Opinion by Kate Cohen: Most Americans are diet culture’s victims or collaborators — or both. But we can choose to stop collaborating.
and hunger. I remember being thrilled one day when my father looked at me and asked whether I was eating enough.What followed was a time-sucking, energy-draining, confidence-erasing absurdity: 40 years of losing and regaining 20 pounds.Did you read that and think, “Is that all?” You’re right. I am a “straight-size” White woman who can fit into airplane seats and buy clothes at most stores.
I know I did. When my own child’s body changed from “slim” to “husky,” I didn’t tell him to diet, but I know I radiated concern and an eagerness to help him lose weight.At the time, I would have said I simply wanted him to flourish in a fatphobic world where people get more goodies if they’re thin. But even if that were true, even if my own anti-fat bias had nothing to do with it, I should have behaved differently.
“Fat Talk” argues that instead of urging children to conform to anti-fat expectations, parents could help them identify, critique and resist them. I should have told my son to trust his body, not suggest casually that he might enjoy yoga. I should have told him that, as Sole-Smith writes: “Hotness is optional ... You can just show up — online, offline, at work, at school, to vote — in the body you have, with the skin you have, and still have every right to be there.
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