Fat Privilege is Not a Thing
It’s actually fascinating to me that folks have such a hard time with the concept of thin privilege. I am not suggesting that living with thin privilege means that you have not struggled, that you do not have bad body image days, or that you love your body.
What I am suggesting is that you live in a body that is not oppressed for existing as is.
A few personal experiences about thin privilege in a disabled body:
My last neurologist asked me to give a presentation to other humans living with secondary progressive MS and progressive disability. She knew I was a dietitian, but made repeated comments about my body size as though that had anything to do with my education.
She asked me to give a presentation to humans with MS who lived in larger bodies with the hope of putting them in smaller bodies. As to suggest the experience of living with disability and chronic illness is not hard enough. As to suggest that I would be interested in encouraging ANY humans to engage in a practice that disconnect them from their bodies, at best, and does great harm.
I never gave this presentation. I left this neurologist, and let her know why. ⬆️
I walk using a walker. Before COVID, I went for my monthly infusion, and a person asked if I needed help walking into the hospital. There was NOTHING that he may have assisted me with.
Strangers offer to help me.
Strangers (when I could still see them) initiate conversation.
I’m told that I’m an inspiration (I hate that one, because I am not an inspiration for being a human who lives with a chronic illness and disability. I might be inspirational in other ways, but inspirational for living? No.) and brave.
It is not lost on me that my experience of disability is unfairly tilted in the pleasant direction because of all my privilege.
Thin privilege. White privilege. The privilege of relative youth. The privilege of possessing conventional beauty attributes. And these are only some of the privileges that a stranger can see.
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If the concept of thin privilege makes you feel defensive, I’m going to ask you to consider why that is. REALLY. Please think about this.
Fat privilege is not a thing.
Thin privilege is.
