Size Matters: It's So Hard to Say Goodbye

Well, fats and nonfats, it's time for me to get my fat ass on a horse somehow and ride into the sunset. I hope you enjoyed this blog, or at least learned something from it. It would be great if you now have a better understanding of fat acceptance/size acceptance and how to treat fat people (as humans, of course). I'd love if the fats reading this feel more empowered now than before this blog began. Lofty goals, maybe, but I'd like to think we reached them. I appreciate the feedback I've received from people who have changed the way they think as a result of this blog. It balances out the pushback we've experienced from would-be fat shamers and concern trollers.

For fat people, I want you to know that just because representations of fatness in pop culture skew towards the negative, it doesn't always have to be that way. We can let media creators know that we expect better from them by refusing to interact with media that doesn't portray fat people positively. We can stand against the constant barrage of celebrities hawking weight loss plans and diets that simply lead to a vicious circle of weight loss and regain. We can demand access to fashionable clothes in our sizes from designers and corporations that would rather pretend we don't exist. We can exist as we are and not hide from our image-obsessed society. Just by staking our claim to be treated like a human being, we are bringing the revolution.

And for nonfats, your privilege affords you access to things fat people are excluded from—like humane treatment, the ability to walk into pretty much any store and find your size, the luxury of not having the constant barrage of anti-fat propaganda directed at you, the ability to interview for a job and not worry that your weight might be a factor in whether or not they hire you, and countless more benefits of thin privilege. If you want to be an "ally" to fat people, you must challenge and unpack your privilege. You must be an advocate for fat acceptance and refuse to let fatphobic comments pass under your nose without recognition. A tall order, yes, but it's the same as not allowing racism to go unchecked, or homophobia, or sexism.

If you're interested in reading more of my work, you can find me on Twitter as @redvinylshoes, blogging at Red Vinyl Shoes, I Fry Mine in Butter and after Friday, at Zora & Alice. I'm also part of the Grey's Bloggers here on Bitch doing a roundtable every Friday on Grey's Anatomy.

Thank you for reading, listening and participating in this discourse. Peace.