Intersectionality Extends to Fat Acceptance Too!

by Racialicious Special Correspondent Latoya Peterson

It appears that all the people of color who don’t feel quite a part of the fat acceptance movement have a new manifesto.

Tara, blogging on Fatshionista, penned A Different Kind of Fat Rant: People of Color and the Fat Acceptance Movement.

The post opens:

There are reasons why people of color aren’t flocking to the fat acceptance movement, and they’re probably not the reasons you’re thinking of.

I swear, if I read or hear one more comment about POC not participating in the fat acceptance movement due to “access,” I am going to scream. If we’re talking about internet communities, one only needs to do a quick Google search to find that there are vibrant pockets of the blogosphere where people of color are contributing their thoughts and stories and building online communities that work for them in droves. If we’re talking about in-person fat activism, people of color from all sorts of backgrounds have always found time and space to contribute to the anti-oppression movements that matter most to them. People of color know resistance.

So I don’t wanna hear it. We’re here all right; we’re just not with you.

I see the fat acceptance movement making many of the same mistakes that second wave feminism did, and it’s both sad and maddening. “We built this movement; why don’t they come?” That is the prevailing attitude I read over and over again. But rarely, if ever, do I see white fat acceptance bloggers talking critically about why the movement may not be relevant or structured in a way that attracts fat people of color and their allies.

Let’s break it down for a minute.

Fat acceptance bloggers are guilty of the same sins of white feminism in that there is often a wholesale grouping of all fat people under the same oppression umbrella, with little or cursory examination of how things like race, class, sexuality, gender and gender presentation, ability, and age play into the fat equation. At minimum, folks in the fat acceptance movement need to take serious stock of their own position in the world, and how their privilege may be blockading their understanding of how other peoples’ experiences, identities, and embodiments change the way they experience their fat and how their fat is experienced by the world at large.

I also need to say that if I hear the “fat is the last acceptable oppression” meme one more time, I am going to scream (louder). Fat hatred is often blatant, shameless, vitriolic, and completely public. But guess what? So is racism! (And classism, heterosexism, ableism, and sexism.) Racism is institutionalized into our laws, our classrooms, our work places, and our daily interactions. Just because some white folks think it’s unacceptable to say the n-word, doesn’t mean that racism is gone or that it’s not “acceptable.” When people in the fat acceptance movement say that fat is the last acceptable oppression, it alienates and invalidates the struggles of people of color, who know first-hand that racism not only exists, but that it is also very much “acceptable” in polite society.

Tara then goes on to detail her experiences being a size 20 Asian woman, managing to debunk the “men of color like their women thick” myth and reinforce the point that “people of color” is not a stand in term for black. She also points out how discussions of appropriation in fat fashion are silenced:

As people who are forced to be creative with our clothing choices, I noticed that some women were talking about wearing a salwar kameez as summerwear and asking about where they could find plus sized qipao/cheongsam. But when I suggested that we look at how these things might be appropriation and how we could be creative in our fashion choices without resorting to cultural theft, the overwhelming response of the 400+ comments that followed was furious. While some members found merit in my questions, many of the responses were along the lines of “It’s just clothes! No big deal! Stop being so PC!” So, I am saying now that if you want us in your community, it IS a big fucking deal, and it needs to be addressed.

Tara then quickly explains the issue with fighting for inclusive beauty standards without understanding how race plays into what is seen as “acceptable” and brings in a discussion about food politics before closing with:

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