If you’ve ever read my blog you’ll know one of the key topics I discuss is the fact that I am fat. It’s also a fact that I am okay with being fat. It’s taken a lot of work but I truly love myself just the way I am. My happiness doesn’t mean that I don’t come under the blanket of society’s prejudices about fat people though. I’m seen as unattractive if not downright ugly. I’m seen as lazy or greedy. People assume that I either don’t like to exercise or I don’t know how to exercise. They are extra effusive in their praise if they see me at the gym. Patronising much? Until I read about intersectionality the types of discrimination I don’t suffer had never occurred to me

My Privilege

In every other way though I know that my life is one of privilege. A lot of privilege. Here’s a list

• I am white 
• My sexuality is straight and even more than straight I’m married which takes a big old box in the conservative sections of society 
• My gender is cisnormative
• I live in the western world which is a world of plenty – I never worry about where my next meal is coming from
• I’ve got access to free healthcare
• I have reproductive privilege. Access to birth control and family planning such as abortion if I wish.
• I feel relatively safe walking down a street alone, even at night

I know that is not the case for huge numbers of people around the world. The fact is that fatphobia is just one part of a much bigger problem for many of my fat brothers and sisters. They have to fight for the liberation of their bodies, they have to fight for liberation due to the colour of their skin, their sexuality and their gender. Sadly many of them are at a greatly increased risk of physical violence too.

What is intersectionality?

Intersectionality was originally a fairly obscure legal term. It was over 30 years ago law professor Kimberlé Crenshaw first applied it as a way of explaining how different social sectors or inequalities overlap. in an interview in Time magazine She explains it as:

‘’It’s basically a lens, a prism, for seeing the way in which various forms of inequality often operate together and exacerbate each other. We tend to talk about race inequality as separate from inequality based on gender, class, sexuality, or immigrant status. What’s often missing is how some people are subject to all of these, and the experience is not just the sum of its parts.”

Kimberlé Crenshaw in Time Magazine 2018

Intersectionality’s impact on fat people

What this means is that as a member of a group who experiences inequality we must fight for equality for all people. Fight for them to live free of bias and discrimination. That’s regardless of whether we personally experience that discrimination or not. If you think about it is makes sense. Would you really say to someone “I will fight to the death for your fat body to be accepted but your other struggles? I don’t care cos they don’t affect me” Kinda makes you sound like a dick doesn’t it?

Let’s put intersectionality in the context of my life. As I said above I am a fat, white, straight, and cisnormative woman living in the north of England. If I want to be free of fatphobia and live my life without judgment then I also need to fight for a fat, black, gay, and transgender man living in Russia! Not just for his freedom from fatphobia but also his right to be gay and black and transgender too. When a person is oppressed, regardless of the type, and no one fights it then it’s as good as saying bias and discrimination are ok. This is dangerous thinking and history shows us it spreads.

What we need to do

So, my musers, let’s all be extra attentive going forward. We’re not just on the lookout for fatphobia comments or practices. We’re looking for all bias. We need to challenge it and call it out whenever we find it. When we’re spreading messages calling for self-love then mention that everything about each person is perfect. It’s not just about their weight. Sign gay rights petitions. Send letters to your government representative demanding action on police brutality towards black people. Wear an LBGTQ+ t-shirt proudly. Let’s go to bed each night knowing we’ve taken steps towards a better society in which everyone is treated with respect. We’re all in this together.

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