"I laughed because I didn’t want anyone to notice me. I wanted to disappear into the backdrop, be absorbed into the joke so I wouldn’t be spotlit as its subject. In moments like these, I could feel every inch of my skin, every hot pore, every hair on end. I could feel my body reawaken, exhausted and alert to this same old threat. The only defense I had, the only defense I could muster, was to laugh...
fat bodies cannot simply be broken. Fat bodies must be eliminated. A healthy world, a happy and functional world, is almost always envisioned as one without bodies like mine. The message about my body is clear: we’d all be better off if you weren’t here...
When I tell you about comments from strangers and colleagues, family and dates, you ask me what you can do, how you can help. The simplest answer is that you can intervene. Say something, anything, to stop the dismissal and rejection of fat people, whether or not you love them yet. Rise to the occasion of who you aspire to be in those brief and exceptional moments...
The greatest gift you can give me, dear friend, is to let yourself go. Let yourself believe that your body is sufficient, just as it is today. Stop beating it into submission, publicly listing its shortcomings and your own failings. Treat your body as tenderly as you would mine."
Related: The pain? of not knowing if it is about you; there was another one about obesity...
No comments:
Post a Comment