose even shows part of her stomach with her dress!!!
Did I mention grace? Because the fat characters in the show are allowed to be graceful, elegant, beautiful, fast, evasive, and strong! Being graceful in particular is never allowed of fat characters in almost any media. Steven and Rose have their own unique powers that other gems don’t, and one of those powers is floating! They’re allowed to be graceful and light!
Their weight isn’t used as a stereotype nor does it affect their powers. I’m tired of all of the fat characters who are forced to be defensive tanks and walls, only strong because they’re big, and unable to be moved because of their weight. Finally there are fat characters whose abilities don’t rely on fatphobic stereotypes!!!!
Fat and feminine are never shown as mutually exclusive in the show.
The fat characters have relationships with skinny characters. This is incredible since that feels rare, even in real life. Fatphobia affects people so much that many fat people feel a skinny person liking them is impossible. This show tells fat people that they CAN be liked by skinny people. They don’t have to limit their dating lives and feel scared at the idea of a skinny person seeing their body.
Steven stays fat!!! No matter how much he ages, he’s always fat! They don’t use an excuse to make him skinny later on. Even as a monster in the last episode, he’s still fat!!! They never took away this representation for fat people!
There’s more than one fat character! And the fat characters aren’t walking stereotypes!
Fat people are actually…capable of love?? What??? All other shows had told me fat people aren’t able to have romantic lives!!
The humor isn’t based on abusing and oppressing fat people.
There are fat characters of multiple different identities!
Not only are there a lot of fat characters, but many of them are part of the main cast!!
When Steven wore Sadie’s dress, the humor wasn’t because “Fat guy wearing a dress, haha!” It was funny because it was cute and such a Steven thing to do. It was never about his weight.
Tall fat characters? Check. Short fat characters? Check. The heights of characters aren’t used to emphasize their weight either!
This show was seen not just by adults but also by fat children. Children who will grow up with at least one piece of representation. Children who now have a chance at a childhood without hating their bodies.
There’s so many other things as well. These are just off the top of my head. Steven Universe is probably the most fat positive show that currently exists, and I’m very grateful for the series. Hopefully other shows will take notes and start treating fat people as fellow human beings too.
pixelskylines
andulkaphoto
gummygunk
gracieabrams
theartofmadeline
kianamaiart
amandla
gamechangershow
ellievsbear
izzy806
