I've been thinking about the impact that the negative messages about fat that saturate our daily lives has on fat people.
I know that one reason I come to Dimensions is because it often lets me feel that I'm escaping some of the excess of negative messages about fat that I encounter everywhere on a daily basis. I call this excess of negative messages about fat, "Fat-Phobia," because I see it as rooted in a deep fear of the freedoms that fat represents.
Unfortunately, I find that even Dimensions is not a place that's free of negative messages about fat. It seems no matter where you go, there's the fact of having to deal with prejudice and assumptions about fat that have little to do with how we really are in the world, as fat people.
Even when Dimensions is helpful (which is to say, it is helpful a lot, as I mentioned), there's still the fact that we can't live all or even most of our lives in this little fatopia/fat ghetto we've made for ourselves. At some point, we're all required to return to "the Real World"--whether to make our living, or because our stomachs are rumbling (virtual food is not as satisfying as virtual flirting, somehow
), or because our SOs are clamoring for us to come to bed. And when we return to reality after indulging our need to be online, there are those scads of negative attitudes about fat staring at us everywhere.
I find the cumulative weight of all of that hatred toward fat bodies can be oppressive, speaking as a fat person. It's not something that's easy to escape, either, since I can't afford to dettach myself from the reality of living in the world and getting along in it.
So I wonder what others have found for themselves about the real impact (the impact on your own daily lives) of the negative messages aimed at fat and fat bodies.
Also, how do you personally (if you're a fat person) deal with those messages and maintain your sense of worth and your direction in life, without letting it all discourage you or keep you from enjoying life.
I know that one reason I come to Dimensions is because it often lets me feel that I'm escaping some of the excess of negative messages about fat that I encounter everywhere on a daily basis. I call this excess of negative messages about fat, "Fat-Phobia," because I see it as rooted in a deep fear of the freedoms that fat represents.
Unfortunately, I find that even Dimensions is not a place that's free of negative messages about fat. It seems no matter where you go, there's the fact of having to deal with prejudice and assumptions about fat that have little to do with how we really are in the world, as fat people.
Even when Dimensions is helpful (which is to say, it is helpful a lot, as I mentioned), there's still the fact that we can't live all or even most of our lives in this little fatopia/fat ghetto we've made for ourselves. At some point, we're all required to return to "the Real World"--whether to make our living, or because our stomachs are rumbling (virtual food is not as satisfying as virtual flirting, somehow
), or because our SOs are clamoring for us to come to bed. And when we return to reality after indulging our need to be online, there are those scads of negative attitudes about fat staring at us everywhere.I find the cumulative weight of all of that hatred toward fat bodies can be oppressive, speaking as a fat person. It's not something that's easy to escape, either, since I can't afford to dettach myself from the reality of living in the world and getting along in it.
So I wonder what others have found for themselves about the real impact (the impact on your own daily lives) of the negative messages aimed at fat and fat bodies.
Also, how do you personally (if you're a fat person) deal with those messages and maintain your sense of worth and your direction in life, without letting it all discourage you or keep you from enjoying life.
