Weekend reading: Thin Privilege edition

Good afternoon!

It has been both very cool and very overwhelming to be talking about thin privilege with so many people. This conversation is very important to me, and I want to be as thoughtful and patient as possible as the varying responses roll in. Thanks in advance for remembering that I am simply a human with some complex thoughts on privilege and how it functions for me. I am not fucking anyone over by discussing thin privilege. I am not indicting anyone to feel shame. Let’s be graceful, let’s be honest, and let’s have dialogue. I love you all, except the shit heads, to which I say this:

Here are some exploratory thin privilege related links. Please note that I usually only share links from women or queer identified folks, but today I am deviating from that rule just to be thematic.

Size, Stigma and Shaming: Toward a new politic of solidarity by Amy Oden

If you read none of my other links this week, please check this article out.

A quote:

” “Being a skinny person is hard, too.”

I get that, and I’m sorry. Having experiences where your body is painfully held up to scrutiny is totally, totally shitty. However, you don’t get to talk about thin shaming like it’s as bad as fat shaming. You just don’t. There are some great articles about thin privilege, so I won’t go into it at length here. I agree that our culture has a narrow scope for what it considers “attractive”, but please keep in mind that being hurt from an ideal is different than being oppressed by it. Oppression involves ubiquitous, pervasive societal subjugation, as opposed to individual moments of pain. Fatphobia is a term I think we’re all familiar with, but I’ve never heard of skinnyphobia, and “skinny bitch” is a world away from “fat bitch” as an insult. Additionally, on a slightly different note, I should mention that feeling fat or uncomfortable with your body is totally different than beingfat. The latter involves being judged by society every day as you walk through life.”

This is a great book (not an article, but you can totally get it as an audiobook if longform text isn’t your thing!) that really got me thinking about just how unfair societal body standards can be for SO many people. One response I got to my thin privilege article was a few people saying “I worked hard for my thin privilege! I earned it!”. NEWS FLASH. Some people can “work hard” and get different physical results. SHOCKING, I know. This book really delves into the hows and whys of that fact.

Why Skinny Shaming is Not the Same As Fat Shaming by Kelsey Miller

Skinny people struggle too, because let’s just face it: the kind of body that is deemed “best” in our culture is quite specific and few of us actually measure up. But thin people are totally systemically favored and privileged. Here’s how skinny shaming is not now, and will never be the same as fat shaming.

5 Reasons We Need to Stop Thinking of Skinny Shaming as Reverse Discrimination by Melissa A. Fabello

Melissa Fabello breaks it DOWN and offers about a million extra resources and reading in this article. Love it.

Maybe it’s the punk in me, but I love an unedited blog that doesn’t have the pressure of needing to appear all shiny, acceptable and perfect. This is Thin Privilege is a perfect place to read about thin privilege in action, and how it effects people that don’t have it. It is a moderated discussion blog, so there are many stories and perspectives.

Have a great weekend!