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Jocelyn Zamora

Instructor McCann

English 1301.129

23 September 2022

Not So Scary Word

Fat. This word sparks a whirlwind of emotions. Why does such an insignificant word

have such a colossal impact on people's sentiments? Simply put, there are many societal stigmas

around fat and especially among people who have a greater amount of it. So much so, that many

movements and organizations have been founded to support the fight of ending these stigmas.

Many people have heard of the body positivity and body neutrality movements, but few have

heard about the fat liberation movement. The fat liberation movement of Instagram differs from

any other body image movement on the site, it offers an open and safe space for people of size to

be platformed, it is a platform that allows members to bring to light stigmas unknown by many,

and most importantly, it shows the discrimination that many fat people face on a day to day

basis.

Firstly, if one is to go to the fat liberation page of Instagram one would be immediately

greeted with all kinds of people of size posting pictures about vacation trips, restaurant dishes,

events, and selfies. Although this seems like something that may be found in almost every

Instagram tag, this is a rare sight. If someone were to go to any other body positivity or

acceptance hashtag on Instagram the first thing to pop up is many mid-sized, generally attractive

women posting pictures of slight “imperfections” like belly rolls or stretch marks. There is

nothing wrong with that, but the body positivity movement of Instagram struggles to platform
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more diverse bodies, let alone advocate for issues people of size face. On the contrary, the fat

liberation movement is a political movement aided in spreading the message of the need for

change to better the lives of fat people. Community member, @get.embodied, stated that " No

longer do I seek to fit in the world around me . I seek a world that fits me."(Fat Liberation)

Members like @get.embodied use this hashtag to platform issues and people not talked about in

many other similar communities on the platform. As stated, the fat liberation hashtag on

Instagram houses many diverse demographics of people.

Secondly, there is far more representation of people that are of size on the fat liberation

page of Instagram. There are many accounts made by men of size in the top posts of the fat

liberation tag. For example,@guyoverboard is a very popular community member on the

platform that speaks openly about being a queer guy of size and the stigmas that come with it.

This is a big step because many men have no platform to speak about weight issues since many

of these movements are made for women. To add, the fat liberation tag of Instagram also

showcases more LGBTQ+ people of size, more people of color, and special needs people of size

also regularly use this platform. All these people come together to share about the very common

social stigmas faced as people of size.

To further add, no matter how different everyone is, people in the fat liberation

movement of Instagram all seem to bond over the impact of social stigmas in life. There were

multiple top posts that all seemed to all talk about the harmful societal obligation people face to

go up to people of size and make comment about them being unhealthy and needing to change.

For example, in a post made by @cyclopticcupcake, the post mentions, "The majority of people

who post things about how being fat is always detrimental to your health are thin and always

have been. They have no idea of the impact the pursuit of thinness has on mental health...".(Fat
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Liberation) The comments on those posts showed that this was a very common issue that many

people had to deal with. For instance, many posts tackled the very societal issue of "fat people

are just lazy". Many comments engaged in the conversation stating that this viewpoint was very

ableist because many fat people have health conditions or factors that lead to weight gain. These

posts had varying community members' comments making remarks about the very personal

factors that lead to weight increase. For example, many commenters mentioned binge eating

disorder, weight gain medication side effects, metabolic diseases, trauma, down's syndrome, and

edema as the cause of weight gain or size. These posts showcased the impact of the fat liberation

Instagram community in that there were many people outside of the hashtag commenting and

engaging on these posts. For instance, in @hannahtalksbodies's post, @suntygr commented,

"Imagine having the addition of an illness so obscure that almost no one takes it seriously...."(Fat

liberation) This Instagram community has not only aided in breaking down stigmas, but it has

also aided in solving real-world problems.

Lastly, the fat liberation hashtag on Instagram is made to change the world around us.

Most of this Instagram community is made up of people coming together for the cause of

bettering the lives of people of size. For every selfie and silly post made by a community

member, there are five other posts about the systematic and social issues faced by people of size

that are rarely talked about. For instance, some of the issues ranged from more "minuscule" like

clothing accommodation for people of size to more grand issues like how heavier people are

statistically less likely to be hired compared to a thinner person, how many hormonal

contraceptives are less effective after a certain weight range, and how many people who are

heavier are least likely to be treated properly by medical professionals because of the basis of the

patient being overweight. The main reform that the fat liberation movement of Instagram wants
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to establish currently is the accommodation of hormonal contraceptives to be effective for people

of size. In better words,@fativism stated, "The copper IUD is the only effective emergency

contraceptive for fat people. With the overturning of #roevwayde, we must remember the unique

challenges of navigating reproductive rights as fat people."(Fat Liberation)

Altogether, the fat liberation movement of Instagram is a beautiful community unlike any

other that allows anyone to not only express themselves but genuinely be seen and heard. It also

helps inform others against harmful societal stigmas, and it continues the fight towards a future

where bigger people do not have to worry about reminders of physical differences. As for the

future of the Instagram fat liberation community,the community still has a long way to go ,but

more and more daily users contribute towards a day where FAT won't be such a scary word.
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Works Cited

@cyclopticcupcake. "The majority of people who post things about how being fat is always

detrimental to your health are thin and always have been. They have no idea of the

impact the pursuit of thinness has on mental health..." Instagram , 10 June 2021,

https://www.instagram.com/p/CeoYge7Fa40/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

@fativism. “The copper IUD is the only effective emergency contraceptive for fat people. With

the overturning of #roevwayde, we must remember the unique challenges of navigating

reproductive rights as fat people." Instagram , 24 June 2022,

https://www.instagram.com/p/CfNVFz6JALH/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

@get.embodied. “No longer do I seek to fit in the world around me . I seek a world that fits me."

Instagram , 14 September 2022,

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cig4zXuOIrt/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

@guyoverboard. “Are fashion shows or campaigns starting to have more plus-size models and

models? Well: it means showing the variety of the bodies! But it’s not very useful without

a revolution at the academic level in designing clothes considering…..” Instagram , 19

September 2022,

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cirj8TXrjJ6/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

@suntygr. “Imagine having the addition of an illness so obscure that almost no one takes it

seriously...." Instagram , 27 May 2022,

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https://www.instagram.com/p/CeBgAuULADF/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link