Why do people deny the systemic oppression of fat people?
People do everything they can to deny there is a systemic oppression of fat people because they want to keep enjoying the benefits of oppressing fat people---undeserved privileges garnered for the mere fact of not existing in a fat body.
Thin privilege is dangerous because it obstructs social change. As long as fat oppression grants thin privileges, people who benefit from thin privilege will be incentivized at worst to actively oppress fat people and at best to pretend that fat oppression and thin privilege doesn't exist.
If there were no privileges from simply existing in a thin(ner) body, why would people go on unhinged rants about "there's no thin privilege, only fat consequences"? What would they stand to gain by scolding fat people? What they're doing is acting their part in the morality play around fatness in order to preserve the advantages they get for being thin(ner). If they can't convince others, or even just themselves, that they are superior to fat people, then they would have to face the fact that the advantages they enjoy for being thin are undeserved.
Fatness and tallness are similar in their hereditary nature and association with certain health outcomes (I have an ancient blog post that touches upon this here). I have yet to hear anyone finger-wagging a tall person for the burden they place on the medical establishment, or shaming a tall person for not being able to fit in a plane seat with a narrow pitch, or systematically complaining for not being able to recline when a tall person is behind them, and so forth.
There isn't a systemic oppression of tall people. This isn't because height is less controllable than weight. Only a tiny fraction of people can lose a significant amount of weight and keep it off in the long term (look in our FAQ if you are curious). It's because short privilege isn't as much of a thing as thin privilege. So there's no social-oppressive infrastructure for short people who want to keep enjoying undeserved short privileges to maintain.
My hope is that, someday, thin privilege will seem as absurd as short privilege. Because only then will we have a chance to end fat oppression once and for all.
-ArteToLife
