9781626569768

impacting how we see and treat fat bodies. But it doesn’t have to be this
way. Body activist, author, and fabulous friend Jes Baker articulates this
sentiment in her book Things No One Will Tell Fat Girls:
Saying I’m fat is (and should be) the same as saying my shoes are black, the clouds are fluffy,
and Bob Saget is tall. It’s not good, it’s not bad, it just is. The only negativity that this word
carries is that which has been socially constructed around it.… We don’t need to stop using
the word fat, we need to stop the hatred that our world connects with the word fat. 2
Curbing body bad-mouthing is the perfect tool for moving our selfdeprecating
language from the default of constantly running background
noise to a body-shame language we recognize and interrupt as often as
possible.
Unapologetic Inquiry #25
Notice the words you use to describe yourself negatively. Which words
do you hear others using as insults? Consider words like fat, crazy,
gay, black, blind. Keep track of how often you casually use these
terms. Make a list of some body-shame-free alternatives.
Pillar 2: Mind Matters
Tool 3: Reframe Your Framework
Did you know that your body is not the enemy? I know how difficult this
concept can be when we feel as though we have been at war with our bodies
for our entire existence, but this is a case of friendly fire, folks, and we are
usually the shooters. Think back to your last cold or flu. Chills, fever,
scratchy throat, fatigue, that crusty stuff that builds around your… you get
the picture. Awful, right? And it is our mean old body’s fault! After all, the
body is working overtime to disperse those white blood cells to the site of
the virus, attempting to squash its insidious attack on our immune system!
Awful, mean old body, right? Wrong. Feeling crappy when we’re sick is not
a sign of a body that is mutinying; it’s the unfortunate byproduct of a body
working exponentially hard to return us to wellness. Our body is fighting on
our behalf even as we curse it as though it were a cheating lover.