A Work in Progress

Content Warning: This section discusses anti-fat bias.

Though Nick’s comment toward Will was an individual insult, it is the product of a much larger societal system of anti-fat bias that Will comes to realize shapes his world. Will realizes that both society and individual people have an anti-fat bias.

Fat activists—a social and political group that advocates for the rights and dignity of fat people—suggest using the term “anti-fat bias” over the more popular “fatphobia.” Fat activist Aubrey Gordon explains that phobias “are real mental illnesses, and conflating them with oppressive attitudes and behaviors invites greater misunderstanding of mental illnesses and the people who have them” (Gordon, Aubrey. “I’m a Fat Activist. I Don’t Use the Word Fatphobia. Here’s Why.” Self, 2021). Gordon defines anti-fat bias as “the attitudes, behaviors, and social systems that specifically marginalize, exclude, underserve, and oppress fat bodies,” and importantly, the term speaks to both “individual bigoted beliefs as well as institutional policies designed to marginalize fat people” (Gordon). Since Will experiences dehumanization on an individual level from peers as well as exclusionary and marginalizing social systems, this term describes his experience.

When Nick calls Will “fat” in the hallway, the thing that makes Will ashamed is not the revelation that he is fat, which he already knew. The way Nick framed the descriptive word as an insult teaches Will how much society hates fat people. One of the goals of fat activists is to remove the stigma from the descriptive word “fat.” American media, industry, and society depict “an ideal body type everyone should want to achieve” that is characterized by thinness and is thus diametrically opposed to fatness (“Fat is Not a Bad Word.” Within Health). Identifying “thin” or “fat” bodies as “ideal” or “non-ideal” attaches subjective judgments and assessments to otherwise innocuous descriptive words. In this model, the word “fat” becomes “synonymous with so many undesirable traits, that fat people are undisciplined, unmotivated, unhealthy, lazy, slovenly, ugly, and stupid and so many more derogatory labels that are incredibly damaging and hurtful” (“Fat is Not a Bad Word”). One way individuals can destigmatize fatness is by embracing the term “fat” as a neutral descriptor. This is especially important because anti-fat bias in the United States has its origins in other systemic oppressions, specifically anti-Blackness.

Systemically, anti-fatness affects almost every aspect of the lives of fat people. Fat people are routinely discriminated against in hiring processes, their credibility is doubted by others in settings such as the workplace or academic environments, and physicians discriminate against them, minimizing or dismissing their pain. Additionally, their stories of sexual assault are believed less often (Whelan, Nora. “Believing Women Means Believing the Plus-Size Ones Too.” Self, 2018). Even furniture and the building design discriminate against fat bodies. For instance, Will notices the anti-fat bias evident in the design of the desks at his school.

The novel ends with the message that Will cannot control what others think about him; he can only control what he thinks about himself. This is a positive and helpful message for youth struggling with body image. However, fat activists point out that changing the way fat people think about themselves is not sufficient to address anti-fat bias since it is the pervasive and engrained social and institutional prejudice against fat people that sits at the root of anti-fat bias. Gordon writes that “being called fat is insulting, at least in part, because whatever our size, we all know how fat people are treated” (Gordon, Aubrey. “‘Fat’ Isn’t a Bad Word—It’s Just the Way I Describe My Body.“ Self, 2021). In other words, people perceive fatness as negative because of the dehumanizing ways fat people are treated in society. While the right path for Will—a young teen boy—to navigate anti-fat bias might be to try and amend his self-image, a larger corrective about anti-fat bias is necessary on the systemic level.

While anti-fat bias is ingrained in American society, there are tools online to help people realize how they might have internalized these implicit biases. Tools like Harvard University’s Project Implicit’s “Weight IET” can help people realize if they implicitly hold anti-fat beliefs. Organizations like the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance, the Association for Size Diversity and Health, NOLOSE, and The Body Is Not an Apology provide resources for fat liberation movements.