FAT

The word ‘fat’ may feel, to many people, to be a harmless and appropriate word to use for describing someone who is overweight. For many of us that are overweight, being called fat is: #1 Obvious, I know I’m overweight, I don’t need you to remind me, and #2 is often associated with memories of being bullied or derided, something we’d rather not think about. Now, I’m not suggesting you try to replace this word with something more politically correct, such as ‘big boned’ or a scientifically appropriate, like the word ‘obese’. What word am I asking you to use then? How about you don’t use any word at all? Why does my body size have to define who I am? The use of fat, and it’s derivatives ‘fatty’ or ‘fatty fat fat’ (An expression that really drives home the point for the overweight person, as if saying it the first two times wasn’t enough), are dehumanizing to someone who doesn’t fit societies ideal body type.

The ideal body type is socially constructed and has changed throughout human history, which in turn has changed what size someone would be considered fat. Typically the person most likely to use the label fat, is someone that is included in the ‘thin’ segment of society, while those of us labeled fat are everyone outside of societies current standards of thinness. These labels have changed significantly through the years, and from culture to culture. Let us consider the renaissance, a point in history where being ‘voluptuous’ (a ‘fullness of beauty’) typically was associated with a women whose body size would today be considered largely overweight. At this time period these women’s figures ‘were considered the height of sexiness’. As an example, let us look at this painting by renaissance painter Peter Paul Rubens:

Venus at the mirror by Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640)

Venus, it is worth noting, was the Roman goddess of beauty, love, and fertility. Rubens idealized Venus as a much larger woman then would be considered the ideal body size of today. This is not to say that being overweight was not stigmatized during this time period, or any time period in human history, as stigmatization of being ‘fat’ is certainly something that has permeated nearly all cultures throughout history. However, by understanding that what is defined by society to be fat has changed dramatically, we gain perspective on what is really a relative system of labeling. If a women in 1600 could be considered the epitome of beauty, then what does it tell us about society today that this same women would be stigmatized as fat? What does this tell us about what is naturally the ideal standard other than, perhaps, there is no real ideal standard by which to judge. So by labeling someone fat, what you’re really doing is accepting and reaffirming society’s current definition of size, even though there is no empirical basis for doing so.

The word fat originates from the old English word ‘fǣtan’,which means to cram, load, or adorn. (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/fat). Expressions using the word fat include, ‘to live off the fat of the land’ (in this case fat refers to the best or richest part), as well as ‘a fat chance’ which is counterintuitive to an extent, since in this case ‘fat’ corresponds with ‘little’. Perhaps ‘a fat chance’ and a ‘fat lot’, both of which associate fat with little, are examples of how society has construed fat to be something less worthy than the alternative, otherwise why would an expression be so obviously counterintuitive? Being called fat also brings with it many negative connotations. Someone fat is regarded as “morally reprehensible” and a social disgrace” (Cahnman, 1968). People that are fat are seen to easily succumb to temptation, are hedonistic pleasure seekers, eat to excess, and deserve the stigma since they are alone are responsible for their size (Goode, 1996Unlike a lot of forms of stigma, being fat is seen as a personal choice, and therefore deserves all the negative connotations. Misguided as it may seem, some people think that deriding someone by pointing out their fatness, will actually get that person to lose weight. This makes it nearly impossible to prevent people in society from calling someone fat; after all, a lot of people believe the word is helpful precisely because of its negative connotations. But fat shamming doesn’t work, “shame is not a catalyst for change; it is a paralytic. Anyone who has ever carried extreme personal shame knows this. Shame doesn’t make you stronger, nor does it help you to grow, or to be healthy, or to be sane. It keeps you in one place, very, very still.” (http://www.xojane.com/issues/whats-wrong-fat-shaming).

Today there is a fat acceptance movement. The National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance was founded in 1969, and the International Size Acceptance Association was founded in 1992, however both organizations struggle with mainstream acceptance today. The blogosphere as well is home to a fast growing size acceptance movement. At first I was surprised that most of the blogs I visited about body size had the word ‘fat’ in the title, but on later consideration I realized that using the word that shames them, they can remove some of its power and negativity. None of the bloggers seem very offput by using the word fat, in fact it’s typically one of more widely used words to describe a large body size. This is an example of ‘reappropriation’, where members of the stigmatized group take a word that is used to deride them, and use the term themselves in a more acceptable way. On ‘bigfatblog.com’ in a post called “The whacked narcissism of self-hatred”( http://www.xojane.com/issues/whats-wrong-fat-shaming) DeeLeigh argues that we all need to love our bodies. Society may not change the way it views overweight people, but overweight people don’t have to accept the negative connotations that comes with the word fat, they can embrace their body size and love it for what it is. If you accept your body size, and disassociate yourself with societies definition of what is acceptable, then being called ‘fat’ loses a lot of its shamming power. This is not to say that the bloggers would consider it socially acceptable to call someone fat, especially someone you don’t know. While they use the word with ease in their blog posts, context is everything. If you use the word in the context of it being a character flaw (You’re fat! Stop being lazy!), then it will almost certainly be interpreted as offensive. Calling someone fat is socially acceptable if you’re fat yourself (unless you’re just pointing out that they’re larger than you), but I wasn’t able to completely distinguish how the bloggers felt the word should be used by out-group members. If you’re able to maintain someone’s dignity and self-respect, by using fat in a non-persecutory context, then I imagine it would be considered acceptable by even out group members. Ironically enough calling someone thin when they’re obviously overweight is also unacceptable, on the blog Corpulent (http://corpulent.wordpress.com/), in the blog post “The corpulent declaration” the author went so far as to exclaim to people, I may not be as fat as some people, but don’t tell me I’m not.

It’s important that we take great care when using any word which has deep negative connotations associated with it. Fat seems to many people to be an innocent word, but in certain contexts using the word fat can be interpreted as an insult. Even though there has been a fat acceptance movement, and even though most bloggers freely use the word, do not believe that it’s now acceptable for all of us to call the next overweight person your run into fat. The LGBT community has reappropriated many negative words, including ‘fag’, but none of us would be silly enough to use the word without first considering the context in which it is used, who it is directed towards, and if you’re someone that should be saying it or

Cahnman, Werner J. 1968. The stigma of obesity. The sociological Quarterly, 9 (summer), 283-299.

Goode, Erich. 1996. The stigma of Obesity. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 332-340.