Will casual fat-shaming ever stop?

While the past few years have witnessed enormous conversations about ‘fat-shaming’ and ‘body positivity,’ has it really made a difference at the ground level?

In 1993, when American resident Bonnie Cook won a lawsuit against Rhode Island, a state-run centre for the disabled, who rejected her employment application on the grounds of her weight—which they equated to being “handicapped”—it emerged as a milestone victory in the body-positivity movement. Cut to over two decades later, has much really changed? Unfortunately, fat-shaming still prevails across age groups, genders, and other demographic factors; no amount of education or information is instrumental enough to bring a sizeable enough change.

The first memory 

When did “fat” become a dirty word? No one can really tell. But it goes without saying that we, as a society, have contributed to it. “I was always told I was bigger than others my age, maybe even at the age of six, but I did not understand the concept of fat-shaming till my teens,” says Sobia Ameen, a model from Bangladesh. For content creator and model Sakshi Sindwani, a not-so-regular day at school changed the course of her life. “We had a health check-up in the sixth grade and the first step was a weight check. I weighed more than anyone in class; everyone weighed between 35-55 kgs, even the boys touched a maximum of 52 or 53 kgs, and there I was, weighing 62 kgs and the number of jokes that were cracked on me were flustering.”

Belly dancer and model Anjana Bapat believes that even though you aren’t categorically introduced to the concept of fat-shaming as an adolescent, you do tend to sense the bullying implanted in nasty comments on your body if you’re a heavier individual. “An uncle visited on the day I was vigorously preparing for my board exams and thought it was more important—on the eve of my finals—to give me endless lectures on weight loss. The thing about body-shaming is that the comments are sporadic, often uninvited, and you never know when and where the next insult will land from.” Nitya Arora, the founder of jewellery label Valliyan says, “As a kid, I was fat-shamed all the time. But what really left an impression on me was when my ex-boyfriend’s mother would fat-shame me and say some ridiculous things. It hurt me even more because I understood what that meant (unlike during my childhood) but also made me realise there’s nothing wrong with me.”

The underlying problem

“The concept of fat-shaming has existed forever. Perhaps, we didn’t use this particular term, but bullying has always been around, and this was a subset of that. Aren’t we all guilty of bullying someone at some point?” questions Bapat. The disparity begins at home; from family roundtable conversations to the content that we consume on television (comedy shows or humorous movies), that’s how every impressionable mind apprehends the concept of fat-shaming. Despite all the backlash that YouTube comedian Nicole Arbour’s heinous video “Dear Fat People” got in the year 2015, overweight people and rotundity continue to be jocular material. And how can one not talk about the “idealistic bodies” that celebrities have been manifesting, setting unrealistic standards for the credulous? Robin Behl, co-founder, The Tribe, says, “The biggest problem today is that celebrities from Bollywood are considered role models for fitness and healthy bodies, which is not right. We know what they put their bodies through and it’s mainly an aesthetic goal. There is no longevity to that.”

Fat-shaming v/s health-policing

Many health advocates will argue that not fat-shaming but eradicating the side-effects of obesity is what they intend to preach. Most people who fat-shame have half to no knowledge of your physical, emotional and hormonal health. “Fitness is the state of well-being where one is medically healthy and externally fit to carry out their day-to-day activities. Being fit requires you to be active and inculcate long-term sustainable habits,” explains Rakhee Jain, a nutritionist. Going by that definition, does fitness have anything to do with your size?

“A female client once broke down during one of our first few sessions. She recalled her own mom pressuring her to lose weight and how that negatively impacted her. The client had PCOS and gut issues. Stress and anxiety can be triggers for both of these. You could be seeing a nutritionist for your health issues and weight loss may or may not be a part of your plan,” shares Jain. According to her, a client always needs to be vetted before signing up for an extreme diet as they can lead to eating disorders, deficiencies and other health issues. “Things like juice cleanses or diet pills are detrimental to health and should not be followed,” she advises. 

Reformation or tokenism? 

Much to your surprise, the body positivity movement, recognised as the fat rights movement previously, commenced in the 1960s when New York resident Bill Fabrey, vexed with the way people tormented his wife Joyce, a plus-sized woman, started propagating the unfair treatment that fat people are subjected to. The movement evolved and continued to gain momentum through the ’70s, ’80s, ’90s and ’00s. Today, the hashtags #bodypositivity and #fatshaming boast 11 million and 68 thousand posts respectively on Instagram. The downside? Body positivity has become a trend; from social media to television commercials, fashion runways to magazine covers, billboards to brand endorsements, everyone indulges in tokenism rather than an actual representation that can spur a difference.

“I never let my weight be a roadblock in my professional life, but I imagine sometimes it could be the reason why I’m being removed from a campaign because of the criteria that don’t fit how I look,” says Ameen. While Bapat never faced struggles in her professional life owing to her size, she does know of people who have. “I have a few plus-size friends who are fantastic dancers and yet were rejected by companies who could have helped them make a career out of dance.” Today, many fashion shows make sure to include at least one “plus-size” model in their line-up, but whether the intention is pure representation or simply a pursuit to keep away from controversies is a paradox. “With plus-size modelling, there is very little work in India, as brands prefer a curvy size (think size 14 and 16) to sell outfits in plus sizes (that could go up to size 22 and 24 even). Representation for the blanket term “fat” has gone to the thinner end of the plus-size spectrum, thereby not being true representation,” points out Bapat.

“I wanted to be an actress when I was young; I must’ve been 18 or 19, and was made very aware by everyone that I couldn’t be one since ‘size zero’ was trending and Kareena Kapoor had just donned it. I thought to myself that if she (who was already way slimmer than me) had to lose even more weight, how could I stand a chance?” says Arora. However, she’s of the opinion that even if brands are doing it for tokenism, it’s helpful because the more people see such visual representations, the more their minds get conditioned to normalising and accepting this body standard as well. “I’m glad we’re at least here, after years of big women not being represented at all.”

What will really make a difference?

It’s important to realise that we live in a world where along with body positivity, trends like heroin chic and buccal fat removal surgery exist. Ameen, Bapat and Sindwani believe that fat-shaming can never really come to an end. “People are still consumed in losing weight, maybe now more than ever. The amount of time we spend on our screens makes it even harder not to compare ourselves to others online,” says Ameen. According to Bapat, work opportunities, especially in the art field, need to increase for bigger women which will ultimately up their confidence quotient. “There is an inter shortage of fabulous fat dancers. They’re not lazy. They literally have to give up on making a career in a skill set they generously possess. The number of assignments plus-size models get in a year compared to the ones straight-size models get is also incredibly skewed,” she highlights. 

Arora believes that change will only emerge if these conversations don’t stop. “Magazines need to vouch for more representation in every issue instead of creating one ‘plus-size’ edit,” states Arora. “Moreover, designers need to start making bigger sample sizes so that such models can source clothes and be on the cover. I always get accessories but struggle to get clothes because they never have my size,” she adds. Jain, in her experience, has begun noticing a difference. “Thanks to social media and the body positivity movement, people are normalising perfectly healthy but not necessarily skinny bodies; women are being honest and sharing their reality which perpetuates the ‘strong not skinny’ message.”

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