I battled anorexia and bulimia and am still battling ARFID. I’m PROUD I’m fat. I’m fat in spite of the world.

Created by Sterling Tipton ( sterling_azure )

Dare to TAKE UP SPACE

What is body equality?

The movement goes by many names: body/size equality, body diversity/inclusivity, fat acceptance/equality/liberation, etc. No matter how you label it, it is an important social issue that is often overlooked, poorly understood, or flat out vilified. It is the radical notion that people of all body shapes and sizes deserve love, respect, and equal treatment. Prevailing attitudes view fatness as a personal and moral failure. Our bodies are pathologized for simply daring to exist. Right now there are precious few laws that afford protection against size discrimination - a major factor that contributes to financial inequality, denies essential medical treatments, and creates serious mental health challenges for those living in larger bodies.

The Fat Flag

The fight for body equality is compounded by a plethora of systemic issues and often intersects with other marginalized groups - groups who are suffering increasing injustice and discrimination in our current tumultuous political landscape. It is vital that we band together to push back against these systems of oppression. To that end, many communities have established flags, colors, and symbols that help spread awareness and identify safe spaces. However, we do not. Until now. With these goals in mind, I have designed the fat acceptance flag as a banner of joy, solidarity, and resistance.

My sincerest hope is for this flag to become the universal symbol of fat acceptance and amplify the voices of those already fighting on our behalf. I am distributing it freely with no copyright claim whatsoever. (However, where it makes sense, it would be appreciated to attribute its design to me.) If you’ve read this far, I highly encourage you to spread the flag and its meaning to any and all, and to use it well with radical pride and joy.

DESIGN

The design of the flag draws from several symbolic elements:

The use of stripes pays homage to the frequent motif of stripes in many pride flags across various identities within the queer community. The direction of these stripes also mirrors that of the disability pride flag, whose strips fall diagonally from left to right. Our stripes symbolize how the fat equality movement stands in parallel with other movements for social justice.

The colors of the stripes were inspired by the logo for NAAFA’s Campaign for Size Freedom. Though my design has no association with theirs, as I see it, the individual colors represent the following:

YELLOW - unapologetic fat joy

WHITE - unity and harmony between people of all sizes

CORAL - warmth, acceptance, and inclusivity

BLUE - liberation and determination

BROWN - acknowledgement of the racist origins of anti-fatness and the disproportionate efforts of Black women to combat it.

The starry navy blue background represents our right to take up space by not diminishing ourselves or limiting our dreams for the sake of societal approval.

Each of the three white stars on opposing ends of the flag is a different size, symbolizing the fact that bodies of all shapes and sizes are equally worthy of love and respect and should be allowed to coexist and thrive in harmony with one another.