We must connect the dots between fatphobia, misogynoir, and transphobia, because they are fruit of the same poisonous tree. When we participate in the perpetuation of these oppressions by demeaning and endangering the lives of fat people, queer people, sexual women and all those who sit at these intersections, we’re acquiescing to the myth that the closer we get to achieving white supremacist ideals, the better our chances are of attaining safety and freedom.
Though it is an individualized act, I see that “taking back” exemplified in Lizzo’s Instagram Live when she says, “I’m not going to do what y’all want me to do, ever.” It’s both an acknowledgment and a liberation. Her refusal to shrink, her insistence that she is deserving of inhabiting and sharing with the world the inherent divinity of her body are aided by her wealth and power.
Taylor says that radical self-love “is an act that interrupts a system that profits off of us not believing [our bodies are divine]. That’s political; that’s radical. And if enough of us divest from that system, that system falls.” It’s a long, hard road to divesting from these systems of oppression that are ingrained in us to uphold. Unlearning the toxic beliefs that make us hate our own body as well as other people’s is work that not everyone will want to do, but everyone needs to do. And we can start by simply leaving fat Black women the f*ck alone.
BrookeObie She should really lose some weight for her health.