In the middle of the whirlwind that is the body positivity movement, there is no shortage of discourse. While I believe that everyone should be allowed to feel good about themselves regardless of body type, it is often plus-size people who are caught in the crossfire of the fight for body positivity.
Recently, however, I have been particularly bothered by one aspect of this fight.
As someone who is plus-size, I have noticed throughout my life that I have felt ashamed of eating. Regardless of when the last time I ate was, regardless of if I was hungry, regardless of being a human who requires food to live, I have always felt ashamed of eating. In particular, I have always felt like I was not allowed to splurge and eat a lot of something I enjoyed.
What I have noticed is that this stigma is not present for those who are not plus size. Sure, it is still possible to be body shamed regardless of size or shape. However, the amount of shame presented to slim folks is far less.
People who are slim are almost encouraged to eat. They do not feel bad about it. Especially slim women. Slim women being able to eat a lot is glorified but god forbid anyone in the plus size range dares enjoy food in the same way.
I fail to understand why anyone is being shamed for what they do and do not eat. Having to constantly be conscious of what you eat in front of others for fear of being judged is exhausting.
I think that a lot of the stigma comes from the idea that being fat is equal to being unhealthy. Sure, there are plenty of people who are overweight and unhealthy, but there are also plenty of slim people who are just as unhealthy. Some people carry fat in their body in different ways. Different people have different body chemistry and metabolism, these factors all contribute to weight and body type.
Moral of the story is this: regardless of size, there is no reason that anyone should be shamed for eating. It is preposterous to assume that anyone who is overweight should not be allowed to enjoy the same kind of food as those who are not overweight.
It is time to remove the stigma of fat people eating. The constant lurking of self-conscious thoughts is exhausting and nobody deserves to deal with that.
