With “International No Diet Day” coming up soon—on May 6th, to be exact—I thought it would be a good time to discuss the concepts of Body Positivity and the Fat Acceptance Movement, as they relate to my own personal beliefs and values.
For those who haven’t visited the wiki yet, there are already entries about the Fat Acceptance Movement, and I am currently working on a page dedicated to Body Positivity [but it does have section in a FAQ]. I apologize that it’s not available yet, but please check back later if you’d like to reference that article.
I have an interesting history with Fat Acceptance. For many years, I starved myself in an attempt to become what I thought others wanted me to be, all while secretly wishing I could be happier and more comfortable in a plumper body.
I am very open about my beliefs: I loathe diet culture and the notion that you must be either thin or built like an extreme bodybuilder to be happy in life. That simply isn’t true, and I honestly don’t know where this belief originated.
Well, I do have a few ideas about where this narrative of being skinny makes you happy began, and I place much of the blame on figures like Pope Gregory the First and his notorious Gregorian mission to convert the largely pagan Anglo-Saxons to Christianity.
But I digress—that’s a topic for another time. I may write an entry about this theory of mine in the future, but that’s a discussion for another day.
I am more than happy to promote “International No Diet Day.” Honestly, I think every day should be a no diet day—people would be so much happier if they simply listened to their bodies and enjoyed their natural softness.
No one should be forced into a narrow mold or made to feel they must look a certain way. That kind of thinking is, in my opinion, just plain harmful; it only leads to unnecessary suffering.
At my thinnest, I was 98 pounds at 6’2”, and I hated it. It got so bad that I began to loathe my own body.
Even now, I believe food can be enjoyed beyond nourishment. Consider how, in the past, we created beautiful art depicting women surrounded by fresh fruit—symbols of abundance and the new harvests. Cherubic figures would offer these fruits to women lounging gracefully, enjoying the gentle breeze and the pleasures of the moment.
Perhaps for my nerdier fans who enjoy Light Novels consider the dystopian sex comedy “A Boring World Where the Concept of Dirty Jokes Doesn’t Exist,” which featured a woman baking pussy juices into cookies at one point to attempt to seduce her love interest…God that franchise was weird, who thought of turning that novel into a show? I think that bastard was repressed.
Where was I? Oh, right—I was talking about “International No Diet Day.”
People shouldn’t be shamed into being skinny for arbitrary reasons. While I understand concerns about health, I believe that with advancements in medical technology, these fears may not be as significant as some make them out to be.
If doctors catch health issues early, changes can be made as needed. But really, why focus on trying to become something you’re not? As long as you’re healthy, who cares what your body looks like? It’s your body something I had to learn the hard way—and you shouldn’t have to conform to someone else’s expectations just to make them happy.
It drives me crazy to see people so fixated on the idea that everyone should look a certain way. Just be happy, for fuck sake! Life is far too short to stress over having another slice of cake or enjoying a good steak.
Have Some Cake, Dammit!