Book 2 Post 2

Actually Talking About Fat

After finishing Audrey Gordon’s book, I was left with a lot of lasting impressions. This may be one of the few books I’ve read where I will remember my experience reading it in addition to the content of the pages. In one particular chapter Gordon wrote about how long-term drastic dieting actually hurts people’s metabolisms along with other factors like the stress hormone cortisol. As a plus-size person currently on a diet of sorts, I became stressed by her assertion and without hesitation thought “Is this book about fat making me fatter?” Thankfully that ridiculous idea quickly left my head and I kept reading.

For anyone who is not straight-sized, which Gordon defines as anything under a women’s US size 12, I cannot recommend this book enough. It helps us feel seen and ignites a fire in us to consciously fight against size-based discrimination and anti-fat bias. Most literature out there that is “for fat people” is either an unrealistic attempt at trying to get us to love our bodies, or ridicule meant to motivate us into thinness guised as health advice. This book is not that, it is a combination of well analyzed research about fat people and our shared experiences. It isn’t heart warming or comforting, but it is immensely transformative.

I would also highly recommend this book to straight-size people willing to read it, especially people who are interested in reframing their unconscious biases and becoming allies for all communities. Gordon mentions a number of times that in this time period of social transformation anti-fat bias is the only kind of implicit bias that has actually increased, according to Harvard’s studies. People aren’t willing to stand up for fat people in the way that people have begun to stand up for racial minorities and those facing gender-based injustice. Why? Because thin people think being fat is a person’s fault, unlike race or sex. Many studies currently show that some people are genetically predisposed to being fat no matter what they eat; Gordon being one of those people.

I honestly have far too much to say about this book as it is full of so much information and led me on an unexpected journey to patience with my body in its current state. If I can leave my classmates with any thoughts it would be the following. I invite you to consider why the average size in the U.S. is plus size and most retailers do not make plus-size clothing accessible, and why size based discrimination is legal in 48 states. I also invite you to think about your own biases against fat people, as I have begun to do with some of these questions. Do I assume fat people are lazy or unhealthy? Do I blame fat people for their size? It is a hard bias to correct because for most of us we were taught that being overweight is a choice, but as science starts to suggest otherwise it is up to us to change our thinking and the institutions that allow size-based discrimination to continue.