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“The starting point is, and the research questions are all framed by: 'We know it's terrible to be fat, but how terrible is it?' Not: 'What would it take to give effective healthcare to fat people?'” says Aubrey Gordon, writer of the new book You Just need to Lose Weight and 19 Other Myths About Fat People, star of the documentary Your Fat Friend, and podcaster of Maintenance Phase. And it's not just healthcare where the alignment of 'fat' with 'unhealthy' - and 'thinner' with 'healthier' - becomes problematic and often very dangerous. "I really don't think people contend with the ways in which they are sending a message to everyone around them that there is a weight limit for people that they will love."
Content note: this episode contains discussions of body size, body image, weight, anti-fatness, illness including cancer, diet culture, weight loss - intentional and un - and eating disorders. And there are some category A swears.
This is the second of two episodes about the word ‘fat’. In Fatlusionist part 1, Aubrey and I discuss euphemisms for fat, why people avoid saying ‘fat’, what else people mean when they say ‘fat’ and how it would be quite good if people said ‘fat’ as just a descriptive term for ‘fat’.
EXTRA MATERIALS:
(same content warnings as for the episode)
“In the twenty-ish years that I’ve been studying weight science research, I’ve noticed that there are some common words that seem to mean different things in weight science research than, well, anywhere else. This is not to say that these things don’t happen in other research as well, thought it’s perhaps more common in weight loss research that these ‘alternative meanings’ tend to create more support for the weight loss paradigm, by whose proponents the studies are often funded and/or conducted, and for whom the idea that people can succeed at significant, long-term, weight loss is crucial to their careers/profits.”
I Woke Up Skinny One Day (CW cancer).
HR won’t do anything about a coworker who’s angry about my weight loss (CW cancer AND unsolicited weight loss advice!)
The Valley of the Dolls coma diet was fictional, but apparently the recent ‘Sleeping Beauty Diet’ isn’t!
“Its critics say that beneath the buzzy wellness vocabulary and millennial pink branding, Noom is just another diet app. What makes it different from Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, and their ilk is that Noom is all dressed up in the rhetoric that activists have been using for decades to try to take down diet apps once and for all.”
“If you still aren’t convinced Noom is the same old diet culture in disguise, consider this: It’s not even effective… From a business standpoint, then, Noom doesn’t really want you to be at peace with food… It’s important to ask questions" of any app trying to make money off of you. Why wouldn’t Noom want to keep you in a cycle of restriction that also keeps you renewing your subscription? Why would Noom ever want you to achieve true body neutrality (or positivity)?”
Robert Crawford’s paper on healthism.
Ten principles of intuitive eating, by the people who created intuitive eating.
How to be Fine podcast (FKA By The Book) on almond moms.
Aubrey recently discussed anti-fatness in the Harry Potter books on the podcast Witch, Please - one of the hosts is Hannah McGregor who appeared on the Sentiment episode of this show.
I couldn’t include all of the correspondence that came in about fat, but here’s the message I received from Charles: "Iconic French rapper Diams released her album Dans ma bulle (In my bubble) in 2007. On said album was what you might call her own self-love anthem ‘La Boulette’ (the meatball) in which she sings about a lot of stuff, but mainly about loving her fat body. Fatness is not tolerated in France AT ALL. And I remember when she finishes the song and goes “ouaaaais grosse” (like yeaaah fatty) I thought “oh my god! She can just say that. And like it” More than a decade later I still hate my body, but I’m working on it. And I still think about that album and that line." Here is the song.
I’m on two episodes of The Moon Under Water podcast, designing my dream pub! Low in booze, high in tea, and temporally ingenious. Listen to part 1 and part 2.
Support the show at theallusionist.org/donate and as well as keeping this independent podcast going, you also get glimpses into how the podsausage is made, regular livestreams and watchalong parties, AND to hang out with your fellow Allusionauts in the delightful Allusioverse Discord community, sharing etymologies, reading and recipe recommendations, favourite podcasts, and awful portmanteaus.
YOUR RANDOMLY SELECTED WORD FROM THE DICTIONARY:
tret, noun, historical: an allowance of extra weight made to purchasers of certain goods to compensate for waste during transportation.
CREDITS:
Aubrey Gordon is a writer and podcaster; her new book is You Just need to Lose Weight and 19 Other Myths About Fat People, and the documentary about her Your Fat Friend premieres in June 2023. Find her work at aubreygordon.net and listen to Maintenance Phase in your usual podplaces and via MaintenancePhase.com. She is @yrfatfriend on Twitter and Instagram.
The cast of The Flab is Felix Trench of Wooden Overcoats podcast, find more of his acting and writing work via FelixTrench.com.
This episode was produced by me, Helen Zaltzman. The original Allusionist music is by Martin Austwick. Download his songs at palebirdmusic.com and listen to his podcasts Song By Song and Neutrino Watch.
Find the Allusionist at youtube.com/allusionistshow, twitter.com/allusionistshow, facebook.com/allusionistshow, twitter.com/helenzaltzman and instagram.com/allusionistshow.
