Da’Shaun Harrison: Belly of the Beast – The Politics of Anti-Fatness as Anti-Blackness
“What is the utility of "body positivity" if it only seeks to provide one with a false sense of confidence rather than to liberate all from that which cages the body?”
“Health, in name and in action, has always existed to abuse, to dominate, and to subjugate. The medical industry, the health care industry, and the diet industry all exist to maintain a culture intended to “discipline” those whose bodies refuse to—and, for many, simply cannot—conform to the standards of health.”
“Body positivity individualizes something that is bigger than the individual.”
“Insecurities are not a personal indictment; they are an indictment of the World. Being that this is the case, people deemed Ugly should run toward Insecurity. Not as a trauma to inform their politics—as it is dangerous to navigate the world of politics through trauma rather than an informed praxis—but as a political tool that aids in developing their understanding of and relationship to oppressive power structures.”
“if love, of self or of others, is to play a role at all in any liberatory efforts, it must be a starting point and not an end. If self-love is where we start, it must be the driving force behind our continued struggle; otherwise, we become stagnant and immovable, fixated on always challenging how we see our bodies and never getting to the place where we no longer have to interrogate our bodies at all.”
“If the caged bird is the Beast, trapped and taunted by the idea of freedom, then like it, the Black fat sings with a fearful trill of things unknown but longed for still; we sit on graves of dreams not yet seen. In those dreams, which may never resurrect, there's a place--not the World--where we live and breathe as beings not bound by identifiers and qualifiers predicated on anti-Blackness. Where we are not Black or white, not thin or fat, not cis or trans, not queer or straight, not bound or unbound. In that place, the caged bird is not freed from its cage; in that place, the cage never existed for the bird to ever be bound by.”
Why Don’t We Recommend Dieting?
https://haeshealthsheets.com/why-we-dont-recommend-intentional-weight-loss/
The short answer is that intentional weight loss attempts almost never lead to long-term significant weight loss or improvement in health, and often have negative side effects.
Dieting Doesn’t Work
We’re defining “dieting” here as any attempt to manipulate body size through food and/or movement – this would include short-term diets, “fad” diets, diets that eliminate foods, and diets that are referred to as “lifestyle changes.” If the goal is to create weight loss through food and/or movement, it counts!
Dieting Doesn’t Work
While most people are able to lose weight short term, almost everyone gains it back, with up to two-thirds of people gaining back more than they lost. So even if someone believes that becoming thinner would lead to health improvements (and that’s a big “if”) recommending intentional weight loss attempts is the worst possible advice, since it has the opposite of the intended effect the majority of the time.
Weight Cycling Can Be Dangerous
Repeated dieting typically means repeated cycles of weight loss and regain. This is “weight cycling” (sometimes referred to as “yo-yo dieting”) and it comes with its own negative side effects. In fact, the research shows that it is possible that the association between weight and health risk can be better attributed to weight cycling than body size. Weight cycling is associated with a shorter lifespan, and has been shown to increase the risk of diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and heart disease.
The Harm of Weight Stigma
Internalized negative attitudes about weight, known as weight stigma, is another mediator between body size and health. Studies show that weight stigma increases the risk of high blood pressure, metabolic syndrome, diabetes, high cholesterol, and eating disorders. This means that placing the focus of medical care on weight management is harmful and has the opposite of its intended effect on health.
Dieting Leads to Eating Disorders
Dieting is one of the most important predictors of development of eating disorders. In fact, prescribing diets often equates to prescribing disordered eating behaviors. Dieting can lead to severe restrictive eating and malnutrition, cycles of starvation and binge eating, as well as other eating disorder behaviors and their medical complications.
Weight Loss Pills and Surgeries Carry Risks
Weight loss medications may lead to short-term weight loss, but cause weight cycling in the long run, along with other potential side effects. Weight loss surgeries carry a significant risk of many complications, including death. The research shows that there are more effective ways to positively impact health that do not risk lifelong side-effects.
Weight-Neutral Health Is a Research-Based Paradigm
The evidence that exists around weight and health shows that, understanding that health is not an obligation, barometer of worthiness, or entirely within our control, weight-neutral interventions are health-promoting and carry a much lower chance of negative side effects.
