Body Positivity And The “Air Space” Problem Of Modern Hot Takes

Who gives a shit if someone is fat?

I was in Granbury, Texas for a part of this weekend, and heard two guys having a discussion about “fat chicks” and such, which is a discussion guys have been having for potentially 4,800 years — if not longer. It did make me, briefly, think about the whole “body positivity” movement and how insane everything about the Internet and hot takes is. At the same time I heard the “fat chicks” discussion, Princess Cate/Kate had just told the world about her cancer diagnosis, oddly without her husband by her side, but that hostage-looking video was the end (beginning?) of a weird arc of social media where everyone must weigh in on everything go on with some woman who is famous because of a generations-old power structure. I started thinking about this stuff more.

I am fat, and have been fat for most of my childhood and adult life. I do work out, but I’ve also been unhealthy with habits around eating and drinking. I am currently trying to be functional in eating/drinking/movement, and not worry that much about my bigger problems. But I know I am fat, and I move from “ashamed” to “OK” with it. For a long while, I felt bad about my health in the context of male fertility, and while I still sometimes feel bad about that, I also kinda think fertility is a giant…