These Common Phrases Are Actually Fat-Shaming

Anti-fat bias is prevalent throughout our society, from how we think about food and exercise to the words we say.

As a general rule, phrases that offend groups of people are off limits in any respectful and caring group of people. Words that bring down folks in certain demographics have evolved into things that are just not OK to say, even as a joke.

But that doesn’t seem to apply as much to fat-shaming. Many people still use phrases without realizing (or, worse, without caring) that they’re offensive.

According to Tigress Osborn, the board chair of the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance, our associations with eating and body types can be traced back to historical ideas about racism and white purity.

“In an American sense especially, white Christian purity and what it means to be a ‘good woman’ has to do with controlling yourself, controlling your appetites, controlling your body,” Osborn said.

And self-control was a way to differentiate oneself from others, particularly Black and indigenous people.