Why I hate the fat sex therapist
Look, I donтАЩt hate the body positivity movement as a whole. I agree that people shouldnтАЩt be ridiculed and abused for their weight. I agree that thinness isnтАЩt the be-all end-all of health and beauty. But what I do disagree with is people who make bullshit claims like that weight has no effects on a personтАЩs health whatsoever, or that type 2 diabetes and blood pressure issues are caused by тАЬweight stigmaтАЭ rather than obesity itself, or that dieting is Nazi eugenic pseudoscience. Sonalee RashatwarтАЩs body positivity isnтАЩt just body positivity, itтАЩs dangerous. Her statements like┬атАЬyou canтАЩt call it feminist art if there arenтАЩt fat people in your body of workтАЭ just donтАЩt make sense. She isnтАЩt referring to people who have a few extra pounds of body weight, or even someone who carries 50 or more pounds of excess fat. SheтАЩs referring to┬атАЬinfinifatтАЭ people, as in the kind of fat bodies that might appear on My 600-lb Life. News flash: if somebody is so fat that theyтАЩre bedridden, their obesity is negatively affecting their health and almost all aspects of their life, and frankly, just because I may be Indigenous, bisexual and female, I am not in any way obliged to depict imagery of people in my art who have no choice but to shit their pants and soil their bedding because they carry so much extra weight that itтАЩs too much effort for them to walk a few metres to their bathroom.
Which brings me to my next point. Sonalee Rashatwar often begins their lectures with an Indigenous treaty recognition, which also is illogical: she claims that fatphobia is a result of white settler colonialism, but I certainly donтАЩt think that obesity was an issue amongst my ancestors hundreds of years ago when food was attained by hunting, harvesting edible plants, and trading with groups of people from other parts of the Americas. However, now, after the effects of European imperialism have set in, itтАЩs basically a fucking epidemic amongst my community and my own family. Type 2 diabetes just wasnтАЩt really a problem until recent years.┬а But what do I know? IтАЩm just a lady with thin priviledge. Sonalee Rashatwar has to make issues of race or religion all about fatphobia, which was painfully evident when shortly after the events of the Christchurch shooting, she talked about how unsurprised she was that the shooter was a fitness instructor, because white supremacy types also tend to be fatphobic. She absolutely lacked sympathy for the victims of the shooting, and why? Because she had to insert and centre herself and her issues into an issue that had nothing to do with fatphobia. That man didnтАЩt shoot up a mosque because of his intense hatred for fat people, how ingnorant and uncaring does one have to be to genuinely think like that?┬а Sonalee refers to any kind of diet, even a┬атАЬdietтАЭ as unrestrictive as┬атАЬeat less junk food and exercise a little bit moreтАЭ as disordered eating. This does literally nothing for people who actually have EDs like Anorexia and if anything, further alienates and tries to demonize them.┬а And the cherry on top of this disgusting sundae is that, time and time again, Sonalee has said things that people view as anti-Semitic that she claims is just pro-Palestine, and when called out on this, she tells Jewish people what they should and shouldnтАЩt find anti-Semitic and blocks anyone who even slightly disagrees with her.
Rant over, reminder that being over or under weight both take a terrible toll on your health, your yoga instructor probably isnтАЩt a Nazi, nutritionists arenтАЩt all eugenicists and trying to lose weight isnтАЩt a criminal offense.┬а
