Fat Liberation’s Missing Ingredient
Written by Angel Austin
I'm part of a truly diverse community. I've come to fully appreciate this because I benefit from that diversity. I learn volumes and am so inspired every day. I'm grateful.
I'm a Black, infinifat, and disabled elder. My lived experience is expansive in the most literal sense. I was born in the early 70s. I danced to disco music in diapers. I remember when MTV aired its first video. I started college in the early 90s and, to make money for school, I taught future teachers in a Curriculum and Instruction Lab how to build HyperCards using html when the internet was transitioning from dial-up that used DOS interface exclusively. I then remember shortly thereafter being amazed that I could finally browse the internet using a mouse to point and click. I've been around for a WHILE.
I've also fallen prey to almost every modern-day weight loss scheme. I went to Elaine Powers with my mom and watched her try to vibrate her fat away. I saw her get B-12 shots in her butt every week at the "fat doctor." One of my uncle's many girlfriends had weight loss surgery when I was five and had absolutely no idea what it was.
By the time I was 16, I was making my own decision (at my father's urging) to starve myself and drink only Dick Gregory's Bahamian Diet. No "sensible meal" for me. Walking was my food – until it wasn't, and I decided to eat and was immediately doubled over in pain. I'd have my own surgery to shrink my body in 2010.
Today, at a time when we are all essentially parked on the internet and MTV hasn't played a music video in decades, the Weight Loss Services Industry is still going strong. It's more powerful and influential than it has ever been.
No surprise there.
Thankfully, I HAVE changed. It's been a gradual process, but I'm here, unlearning internalized stigma experienced at all of my intersections (Black, woman, fat, disabled, 40+).
I wade into fat liberation waters daily and find that, as a Black person who is infinifat, I'm very much still solidly relegated to the margins.
Sure, there are people who are finally getting it. My lived experience has afforded me opportunities to serve on the boards of ASDAH and Body Reborn, organizations that understand the specific ways I can inform work they hope to do going forward that is truly inclusive.
Influencers like Saucye West push for inclusivity in fashion, asking clothing brands and manufacturers who claim to make clothes for "every body", to actually do it and calling for a boycott of the ones who don't. Brands like Smart Glamour, Connally McDougall, and Superfit Hero offer truly inclusive sizing. They get it, and they're definitely models for how the clothes industry needs to move going forward. They're on a short list of options for the fattest fat folx. We need more.
They are proof the tide is turning, though, albeit it very slowly and for every organization or influencer fighting the "good" fight, there are 10 inflicting harm on the most marginalized fat folx by centering themselves, especially when they're thin, smaller fat, white, light-skinned and Black, or are other non-black POCs.
Our timelines are flooded with talk of "body liberation" from people who are essentially already free. They started off free. Their feed is full of themselves and people who look just like them, pinching their bellies and shaking the fat on the back of their arms, all while trying to convince us all that their body image struggles are valid, too. They are AND I'm tired. Both of these things can be true.
What's missing from these people's feeds is missing because it might mess up their aesthetic. What's missing are hearts that are set on liberation for EVERY body. What’s missing is missing because these people are fatphobic. To me, these are glaring omissions, and I'm pissed.
My life can be summed up as life before learning about fat liberation and life after embracing it. It's not a hobby for me. It's not something outside of me that I tinker with because it gets me followers.
It affects every part of my life. I can't put it on and take it off any more than I can put on or take off my fat from day to day. I'm angry because that's how I see fat liberation now. There are so many people doing their life's work, unlearning the trash and stretching themselves. Still, so many others are just dialing it in because it's trendy. They can fit the clothes and get the brand deals just like anyone else in the world. They look the part. They can play the game. They don't care who can't, and they refuse to move out of the way or create any space for us.
It's maddening, frankly.
I saw a post recently about a "fat girl's trip" abroad. It was wonderful to consider a trip to a beautiful location with a bunch of fat folx, but it was clear that so much hadn't been considered. Though this was supposed to be a trip for fat people, I was left with questions like,
"What's the cutoff? How fat are we talking? Does the cost include airfare? Is it for one seat or two? Is the hotel inclusive of superfat and infinifat bodies? What about my wheelchair and other mobility aids or devices? Is this trip even for me?"
Why label these as trips for fat people at all? This is a problem. This is peak fatphobia. Full stop.
A midfat influencer sent an infinifat friend a product and because of the way it's used, its size is important to its efficacy. My friend was shocked! There was no way she would have been able to use it because it was so small. Why even send it if wasn’t tested or there was no alternative option? Yet, it's marketed as an "answer" for fat people. Do you see the pattern? These are just two examples. I have so many more.
I am more than my fat. I've lived a full life. I've witnessed cultural shifts and exponential advances in technology. I've sought education and spiritual wisdom. I've served my community and made connections with people all over the world.
I've also struggled with disordered eating and exercise abuse because of weight stigma, internalized fatphobia, and poor body image. I've gone to great lengths to address this, and though I wouldn't be who I am without fatness, it's still only part of who I am.
I have so much to contribute to the world that completely transcends fatness. I'd love to live in a world where this mattered to others, a world where I can be seen and appreciated in my fullness. The problem is, that even within the fat liberation sphere, a space I perceive that has been created for me and people like me, there's a cap on a degree of fatness that's worth inclusion.
Just like I long for the day I no longer have to talk about racism, I can't wait to stop screaming about fatphobia, especially the kind I've experienced WITHIN the fat liberation space.
Any person, event, organization, company, etc. that claims or intends to do the work of fat liberation and the abolition of oppressive systems, but does not center the darkest Black and/or fattest, most marginalized members of the groups it's working to serve, is NOT doing the work it claims or intends to do. This includes work done by lighter-skinned or mixed Black folx, as well as those who are in smaller bodies.
To see lasting change, we'll need to first acknowledge the empathy and advocacy that's missing in our own community and do the work from within IT before we can manifest the global, societal, and cultural shifts we so desire.
Angel Austin (she/her) is the Black, Infinifat, and disabled founder of Sacred Space for Fat Bodies. She is dedicated to the creation of and increased access to self-care experiences for superfats and infinifats. She fights to make their voices heard and for their overall well-being as they are often excluded from participation and representation, even within the framework of fat liberation. She serves as a board member of ASDAH, Body Reborn, and Me Little Me Foundation where she shares the benefit of her lived experiences as a Black, Infinifat woman that give her a unique and insightful perspective. She has a BA in Mass Communications with a concentration in Public Relations. She has years of experience as an Executive Admin and a Director of Customer Service. She enjoys writing, singing, and cuddling with her giant Rottweiler puppy, Boomer Bronson Austin. She lives in unceded Jumanos, Coahuiltecan, Comanche, Lipan Apache, and Tonkawa land (currently known as Austin, Texas) with her partner of 12 years.