If you thought you were trying to be thin for just health reasons, you are actually upholding systems of white supremacy, according to an author.
Author Virginia Sole-Smith, who wrote the book “Fat Talk,” was interviewed on NPR’s “Fresh Air” on Tuesday and spoke about some of her issues with the “concept” of “thin privilege.”
“Thin privilege is a concept that I think is tricky to get our heads around, because if you have it, you don’t really see how much you have it. I mean, it’s a lot like white privilege in that way because you don’t see how much it’s benefiting you,” Sole-Smith said.
NPR’s Tanya Moseley noted, “Thin privilege, you also write, is a White and heteronormative ideal. When we strive for thinness, you write, we’re reinforcing every other form of stigma at the time. You kind of alluded to this for people of color, specifically, thin privilege then gives you access to white privilege.”
She asked, “Can you explain this?”
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Sole-Smith responded, “Yeah. I mean, the thin ideal is definitely a white ideal. When we trace the history of modern diet culture, we really trace it back in the United States to the end of slavery and Sabrina Strings’ book, ‘Fearing the Black Body’ is sort of, you know, the iconic work on this that I would refer people to.”
She went on:
“Her research talks about how as slavery ended, Black people gained rights. Obviously, white supremacy is trying to maintain the power structure. So celebrating a thin white body as the ideal body is a way to other and demonize Black and brown bodies, bigger bodies, anyone who doesn’t fit into that norm.”
Finally, Sole-Smith wound down her comments as she said, “So this is really about maintaining systems of white supremacy and patriarchy, which I think is very helpful to understand. Because I think a lot of us are really working to divest from those ideas, but we haven’t given ourselves permission to stop dieting or to accept our weight wherever it might fall.”
“And if you can understand that actually by continuing to pursue thinness, you are in some level maintaining your complicity with white supremacy and patriarchy,” she added.
Is it possible after slavery some white people used obesity as a way to “demonize Black and brown” people if they were overweight? Sure. Racists will always come up with stupid reasons to further their prejudices.
There have also been studies that have focused on the detrimental impact the beauty industry has had on people, and the body image problems caused by its marketing.
However, the idea people are “maintaining” a “complicity with white supremacy and patriarchy” by trying to be, at the very least, healthy and fit is insane.
People should not be depressed or shamed because of their weight. And there is merit in the effort to decrease the pressure to look a certain way that has led many to take extreme measures to meet the beauty standards of the time.
But there are several health benefits to keeping yourself thin and fit. People who are obese tend to be at a greater risk of diabetes and heart disease. And according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Having obesity puts people at risk for many other serious chronic diseases and increases the risk of severe illness from COVID-19.”
So there are reasons people would “pursue thinness” that have nothing to do with racism at all.
