I wish more people would read this. Personally, the most difficult line to walk between the fat and thin self is the acceptance of going through trauma without embracing victimhood linked to BED.
I almost want to reach a place of neutrality where my fat self and thin self are just phases, neither is 'right' or 'wrong', and there is no linear path to victory that connects them.
Stories like Sam’s and stories like your live storytelling in Philly in 2016, ”Lost”, are important. As someone who has chronically struggled with the way I view my body and the way I view how others view my body, I hear what you’re saying- these stories aren’t playing for relatability, they just ARE relatable. Being fat doesn’t happen in a vacuum. There are deep emotions tied to it, either as the cause or the effect, there are societal norms and judgements surrounding it. I don’t want to just read the “yay I lost weight!” stories because they put weight and fatness into a vacuum and don’t make me feel like I’m reading about a human. I want to hear about the messiness that is the rest of life surrounding it, because that’s what I can connect with. Thanks for writing about this!
This is one of your best pieces Mikala.
I wish more people would read this. Personally, the most difficult line to walk between the fat and thin self is the acceptance of going through trauma without embracing victimhood linked to BED.
I almost want to reach a place of neutrality where my fat self and thin self are just phases, neither is 'right' or 'wrong', and there is no linear path to victory that connects them.
Stories like Sam’s and stories like your live storytelling in Philly in 2016, ”Lost”, are important. As someone who has chronically struggled with the way I view my body and the way I view how others view my body, I hear what you’re saying- these stories aren’t playing for relatability, they just ARE relatable. Being fat doesn’t happen in a vacuum. There are deep emotions tied to it, either as the cause or the effect, there are societal norms and judgements surrounding it. I don’t want to just read the “yay I lost weight!” stories because they put weight and fatness into a vacuum and don’t make me feel like I’m reading about a human. I want to hear about the messiness that is the rest of life surrounding it, because that’s what I can connect with. Thanks for writing about this!