Sarah Thompson, founder of Resilient Fat Goddess, writes about body positivity, body liberation, and fat liberation at the intersections of gender, sexuality, and eating disorders.
My fat art block prints grew out of a desire to have a place to process and channel emotions that I have continued to feel since I began eating disorder recovery in 2016.
I do not know if there is an in-patient eating disorder treatment center that currently exists that is safe for all people with non-dominant systemic identities at all levels of the organization. I do not know of an eating disorder treatment program for higher level of care where I as a fat, queer, non-binary person would feel safe to attend.
The person you love, your girlfriend/boyfriend, wife/husband, or partner has become body positive or fat positive. Maybe your partner has gained weight since you first met, and you are no longer physically attracted to your spouse. But they have started accepting their body, and no longer want to try to change it through dieting. Your partner is talking about anti-diet or non-diet approaches, such as Health at Every Size® (HAES), Body Trust®, and Intuitive Eating (IE).
I want you to know where I am coming from and what drives my work. When you know what my perspective is, you will be able to make an informed decision on working together. I believe that we deserve to live in a world free from anti-fat bias and stigma. I believe that Health at Every Size®, Intuitive Eating, body respect, and Body Trust® are philosophies that offer an alternative paradigm to our culture's views of weight and wellness.
I’m finalizing a presentation on the ways that sizeism and eating disorders, separately and together, intersect for trans and gender diverse folx. While researching scientific and community based articles, it really got me thinking about my experience as a kid (a lot research is focused on trans youth) coming of age while recognizing my sexuality was different than almost everyone I knew.
I know you are working your hardest to provide the best care possible. I know you are working to improve people’s health, so that they can enjoy their lives longer. I know that you have to work within a rather broken system with short appointment times, insurance requirements, and have to work with the resources that you have available. I know that not every clinic, agency, hospital, or practice has the same resources as others.
The dominant culture in our society favors those who are thin and dehumanizes those who are fat. We are constantly reminded of this on a daily basis. There is an entire 150 billion-dollar industry worldwide that exists because of faphobia and weight stigma. Add in approximately $3 billion for stomach amputation or stomach alteration surgery otherwise known as weight loss surgery globally. There is no escaping that people are afraid of fatness.Fatphobia: Fear of fat, fat people, and/or fatness.
While there is research to support that weight stigma is a risk factor for binge eating disorder, it doesn’t appear that medical professionals or administrators are taking action to reduce weight stigma. There continues to be a high rate of implicit bias within medical professionals. A recent study focused on the weight bias within eating disorder treatment professionals which shows that they are not immune from a high rate of implicit bias like other medical professionals.
Last night the seat next to mine on my flight was empty. This morning it isn’t. I’m not rolling in the dough enough to purchase a second seat ahead of time and wait to get reimbursed. So, I am going to have to see if someone will be willing to switch seats with me at the last minute where there is an empty middle. You know how willing people are to give that up. [insert eye roll] This puts me at risk of getting kicked off the flight.
Let’s talk about Intuitive Eating. How do you navigate honoring your hunger or respecting your fullness, when you can’t afford to buy enough food? How do you enjoy the pleasure of eating, when you can’t buy food that sounds good to you? How do you enjoy the pleasure of eating, when you are worried about if you will be evicted from your home?
Our relationship with the people that raised us often forms how we relate to food and body as we grow and become adults. I’ve heard that the way we are spoken to as children is what becomes our inner voice/inner critic as we become more independent from our caregivers. I don’t know if this is exactly true. What I do know is that my parents had a major influence on my relationship with food and body. Do I think they caused my eating disorder? Nope. They were doing the best they knew how with the resources they had. Plus genetics, culture, finances, and all that. There are lots of factors.
I don’t think I would survive very long without community. No, really. I don’t think I would. Community has always been incredibly important to me. It has changed and shifted over the years as I have learned and grown. I’ve been a part of many different communities over the years. They have all taught me different lessons and nourished a part of me.
In my graduate school classes, sizeism is mentioned once in the entire five years I’m a graduate student. Every single class is required to talk about marginalized identities and how whatever topic the class is focused on impacts those who are more marginalized or oppressed. Fat people are never mentioned except in the one class one time. I know from my lived experience that fat people are oppressed and I began studying feminism and learning about the history of size oppression in college. Eating disorders are covered one day in my “abnormal psychology” class and never mentioned again. Even in my “psychology of women” class eating disorders were never mentioned and diet culture wasn’t talked about.
I did not always believe that fat people had a right to eat regularly and enough food, every day.
Nope. I had so much internalized fatphobia, weight stigma and bias that I very much bought into the idea that my fat body was a problem. A BIG problem.
Which meant that I shouldn't (read: didn't deserve to) eat regularly and enough food, every day.
It was impossible for me to feel much joy or pleasure, take up space, or gasp. . .feel sexy.
Part one kicked off the series with Claudette Largess, MA, writing about her love for Julia Louis Dreyfus, Seinfeld, and her experience writing her dissertation on Fat Acceptance. You can read it here. The series continues with part two where Sarah Thompson writes about her experience in Health at Every Size® professional spaces. . Finally, the series will wrap up with part 3 where Rachel Millner, PsyD., writes a letter to her friends and colleagues in larger bodies.
It was easy to know in high school when I was starving myself, using laxatives not as prescribed, and making myself throw up that I most likely had an eating disorder. This was the way I saw them represented in after school specials, and documentaries in health class. Though when I started seeing a therapist at 16, I was never told I had an eating disorder. I was never offered eating disorder treatment.
Part one kicks off the series with Claudette Largess, MA, writing about her love for Julia Louis Dreyfus, Seinfeld, and her experience writing her dissertation on Fat Acceptance. The series continues with part two where Sarah Thompson writes about her experience in the Health at Every Size® Therapists and Nutritionists Facebook Group. Finally, the series will wrap up with part 3 where Rachel Millner, PsyD., writes a letter to her friends and colleagues in larger bodies.
I really did think that each time would be different. I really thought that I would fall into the 5% of people that would be able to maintain significant weight loss long term. I wanted to be anyway. I did NOT want to accept that I was just your average person who couldn’t maintain weight loss over time.