THE ‘F’ WORD: Let's start to normalise it!
We have been conditioned to believe that the word ‘fat’ is a bad word, a negative word; but truth be told, fat is (or should be) a neutral word. Now people who are overweight may have varied feelings about this word. For some, it will simply be a description of their body size, while for others it is a word that has been used to insult, shame or belittle them. It is a word that has been used to suggest they are lazy, worthless or somehow inferior. For some, the word fat is one that has been weaponised against them. Just like descriptive words such as ‘thin’, ‘tall’ and ‘short’, it should be no more than a description, but our society has let it become a word that is perceived as inherently negative, and evokes thoughts and feeling of all sorts of negative traits.
The media continually bombards us with portrayals that promote unrealistic beauty standards in our society - often in subtle ways. Whilst we may never be fully aware of it, or because it has become so normalised, as a society we are incredibly fat-phobic. We are encouraged to view ‘fatness’ negatively, and by extension anyone who is remotely overweight. Some people even have a strong dislike and irritation towards fat people, which quite frankly is incomprehensible.
If we are using language or speaking in a way that perpetuates the idea that ‘fat = bad’, this can impact our peers, colleagues, and children - while reinforce the stigma. Whilst some people may think banning the word fat is good thing, banning the word could in fact perpetuate the idea of ‘fat’ being bad. Just banning the word won’t stop people from holding the prejudices they do, and may even strengthen them. Which is why we instead should be trying to normalise the word fat in a neutral context.
Now, whilst this may be the case, our society isn’t at the point yet where this is possible or likely, and as mentioned above, some people will feel deeply hurt by being called fat. The reality is, it is not our business what people’s bodies look like and we certainly should not be feeling irritated or disgusted by them. Every person is different, every body is a different size and shape and we don’t need to understand it but we do need to respect it and get comfortable with that fact.
So what should you do? Whilst we need to work on normalising the word fat as a descriptive, neutral word to future generations, what we can do right now is simply stop commenting on and talking about other people’s bodies! Not a stranger, not a child’s, not a friend… no-one’s. This will remove the risk of insulting or upsetting other people, and hopefully help us to become less obsessed with physical appearance. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, everyone is more than their body so work on going against the grain and focussing on peoples other qualities over their appearance!
~ Laura
