Anthropology Food and Drink Free-For-All

Those Happy Fat People

June 30, 2026 by David 118 Comments

In academic news:

The University of Rochester offers cards to students at medical appointments that state “please don’t weigh me” if they are inclined against it. The University Health Service division touted the cards… as an effort to combat “weight stigma.”

Says the website of the University Heath Service:

Weight stigma is the discrimination of someone based on their weight or body size, and it has very harmful effects on folks emotionally and physically.

Much like fatness, in fact.

Weight stigma appears in many places in our society, including in relationships with family and friends, the workplace, social media, television and movies, retail stores, athletics…

Weight stigma in athletics. I’d better write that one down. The site also stresses the importance of “body positivity,” which is,

The idea of unconditional self-love, focusing on the goal of having a positive body image.

Well, losing some of that excess weight would probably help on that front. Less crippling self-consciousness. Less sweating and wheezing, too. We also learn that “weight stigma” is perpetuated by language. Not, say, by being massively fat and the problems that so often follow from that.

At which point, sharp-eyed readers will notice that the direction of all this effort is away from the actual problem.

The “don’t weigh me” cards are a project of More-Love.org, which argues: “Because we live in a fatphobic society, being weighed and talking about weight causes feelings of stress and shame for many people.”

Well, again, obesity will do that. Best, then, to keep oneself in some reasonable proportion. Rather than faffing about with five-dollar bits of cardboard that make it clear just how neurotic you’ve become. As a result of being fat.

Update, via the comments:

Svh quotes this from the university’s website:

You have the autonomy to make medical decisions for yourself, and that includes being weighed at the start of your appointment.

And adds,

But you don’t have the autonomy to put down the giant soda.

Well, quite. And it has to be said, if you’re unwell and are avoiding going to the doctor because you can’t bear the prospect of being asked how much you weigh, this doesn’t sound like “body positivity.” Indeed, the very notion of “body positivity” will likely be of interest only to people who very much don’t feel “positive” about their bodies.

Say, on account of being fat.

And then there’s this, from the College Fix article:

The concept of weight stigma has been popular within higher education circles for years. As The College Fix previously reported, a sociology professor has argued that fatphobia is rooted in anti-blackness… In 2022, Syracuse University students launched a protest against their “fatphobic” campus, arguing classroom seating is “alienating” and “wildly uncomfortable.”

Because – and I say this will love – you’re too fat for the chairs.

So, at risk of sounding insensitive, a choice comes to mind. You can either try to reorganise your every interaction with the universe – every encounter with chairs, mirrors, small spaces, stairs, and so forth – and drag everyone else into some never-ending drama in an attempt to ease your hangups – or you can, you know, dial back on the carbs and sugar and take a brisk walk.

I mean, the thing you can hope to control is not other people.

Update 2:

This seems apposite. Luana Maroja, a professor of biology at Williams College, ventures into the belly of “fat studies” and reports on what she finds:

Public confidence in higher education has dropped sharply in recent years. The main contributors appear to be a lack of ideological diversity in colleges and universities, constraints on open inquiry, and the erosion of empirical standards in parts of the academy.

Here I describe two college-sponsored events dealing with “fat studies”—one in late 2024 and another in April 2026—which I attended out of simple curiosity about this academic discipline. Here is an account of the claims made at these events taken from my notes.

There follows much to chew on. Including claims by supposed educators that “a healthy diet is [whatever] you like to eat,” that fat people are oppressed by dieting and by other people not wishing to be fat, and that such preferences are a form of “white supremacy.” Oh, and the desire not to be fat oneself – dubbed “fat fascism” – is all about racism and the “subjugation” of Palestinians.

Also, chairs are discriminatory and a cause of health problems. Unlike being fat.

Among the educators in question, there was, inevitably, a lot of pretending not to understand things.

Update 3:

Commenter Chow Bag quotes this,

Oh, and the desire not to be fat oneself – dubbed “fat fascism” – is all about racism and the “subjugation” of Palestinians.

And adds,

They’re off their heads.

The participants do seem to be devoting an awful lot of effort to their word salad and contrivance – and blatant lies – all geared towards avoidance and displacement. Again, the direction of the rhetoric is away from the actual problem. They seem willing to perform almost any mental contortion in order to avoid acknowledging the obvious about themselves and their behaviour.

And so, for instance, we’re told that very fat cancer patients shouldn’t be advised to lose weight, as this is “discrimination,” an outrageous emotional injury, even though their obesity has numerous, quite serious, well-documented consequences in terms of treatment options, complications, likelihood of recovery, long-term survival, etc.

It’s not politics. It’s psychodrama. Albeit in bad political drag.

It’s tempting to invert the scenario and to imagine some gathering of the Anorexics Liberation Front. A roomful of alarmingly cadaverous young women complaining about the alienating vastness of chairs, and about how anyone concerned by the attendees’ self-harming behaviour – say, parents, spouses or children – is being oppressive and racist.

Consider this an open thread. Share ye links and bicker.

Pies and cakes available on request.




Subscribestar
Share: