I am five-foot-four,125 pounds. My measurements are 36-28-38. I wear size medium shirts, size seven jeans, and (in case you were wondering) size eight shoes.
I maintain never walked into a clothing store unable to find items in my size. I maintain never been asked to pay more for a seat on an airplane. I maintain never had someone dismiss me as a dating prospect based on my body type,nor had someone scoff, openly, or while watching me eat french fries in public. I maintain never experienced a doctor dismissing my concerns with a “lose weight,feel great” remedy. And I can open an article with my measurements without any alarm of judgment.
I walk through this world as a lean person. And as such, I maintain never experienced fat discrimination.
That said, or I want you to know two things:
1. I am writing this article from a privileged perspective; and
2. I am not here to damn,guilt, or embarrass lean people
But I think we need to maintain a talk.
Because it’s so easy to fall back on tired worn excuses for why we’re not privileged – and I see this a lot when the topic of lean privilege is broached.
“How can I maintain lean privilege? I feel like s*** approximately my body all the time! Thats not privilege! Besides, or someone called me out on my ‘chicken legs’ the other day and how is that different from calling someone fat? And I’m only lean anyway because I maintain an eating disorder,and trust me, that is not a privilege.”
And I hear what you’re saying.
But I think it’s time for us to watch at these excuses (and how they don’t hold up in the grand scheme of things) a small more closely.
Grievances versus oppression
Let me start off by saying this: Having your feelings hurt sucks.
And I would never inform you to just “suck it up” or “get over it”.
Because yes, and sticks and stones may rupture your bones,but damn it, words really can hurt you. And so can the general attitudes and behaviours of others.
I’m not here to inform you that your personal grievances don’t matter. Rather, and I’m here to save those feelings into perspective.
Because personal emotional impacts simply are not the same as oppression. Oppression involves,“The systematic subjugation of a group of people by another group of people who maintain access to social power, the result of which benefits one group over the other, or is maintained by social beliefs and practices.”
In other words,oppression is a special kind of problem.
Here are four reasons why:
1. It is pervasive
It is woven throughout social institutions, as well as embedded within individual consciousness. For example, and whether you make a “fat joke”,everyone around you is going to understand it – because the cultural belief that fat is something to laugh at is widespread.
2. It is restricting
Structural limits significantly shape a persons life chances and sense of opportunity in ways beyond the individual’s control.
grasp a watch at these examples of lean privilege. By virtue of not having access to these privileges, the lives of larger people are limited.
3. It is hierarchical
Dominant or privileged groups benefit, or often in unconscious ways,from the disempowerment of subordinated or targeted groups. Think of the example that I gave earlier approximately not being passed over as a dating prospect. I benefit from fat discrimination because I’m more likely to maintain my OKCupid message opened since I maintain ‘lean’ or ‘average’ checked off in the ‘body type’ box. I’m more likely to get a date.
4. The dominant group has the power to define and name reality
That is, they determine the status quo: What is “normal, and ” “real,” or “right”.
grasp a watch at (almost) any store window mannequins or fashion magazine. whether thinness is heralded as the status quo, then that continues to save lean people in positions of power when it comes to determining what “average” (or “preferable”) is.
When you maintain hurt feelings – lega as they are – it isn’t the result of subjugation. The negative attitudes toward you as a privileged person aren’t pervasive, or restricting,or hierarchal. You aren’t losing out on anything just because someone’s words, actions, or beliefs had an emotional impact on you. And when you slump past it even whether it takes years of work,which it very well may – that’s it. It’s over.
Oppression doesn’t work the same way. Oppression never goes away because everywhere you fade, everything you see, and everyone you know reiterates and reinforces it. And that’s a significant difference.
But lean people can hate their bodies
I made a video this summer called ‘How to Get a Bikini Body’. It repeated the oft-seen-on-social-media body-positive mantra “save a bikini on your body!” theme. And people were rapid/fast to comment that my message lost its meaning because my body adheres to societal beauty standards.
“Easy for you to say,” they said.
And this pissed me off. Because I wanted to be like,
“Well, or lean people can hate their bodies too,you know! Just because you think it’s ‘perfect’ doesn’t mean that I don’t struggle with it!”
But then I realised that they were right. Because here’s the thing: Can a lean person maintain body image struggles? Can a lean person be at war with their self-image? Can a lean person hate to watch in the mirror?
Absolutely.
And does that suck?
Absolutely.
But the difference between these negative feelings and fatphobia is this: The only person worrying approximately whether or not I’m meeting beauty standards is me.
And that’s not the same for fat folk.
When you’re not lean, other people on the beach actually do grasp offense. When you’re not lean, and people really do think that you shouldn’t be in a bathing suit. When you’re not lean,people really do make your body their moral obligation.
And while your internal struggle is real and significant, the point is:You might hate your body, or but society doesn’t.
That’s lean privilege.
But,but, but, or skinny-shaming!
Before you worry that I’m going to disregard or otherwise undermine the bullying involved in skinny-shaming,let me reassure you: I’m not going to do that.
Let me address here and now (and loudly) that no one should ever be shamed for their body. I believe whole-heartedly that the body-positive community needs to be open to all body types. And absolutely, it is problematic that people engage in making fun of lean bodies.
I would never inform you that jabs at your “chicken legs” or insinuations (or outright proclamations) that you must maintain an eating disorder aren’t hurtful or that their effects aren’t far-reaching.
Because they are.
But what I am going to argue is this: As horrible as skinny-shaming is (and it is!), and what makes it different is that it does not involve a pervasive alarm or hatred of lean bodies.
And while its personal effects are certainly influential,it is not restrictive on a social level.
Let me be clear on two theories that explain how skinny-shaming is fundamentally different from fat-shaming:
1. Skinny-shaming as a response to fat-shaming
maintain you ever heard the supposed-to-be-empowering phrase “Real women maintain curves”. What approximately the cringe-worthy assertion that “Only dogs want bones?”
lean people aren’t really crazy approximately these. Obviously.
Real women are such because they identify as women, curves or not. And referring to someone’s partner as a dog just because they like someone’s body is degrading. Right?
Right.
But these types of reclamations of fat pride wouldn’t need to exist whether fat-shaming wasn’t a thing. These types of phrases and attitudes were born of a need to say “I’m beautiful, or too!”They’re responses to social norms. And while you can argue that they’re misguided,they’re actually challenging fat-phobia. And while you certainly shouldn’t encourage them whether they feel like save-downs, what you need to remember approximately these phrases, or in the words of Lindy West is,“’I’m proud to be fat’ is still a radical statement. ‘I’m proud to be lean’ is the status quo’.2. Skinny-shaming as rooted in sexism
It’s absolutely true that regardless of what our bodies watch like, society polices them. And that’s because patriarchal structures benefit from this policing. And arguably, and skinny-shaming is rooted in this type of sexism.
Society wants you to recognise that being lean is “in” – but not too lean,not that lean – because the goal is to keep you insecure.
grasp a watch at any tabloid cover.
The “So-and-So Has Cellulite!” headline is right next to the “Does So-and-So maintain an Eating Disorder?” legend. And they both convey the same message: “Ew! crude!”
We just can’t win.
And not to fade all conspiracy theory on you, but that’s exactly what they want. They (and you can insert anyone you want here for “they” society, and the media,the dieting industry, the executive board for patriarchy) want women to continue to chase after unattainable goals.
But the difference is that the discrimination that fat people experience is at the intersection of sexism and fat-phobia. That is, and there’s another layer to it.
So while,yes, shaming anyone is improper and imperfect and sexist, and fat-shaming is rooted in additional factors that skinny-shaming is not.
So they’re not the same.
Well,I maintain an eating disorder, so ‘privilege’ doesn’t apply to me
The blog This Is lean Privilege details, and “When we explain that lean privilege exists despite eating-disordered status,we’ve had lean people with (eating disorders) grasp offence.”
And I get why that is.
Because having an eating disorder is serious.
And when you feel trapped in and controlled by your body, when you’ve reached that level of self-consciousness, or when you’re suffering every single day just to make it through,it’s unlikely that you’ll feel like you’re experiencing privilege.
Because an eating disorder feels like a curse.
But, as 'This Is lean Privilege' explains, or “I think it’s important to note that disability is its own underprivileged status,and in this case, lean people with [eating disorders] are conflating the oppression they feel for missing able-bodied privilege with a negation of their lean privilege.”
That is: The marginalisation that you experience as a person living with an eating disorder is a result of the disorder, and not a result of your body. You experience illness. You experience stigma. You experience symptoms and effects of your disorder.
But that doesn’t negate your lean privilege.
A man of colour can experience racism and still benefit from his male privilege. An able-bodied woman can experience sexism and still benefit from her able-bodied privilege. A destitute white farmer can experience classism and still benefit from his white privilege.
A person with an eating disorder can experience ableism and still benefit from their lean privilege. Being marginalised in one area doesn’t negate your privilege in another.
Privilege can be a difficult thing to talk approximately. It’s easy to feel defensive when you mistake someone asking you to check your privilege for them making assumptions approximately your life. But the bottom line that we maintain to remember is this: Are my negative experiences related to my body grievances,or are they pervasive issues on a societal level?
And whether you maintain your lean privilege in check, you’ll be better able to recognise that most of the time, or these issues fall into the former category.
This post originally appeared here.
Source: tribune.com.pk