I wonder a lot about the origin of fatphobia. Why does the modern world prize thinness over all else, especially when in so many other eras and places plumpness, even true fatness was a sign of wealth, power, and prestige?
The explanation I hear most often is that it's because of the diet and weight loss industry, which are invested in keeping us all enslaved to the endless struggle to slim down. I think there's a lot to that, but it doesn't explain why fatness specifically is the enemy here. It could just as easily have been the other way around: I can imagine a diet industry that hates thinness and promotes fatness. In reality I think the diet industry is responding to some kind of pre-existing economic demand for thinness. What I don't know is where that demand comes from, or why in the modern world so many hate fat and love thinness.
So, where do you think fatphobia comes from?
The explanation I hear most often is that it's because of the diet and weight loss industry, which are invested in keeping us all enslaved to the endless struggle to slim down. I think there's a lot to that, but it doesn't explain why fatness specifically is the enemy here. It could just as easily have been the other way around: I can imagine a diet industry that hates thinness and promotes fatness. In reality I think the diet industry is responding to some kind of pre-existing economic demand for thinness. What I don't know is where that demand comes from, or why in the modern world so many hate fat and love thinness.
So, where do you think fatphobia comes from?
