In episode four of Is It a Fat Thing? we get into the tough stuff: diet talk. We do a light dip into the power of Fat bodies to skew a loo seat, surviving University as the 'fun' fat friend and even why Elphaba is Fat (!) and we will die on that hill, before getting into the tough stuff; connecting fatness to intersectional struggles, eating disorders and the damage of diet talk and why the diet industry is one big distraction tactic and it's connection to the rise of fascism.
Sadly, our mic wasn’t as on board with the conversation as we were, and there are quite a few sound issues in this episode! But we didn’t want to stop us from sharing such an important conversation with you, and we’re working on improving our sound quality in future episodes!
This episode was recorded in January 2025.
Citations/notable links
- Anti-fat language in Diet Culture: The “new me” and the “real me” in narratives of weight loss. Kathleen M Self, Department of Religious Studies, St. Lawrence University, USA (we heard this at the International Weight Stigma Conference, 2024)
- Fat is a Feminist Issue by Susie Orbach (1987).
- @fatfabfeminist on TikTok - a couple of videos https://vm.tiktok.com/ZNd1GW2AU/ https://vm.tiktok.com/ZNd1GEGrk/ (and if you don't follow Victoria on all the platforms yet, then you should! A brilliant fat activist)
- @morethantracyt on TikTok - this excellent vid https://vm.tiktok.com/ZNd1GsQ8A/ (and another incredible Fat creator you should be following!)
- The Magical Thinking of Weight Loss by Aubrey Gordon - https://humanparts.medium.com/the-magical-thinking-of-weight-loss-bc8aaa601ae7
- Weight Stigma is a Threat to Public Health by Aubrey Gordon - https://humanparts.medium.com/the-magical-thinking-of-weight-loss-bc8aaa601ae7
- When Dieting Doesn't Work - Harvard Health Publishing. https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/when-dieting-doesnt-work-2020052519889
- (Study cited in Harvard article): Ge L, Sadeghirad B, Ball GDC, da Costa BR, Hitchcock CL, Svendrovski A, Kiflen R, Quadri K, Kwon HY, Karamouzian M, Adams-Webber T, Ahmed W, Damanhoury S, Zeraatkar D, Nikolakopoulou A, Tsuyuki RT, Tian J, Yang K, Guyatt GH, Johnston BC. Comparison of dietary macronutrient patterns of 14 popular named dietary programmes for weight and cardiovascular risk factor reduction in adults: systematic review and network meta-analysis of randomised trials. BMJ. 2020 Apr 1.
Follow us on Instagram @fatliblondon or Meetup under Fat Liberation London
You can find Nikita on Tik Tok @niktoks or Instagram @nikigramx
Jade is on Instagram and TikTok under @justjadeelouise
Simran can be found on Instagram @simksandhu_ TikTok under @simran_k_s and BlueSky @sksandhu.bsky.social
Our theme tune was composed by Dorian Jackdaw.
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