How Do I Dismantle Fatphobia if I Don't Want To Be Fat?

A feminist advice collaboration with Zawn Villines

This post is a collaboration between Zawn Villines and Kate Manne. We wrote our responses separately, so you’ll get two unique answers informed by our distinct perspectives. As a special promotion, we’re both running a 50% off sale for one day only (an unbelievable bargain and the steepest discount I’ll ever offer!). The idea here is that you can subscribe to both of our newsletters for the price of one. If you newly subscribe to either, you’ll also get some free feminist merch; just email zawn@zawn.net. Put “merch address” in the subject line, and include your mailing address.

A reader asks…

How to balance the toxicity of diet culture with my own weight goals.

I’m fat phobic! And it’s a bias, because I can’t find any evidence or reasons to back up the negative view I have of fat people.

But I do have a lot of evidence of messages telling me that being fat is bad. Smh.

Three months ago, I saw a video of an uncle with a potbelly absolutely killing it at the skate park. Dude did a flip.

I’ve been working on dismantling my fat phobia for 8 years ever since a wonderful presentation by an activist group in high school. This video brought a new perspective to me, can I engage in the activities I want to the level I want? If not, what do I need to do to achieve that? Usually more stretching, running, climbing etc. Weight just goes along for the ride. It was a mountain top experience! And then the very next day I was back to judging “fat” people — 🤦🏼‍♂️ Any advice? Perhaps some daily affirmations!