First World Problems: Thin Privilege

Honestly, I don't know how I had never heard of this terminology until today. I stumbled across "thin privilege" on a My Fitness Pal thread, and googled it. The first hit took me to this.

As I read a handful of posts, I became more and more dismayed.

I am not a very thin person, but I can also say I am not a very large one either. I have always been uncomfortable with my weight and appearance, and recently took steps to lose weight, work out consistently, and eat healthy. I was tired all the time, and I wanted to be able to wear the clothes that I liked, and I wanted to feel beautiful and young and energetic.

While I think bullying people for being fat is wrong, and while I recognize that more and more people are obese, I wanted to point out some things that the "thin privilege" mentality promotes.

1. Entitlement. If you are obese, and find that the world is not designed to meet your specific needs, this is NOT thin privilege. Unless you are one of the two percent of people on this planet who have medical reasons for being a size 28, YOU can do something about it. I am not saying that you have to be a size zero. But, you can make a difference for yourself, instead of expecting the world to make it for you. The airplane doesn't need to provide a special seat for you. Clothing stores don't have to make sizes of clothes to fit you.

2. It's okay to be unhealthy. Your doctor telling you your weight is unhealthy and that you need to exercise more is NOT thin privilege. Generally, thin people are healthier, and experience less health problems. Obesity contributes a myriad of health problems, and it is not the job of society to solve those health problems. It is YOUR job to solve them. Unlike mental and physical handicaps, most weight problems can be solved by lifestyle choice.

3. Hating on Thin-ness. Eating disorders and hating on fat people are problems, but so is hating on thin people. The mentality that thin people have it easy because they are thin is destructive as well. Making people feel bad for losing weight and getting healthy is not okay. Some thin people work very hard to active and fit, and are very careful about what they eat. It is okay for people to LIKE being thin. And it is okay for people to work toward that goal, and if they are working toward it, they aren't shaming you with their success.

4. Unwillingness to change. If you like yourself the way you are, more power to you. But to constantly tell other people that they are fine promotes a damaging mentality that people can't change, or that they shouldn't. You can worry about your weight, and it might be wrong to nag other people about how they eat or how little they exercise. But the more that people become comfortable with severe obesity, the more health problems and weight related struggles they will face.

5. Expectation of change from others. One of the complaints of "thin privilege" is that people only find thin people attractive, or that they stereotype fat people to have specific needs. While I agree that everyone should be more accepting of people with different body types, the "take me the way I am, or get out" mentality is also extremely selfish. People are attracted to what they are attracted to, and complaining about it won't change anything.

I am all for loving yourself, but there is a happy medium. Too much weight is UNHEALTHY, as is too little. For those who struggle with weight loss, I have been where you are. But to throw up your hands and say, "I can't change. I'm fat. World, change to make me feel better about it, instead," is not the way to solve it. We can promote images of normal, healthy women and men. We can encourage exercise and healthy eating. We can campaign against bullying. But we can also do ourselves a favor, and accept that the world might not accommodate us. The end.