or a long time, my friend group was not a particularly anti-diet group. We weren’t necessarily pro-diet, but body acceptance was not something really talked about. There would be occasional friends on a “health” journey, or someone mentioned their weight every once in awhile. We were a queer group of social workers so we mostly talked about trauma and relationships! Bodies were not really included in the dialogue.
Workplaces were always different though. I had managers that would comment on my weight and appearance, and one manager that even gifted me clothes (in the wrong size of course) for the winter holidays. I even had a medical director once post advertisements in the breakroom for weight loss pills he was selling. (I happily tore them down right away.) Everyone was always dieting and there would be attempts at walking the stairs after lunch or walking during breaks. Luckily I never worked anywhere with workplace wellness plans, but food and bodies were discussed all the time at every place I worked.
But once I began on my fat acceptance, and fat politics, journey, I needed a community that was actively talking about bodies and fatness in a good way. I needed folks that were talking about what their fat gives them, and sharing tips on advocating at the doctor, and normalizing my experiences of existing in a fat body, and getting worked up about the same things I was worked up about.
Finding community as a fat person is powerful. It’s political. It’s radical. Fat liberation community is somewhat rare. It’s like finding the people you share a secret language with. People who know and understand your experience like no one else can. It’s a refuge from body shaming society.
It’s so critical to healing.
There were a few steps for me finding fat community. Read more here.
What I’ve been reading/listening to/watching: Well I of course have to plug my recent podcast interview with Sophia at Fat Joy Podcast!! It was so much fun to talk with her and I highly recommend her whole catalog of episodes. Together we talked about core wounds as a fat person living in this body shaming world, and I hope it’s as healing to listen to as it was to talk about!
Resource/social media I recommend this month: I love the work fellow fat therapist Kayla Stansberry LCPC is doing on her own substack. She has an podcast starting soon, and she talks about the intersection of fatness and neurodivergence. I highly recommend her work and I’m so grateful for a loud, fat voice in this field!
"Finding community as a fat person is powerful. It’s political. It’s radical. Fat liberation community is somewhat rare. It’s like finding the people you share a secret language with. People who know and understand your experience like no one else can. It’s a refuge from body shaming society. " This whole paragraph gave me chills! I love this!