Translator: Cihan Ekmekçi Reviewer: Leonardo Silva
When you hear the word fat, what thoughts and images come to mind?
Some of you might think of fat
as the extra 10 pounds you are currently trying to lose.
Others might be thinking, "Hmm, I wonder what the fat content was
in the bag of potato chips I had for lunch.''
And some of you when you hear the word fat might think back
to that time in middle school when someone called you fat
and how it has affected the rest of your life.
Let's just admit it;
fat can be a pretty loaded word, no matter who you are.
My own personal experience with that is not special.
I grew up a swimmer and disliked my body from an early age.
I was a big girl growing up,
which helped me gain a lot of success in the pool,
but not so much success when it came to boys liking me
or girls not targeting me with their cruel comments.
I made it through middle school and high school,
and landed at Pepperdine University on a swimming scholarship
where I endured the body image torment
that you might imagine for an 18-year-old female swimmer
living in Malibu, California.
(Laughter)
I joined a sorority, Tri Delta,
and we took part in a national body image campaign
called ''Fat Talk Free Week.''
"Fat talk" is a term coined by researcher Mimi Nichter
that refers to the disparaging way that friends talk about their bodies.
Things like, ''Do I look fat in this?''
Or, ''She really shouldn't be wearing that dress.''
And, ''I can't believe I ate that last doughnut, I feel so fat.''
Sound familiar?
For many women, this is a normal part of life,
but fat talk is also occurring
when you compliment a friend on their weight loss.
How many of you have ever told a friend
that they looked good after they lost weight?
Yeah. Absolutely.
Unfortunately, this positive affirmation tells your friend two things:
one, that they didn't look good beforehand;
and two, that fat is a bad thing.
I realized, then, that while my intentions were good,
my words could be harmful and my own body image insecurities
were actually a result of two things: our culture and the media.
We hear it all the time, "Fat is bad."
"Fat people aren't making the right choices to lose weight."
"Fat people aren't taking care of themselves."
"Fat people are so lazy."
It should come as no surprise to many of you
that a recent Rudd Center research report found
that almost 50% of adult participants said
they would rather give up a year of their life than to be obese,
or that children as young as three years old
already judge those they perceive to be overweight.
I realized then that I, too, was so wrapped up in my own desire to be thin
that I didn't recognize the hidden advantages
that my thin body gives me.
I'm not fat, I can eat whatever I want
and as much as I want in public without being judged.
I can go into any clothing store and know that they're going to have
lots of options and styles and colors in my size.
I can go to the gym and work out
and not worry that someone's going to take a picture of me.
I can get on dating apps like Bumble and Tinder,
knowing that I'm going to have lots of matches.
I can go to restaurants and classrooms, theaters, stadiums
and know that I'm going to be comfortable in the seats.
I can go to a movie or watch a television show, open up a magazine,
and be guaranteed to see characters and celebrities who look like me.
If I do question my weight,
my friends and family members are going to remind me
that I have a great body
as opposed to recommending the latest fad diet or exercise regimen.
Because of my thin size,
all of you are more likely to listen to what I have to stay
instead of thinking that I'm just up here trying to justify my weight.
Simply put, there are a lot of advantages that I receive in my life
just because of my thin body.
I have thin privilege.
Here's the thing about privilege, though.
It's invisible.
So I was receiving all of these unearned benefits,
which I took for granted,
not knowing the real harm that fat people endure.
You see, the opposite of thin privilege is fat oppression.
So, thin people like me go through life
receiving all of these unearned favors and opportunities,
while people who are fat are punished and judged for their outward appearances.
It was through the wisdom of fat acceptance scholars and activists
that I, too, became a fat studies scholar
to fight against this prejudice bias and discrimination.
Now, I know what many of you are probably thinking,
"Fat people are at risk for so many diseases,
and thin is clearly healthier."
And I'm here to tell you that the jury's still out.
Many medical professionals and researchers still haven't come
to any form of consensus
regarding a lot of issues concerning weight and health.
So, years from now, we're likely to find
that what we thought we knew about weight is actually wrong or maybe exaggerated.
So, let's set aside what we think we know about health and fat,
so we can talk about something so much more important: discrimination.
Now, what I hope is going through all of your minds is,
''But I'm not prejudiced
and I don't discriminate against somebody because of their body size.''
Unfortunately, fat oppression shows up in many spaces
you probably haven't considered.
So, let's talk about two that are extremely important:
The workplace and the medical field.
