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Dear White Fatties (and Other Socially Visible Fat Activists),

1/23/2015

10 Comments

 

by Asam Ahmad

When a reporter/blog/ngo/charity/community organization approaches you to talk/present/lecture about fatness, does it ever cross your mind to think about why you are being contacted and not say, a hundred other people who may as well be just as qualified as you (if not more) to speak on fatness? Do you ever think about how the spotlight being given to you pushes other, less visible voices even farther into the margins? In other words, why is it that the same tired voices keep getting amplified while those who challenge more than just society's perception of fatness (how it intersects with race, class, sexuality, disability, etc.) rarely get any media or community attention? Is this just a coincidence? Is your voice really that idiosyncratic and fabulous? Or is it more likely that you are benefitting from white privilege and other structural systems of oppression?

I get that celebrity-ism is a self-perpetuating machine: one automatically receives more acclaim, more attention, more access to power simply by being "known" as the person who's an expert on such and such issue. And there's no doubt that the mainstream press only cares about the most superficial representations when it comes to challenging fatphobia (read: pretty, white and white-passing women with curves in all the right places). But this isn't just about mainstream media — this is a pattern that keeps recurring *especially* within alternative, progressive, radical, community spaces and publications. Sometimes it feels like we are more invested in celebrity culture than TMZ.

To be quite frank, I am incredibly exhausted by the low bar that is set for what counts as a Good White Ally and a Good Fat Activist. Declarations of your privilege and acknowledgments of your social visibility are all super great and everything, but what do they actually do? Beyond expiating your guilt so you can continue to reap the benefits of your privilege and social visibility without feeling bad about it, seriously what do such acknowledgments actually *do*? Not much, frankly, when it comes to the material redistribution of power and wealth. This is why it is so important that all of us, myself included, think more critically about the power we hold as socially visible fatties and what being a "good ally" actually looks like in practice. If we are genuinely invested in practicing “good allyship,” a good place to start is by actually giving up some of the social and material benefits of privilege and passing them on to those with less power and less visibility. I say this knowing full well how complicated that can be, especially if you are poor or feel invisible. But sometimes, saying "No" (or “Yes, but also”) when asked to speak/present/lecture/model etc., and using your voice and visibility to give access to such opportunities to those who are less visible and more marginalized, is the most radical thing we can do.



Asam Ahmad It Gets Fatter
Photo by Sara Mir

Asam Ahmad is a writer and a co-founder of the It Gets Fatter Project, a body positivity collective by and for fat people of color. He Lives in Toronto.

10 Comments
Nicole
1/23/2015 04:09:04 am

I'm amazed to learn that there is any such thing as a celebritized fat activist. Or that anyone is handing fat activists a mic. The only fat activists I have ever heard of or from are, like you, independently producing their own voice.

White privilege is so pervasive, I shouldn't be surprised this is an issue. I just want to know who is handing out the mics. I'd be happy to spread the word about handing you one.

Reply
Nicole
1/23/2015 04:12:44 am

p.s., I only saw this because the awesome Marilyn Wann showcased your post in her blog/FB feed. She's happy to spread the focus. Keep up the good work reminding folks that ALL voices need to be heard!

Reply
Marilyn Wann
1/23/2015 04:41:41 am

The media contact people in fat community to do interviews. I've done all sorts of media interviews over the years, from CNN to The Tonight Show. The focus on white fat activists in the media is a real and ugly bias. I haven't done enough to combat it and am happy to see how I can change that dynamic now. Also, college campuses and other institutions offer speaking gigs about weight diversity. I've done several hundred such talks and sometimes get paid. I'm interested in referring those gigs to people who haven't been heard. Then there are presentations at conferences, in activist events. All of the places where fat activists are heard from. Fat activists of color and people with other intersecting identities bring so much to those settings. I've started to see change. We can do so much more!

Reply
Jack
1/23/2015 02:04:48 pm

“When a reporter/blog/ngo/charity/community organization approaches you to talk/present/lecture about fatness, does it ever cross your mind to think about why you are being contacted and not say, a hundred other people who may as well be just as qualified as you (if not more) to speak on fatness?”

If happen to be an expert in something and have experience in it, damn straight I’m going to take that opportunity of speaking about it without thinking of it. Anyone else that might have knowledge is a competitor competing for the fame scale. There is nothing “privileged” about this. This is entirely opportunity.

I feel like your post is basically you whining that you don’t get access to the spotlight. Trust me, you don’t get opportunities by bitching. You get them by making sure you’re in the face of reporter/blog/ngo/charity/community organizations. If you’re active in the community and constantly talking about it to those people, they’re going to remember you. You don’t feel like someone deserves the limelight? Prove it.

Furthermore, the majority of your post seems off-topic. You talk about malrepresentation of fatness in your paragraph, then celebrityism in the next, and finally you just generally rant about privilege in general.

Reply
Sofia
1/23/2015 05:08:54 pm

"Anyone else that might have knowledge is a competitor competing for the fame scale"

This is supposed to be *activism*, friend, not entrepreneurship. Which is why we think twice before we even think of using the word "rant" directed towards someone who is fighting for more representation.

Reply
Kaitlin
1/24/2015 02:14:04 am

I think you've missed the author's point entirely, Jack. Nothing is entirely opportunity in a system built with privilege.

Reply
Marilyn Wann
1/23/2015 09:54:36 pm

Jack, you're celebrating the problem, you're doing the opposite of improving things.

Reply
Denise Mayosky
4/10/2016 06:44:08 pm

I have kind of noticed this in passing, and I could be totally wrong about this. It seems like some cultures - like black and Latino - are a little more accepting of fatness in their women than white culture. In this case, it seems white privilege becomes a two-edged sword - we're held up as the "superior" model, but if we're fat, we're seen as having brought disgrace on the "master race", or some such nonsense. That being said, I totally agree that all viewpoints should be represented. People of color have unique perspectives that should be shared and not pushed to the side and not just minimized or ignored.

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Marilyn Wann
4/10/2016 06:50:13 pm

I think we should be careful about stereotypes that non-white cultures don't include anti-fat attitudes. Cultures are not monoliths; people don't all think alike and imagining they do is dehumanizing. Also, there can be an aspect of exoticizing (and dehumanizing) in the idea that people of color don't feel the impact of anti-fat prejudice as much as white people do. Thanks for your support about diversity.

Reply
Erica
2/2/2017 06:48:21 pm

Thank you for the article, Asam. I'm honestly not too familiar with fat activism, despite having been fat for the majority of my life. I can see how it must be frustrating to see white activists get substantially more press. I'll read more about the "celebrity culture" aspect of fat activism. Thanks again.

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