We’ve spoken about how the body positivity movement — which stemmed from fat feminists in the ’60s and was spearheaded by black fat femmes — has been co-opted by slim, able-bodied, white women (and sometimes men).
And now Grammy-award winning singer, rapper, flautist and “100% that bitch“, Lizzo has joined the chorus of voices.
Responding to a video where TikTok user and fat liberation advocate @sheismarissamatthews exclaims “I really don’t understand why I can’t just exist in my own body!”, after receiving a comment saying “everyone has time to lose weight. EVERYONE”, Lizzo talks about how the body positivity movement has been co-opted by all bodies.
Calling out mid and small-sized bodies, Lizzo emphasises that “fat people are still getting the short end of this movement.”
Going into specifics, she talks about the fact they’re still getting talked about, “sh*t on”, having memes made of them, getting shamed — and that no one cares, because of body positivity, and the fact it’s now “for everybody”.
She then educates her audience about who exactly created the movement — “big women, big brown and black women, queer women” — and talks about the fact that they’re not the one’s benefitting from the mainstream success of the movement.
Oh, and she adds the fact that “Our bodies are none of your f*cking business. Our health is none of your f*cking business.”
It’s not the first time she’s called out how far the body positivity movement has strayed from its original intentions. She spoke about it back in October to Vogue, saying, “The people that this term was created for are not benefiting from it. Girls with back fat, girls with bellies that hang, girls with thighs that aren’t separated, girls with stretch marks.”
And as she said herself, “Being fat is normal.” Now let’s get diet culture to finally see the light — being as it demonises people who don’t lose weight.
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