Anti-diet messaging must always recognize the role of racism in diet culture and healthism, and participating in diet culture perpetuates this harmful bias and stigma against bodies of color, especially BIPOC bodies. Yes, it’s a really uncomfortable feeling to sit in. But it’s really important that we talk about it, especially this week.
Maybe it starts with the first question of “Why are black people at higher risk of chronic illness?”. No matter what the answer is, we cannot stop there. We have to ask “why” five more times, or ten more times, in response to that answer to really understand the root cause of health disparities in the black community.
Why is this group less connected to the healthcare system? Why don’t medical professionals believe black people when they say they are in pain? Why is there less access to fresh food for these communities? Why are black and brown bodies more likely to be doing essential work, that puts them at risk for a disease like Covid-19? Why is the assumption that when you live in a larger body, you are more lazy, more greedy, less worthy of lifesaving treatment?
The answer to “Why do we fear fatness?” deserves the same number of “whys”, and I believe the answers won’t stray too far from that of the first question above. Society has placed the harshest judgments on black bodies. Rather than caring for black people equally, respecting size diversity, and looking at an individual’s health through a holistic context (How are your relationships? Are you safe? Are you economically secure? Are you employed? Do you have mental health support? And so on), a weight-centric healthcare system asks, why is it so hard for you to lose weight?
It’s a complex issue that 10 years after public health school I am still learning about. I highly recommend Dr. Sabrina String’s latest op-ed “It’s Not Obesity, It’s Slavery”, which explores the failing social structures that lead to the health disparities among black communities. I also plan to read her book “Fearing the Black Body: Racial Origins of Fat Phobia”, to educate myself further on this topic. It’s important to me because as I try to dismantle the thin ideal and help people find health regardless of their weight, we can’t ignore the racist beliefs that got us to where we are as a weight-centric society.
Sending love and healing to the many communities devastated by this week’s tragedy.