according to the medical industry, i'm morbidly obese, also known as class III obesity - the second highest stage of obesity, apparently. meanwhile, in terms of the Fat Spectrum (which is based on literal body size relative to accessibility/ableism), i'm only in the cusp between small and mid fat. above me, there are those firmly in mid fat, and then there's large fat and infinifat/super fat; there's also death fat, which is for anyone who wants to reclaim the categorization of morbidity.
i point this out because the medical industry, and society at large, has such a skewed and dehumanizing view of fat bodies. even the smallest of us are too much, and that sense of existing in wrongness and excess only gets worse the more fat you are. and i feel like straight size people have this idea that body fat is an accessory - that it can be taken on and off at will, and that fat people are simply choosing to have too much - that we're greedy and gluttonous because of it.
but in reality, body fat is a part of the human body. it comes in varying amounts in everyone, and that amount changes throughout our lives, throughout health and ability. and being part of the human body, our fat is us. by asking us to lose weight, become smaller, more palatable, you are asking us to change who we are. to literally take on a new face, because our face - the very thing most attach to our identity as a unique sign of us - is too much. can you imagine how heartbreaking that might be?
this idea of excess is similar for those who use mobility aids, and all of this a reminder that fatphobia is ableism - neither of which are ever okay or good or helpful or righteous. health and size are not indicators of morality and worth, and they certainly don't decide whether we deserve autonomy, healthcare, or access to life.
