The Lavender Menace

It may just be that I’m a very naive girl, but it never occurred to me that there exists a cruel backlash in the Fat Acceptance movement against fat folks with diagnosed eating disorders. An article in the most recent issue of Bitch Magazine opened my eyes to this trend, and honestly, I’m appalled at the treatment of many of the women interviewed. It disgusts me to see that women who have dedicated YEARS to forwarding the cause of size acceptance end up unceremoniously dumped on their asses because members of the movement don’t want to send the message that there are fat folks out there that can’t control their eating.

I understand where those folks are coming from. Really, I do. Living in a culture that equates fat with all kinds of horrible stereotypes and personality traits, it really doesn’t take much to put more ammunition in the hands of the haters that are out to penalize and degrade an entire class of people - fat folks. It doesn’t surprise me, then, that members of the Fat Acceptance movement may not know what to do with members who openly struggle with disordered eating; that they worry that the out-of-control eating of a few will further embed stereotypes around eating behaviors in large people in general. But shunning those with ED’s is not the answer. I think this quote from the article sums up this binary rather well:

In this climate, admitting that some fat people have eating disorders is like putting ammunition in the hands of everyone who seeks to “cure” obesity - to say nothing of modest weight gain - through the humiliation and shaming of fat folks. In this fatphobic mindset, thin people with eating disorders require compassionate treatment (or, more disturbingly, are heralded as icons….), but fat people with eating disorders are lazy and deserve what they get.

The article also goes on to draw an interesting parallel with the situation in the National Organization of Women (NOW) thirty years ago when members hesitated to include lesbians among their ranks for fear that their inclusion would spread the assumption that feminists are all man-hating radicals. Betty Friedan referred to this perceived threat in 1969 as the Lavender Menace.

Thankfully NOW removed its head from its butt and saw what powerful and valuable allies the lesbian and queer communities could be to the feminist movement. But it took longer than it ought to have. And while Fat Acceptance is still in many ways a fledgling movement and searching for direction, I sincerely hope that very soon the Fat Acceptance movement will be able to advocate for a space within its ranks for critical dialogue around this issue. It’s not easy to navigate a world where I continually struggle with my own body while simultaneously supporting full acceptance of others’ bodies. I have to do it every day because I have to deal with binge eating disorder Every. Damn. Day.

The article is long (and not such a great scan - sorry!) but it’s definitely a worthwhile read. And if you love this article, consider a subscription to Bitch Magazine. I’ve never come across a bad issue of Bitch. It’s always interesting and insightful.

Big Trouble

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