As a person with an overabundance of fat, I was happy to see the body positivity movement start. Don't get me wrong, on some levels, I still am. The idea that people can find love and joy in however their body looks is a good thing. It is. But as many fat advocates have pointed out, it isn't enough.
For one thing, the positivity movement tends to focus on and have visibility on women who aren't really all that heavy. They are usually what Roxane Gay referred to as "Lane Bryant fat" because while they may be heavy, they can walk into any Lane Bryant store and basically wear anything in there. This isn't something a lot of fat people can do.
This is actually difficult to write because I don't want to dismiss what people at that size (or any size) go through in terms of how they view themselves. I get that a person with 20 lbs of extra weight can feel horrible about themselves. The movement for them (and all of us) to embrace our bodies no matter what is a good thing.
At the same time, the focus on self-love does nothing to address the vast number of problems faced by fat people. It doesn't address how we have trouble finding clothes, finding cars to handle us, finding chairs to hold us, or being able to go into a medical facility and receive proper care because some or all of the equipment may not work on us. Body positivity does not address the fact that while the population of the world is getting fatter, no one seems to be building things to handle us.
So yes, by all means, love your body. But fight for a more accommodating world as well. We need that.
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