In the workplace, employers have negative stereotypes about their fat employees,
which leads to workplace discrimination.
Ninety-three percent of professionals in human resources admitted
they were likely to hire someone they perceived to be thin
over someone who is fat,
even if both individuals had the same exact qualifications.
Research shows that fat employees make 2.5 percent less money
than their normal size colleagues,
a disparity which can mean upwards of $100,000 less for a fat employee
over the course of a 40-year career.
What's more, Michigan is the only state
with law prohibiting discrimination on the basis of weight,
which means there's little preventing employers
from pressuring their fat employees from resigning
or firing them if they don't fit the corporate image.
Fat employees are penalized simply for existing,
while individuals like me, in thin bodies, we never need consider
the impact our body size can have on our hiring or promotions.
Those of us in thin bodies receive even more advantages
when it comes to our medical care.
As a thin person, I've never questioned the care I've received
or canceled a doctor's appointment because I was afraid of being fat-shamed.
I've never worried about being misdiagnosed because of my size.
Now, I'm not trying to speak to the fat experience, that's not my goal.
As a thin ally, it is deeply troublesome to me to think that those fat individuals
are receiving a lesser quality of care just because of their size.
Many fat patients leave their physicians offices
feeling as though their primary concern was overlooked
because of the misplaced focus being put on their weight.
For fat women, going to the gynecologist can be particularly troubling
as they are often made to feel ashamed for their weight
or the victims of cruel comments at the hands of their doctors,
doctors who struggle to believe
that their fat patients could actually be having sex.
Because of my thin privilege,
I've never been, nor will I likely ever be a victim of this cruel treatment.
This is a result of the fact that many medical professionals
are unconsciously or consciously biased against fat patients.
In one study of doctors, it was discovered
that 40 percent of doctors had some type of weight prejudice,
with a survey of physicians finding doctors admitted to using such adjectives
as weak-willed, ugly and awkward to describe their own obese patients.
In a study of nurses, nurses admitted
that they didn't want to touch or care for their fat patients,
with another study finding
that 24 percent of nurses were repulsed by the idea of even having fat patients.
Oftentimes, doctors will try to address a health problem
by recommending that a patient lose weight,
only to find out later
that the health problem had nothing to do with the patient's weight.
Women who are fat are a third less likely to receive such necessary preventive care
as breast exams and Pap smears.
These studies and statistics are alarming.
We trust our medical professionals to take care of us,
and any degree of discrimination in this field
could be the matter of life or death.
Simply put,
fat patients receive a lesser quality of care than their thin counterparts,
and this is a problem.
Discrimination in the workplace and medical field speaks
to an important truth about size privilege: it's invisible.
And like any form of form of privilege,
the first step is simply acknowledging that it exists.
For many of you, you may not often consider
the hidden benefits that come with having a thin body,
but those of us in thin bodies,
whether we worked hard to create them or not,
need to recognize the ways that our bodies benefit us,
so that we can visualize the myriad of ways
that fat oppression actually occurs all around us.
How awful to think that our fat loved ones and friends might go through life
feeling as though they've done something wrong,
or that they were getting shortchanged simply because of their body size.
If we do not acknowledge our own thoughts, words and actions,
when it comes to weight, on a regular basis,
then we perpetuate the problem.
Racial jokes and gay slurs are no longer tolerated in our society.
So, why do we so readily abide humor made at a fat person's expense?
Fat is the last accepted prejudice.
We need to check our own inherent biases
against bodies that aren't slender or slim.
For some of you, your own personal journey in fat acceptance might begin
when you question why you don't stand up
for your fat co-worker who is the victim of hushed cruel comments
being made by your colleagues in the break room.
For others of you, it might begin
when you find yourself silently judging the fat person sitting next to you
eating the same fast-food meal
that you, yourself, are currently consuming.
And for many of you, it might start when you ask yourself
why you are so afraid of being fat and why you feel so negatively about it.
The important thing to remember here is that this is a process
and we're trying to undo years and years of learned behavior,
so we are going to make mistakes.
Here's the bottom line:
prejudice, bias and discrimination against fat bodies are real
and the impacts are far-reaching.
We're supposed to love our bodies, and I ask all of you to love your body:
your tall body your, your fat body, your short body, your round body,
your thin body, whatever body you are in.
You have a mind and the capacity to use that mind and your body
to work towards a change of perception,
and ultimately, to create a society where all bodies are treated as equal.
Thank you.
(Applause)