Tips for Soothing a Hostile World

The world is terrifying. There are so many things wrong and it feels like things are spiraling out of control. Going through the world in a fat body adds layers of complexity and anxiety to just existing. But this article of 51 Ways to Make the World Less Hostile to Fat People offers some good points. I recommend it to everyone who needs a little encouragement and maybe needs a little help feeling like they’re not imagining the way the world is against them.

Here are a few that particularly resonated with me:

This. THIS THIS THIS shit right here. From October right through to New Year’s Eve, everything is about parties and food and indulging with family and friends. And then BOOM. January 1 and its diet industry palooza. We must now attempt to shrink ourselves down and then fail so that by October we can start the cycle all over again.

When fat people tell you that things are terrible for them, believe them. Commiserate with them. But don’t pretend you understand if you haven’t experienced systemic fatphobia and hatred yourself.

Every time my office asks for suggestions, I ask for visitor chairs without arm rests. Up until I asked for a new office chair, there wasn’t a single chair in the entire office that I could comfortably fit into. There’s also a really good Twitter feed called Can We All Go that points followers to inclusive and accessible stores, restaurants, etc. If thin people contribute to gathering this information, it helps make them aware of the lack of inclusivity that we face on a daily basis. I am so tired of squeezing my hips into chairs and finding bruises days later.

So boosting this article to other fat people feels a bit like preaching to the choir. But if you’re a thin person reading this blog, read the article. And then share it with your thin friends. Then put these 51 tips into practice. Unlearning fatphobic behaviors takes time, but these are a really, really good place to start.