What does thin privilege mean?

[MrsAnamCara]

I've seen a few posts on social media about it, what does it mean? Is it related to the health at any size movement that I've heard about?

Is it about societal created standards and a real thing or theory?

TIA

I'm fat. Have been for a long time. I now accept that a lot of my misfortune, perceived and real, probably boils down to this.
I've not given myself a fair crack at the whip wrt jobs, ,relationships, etc. I'm already on the back foot before I start. Probably.

I now understand and accept that life is tough enough without me throwing yet more obstacles into the mix.

If I took a straw poll of my friends and colleagues, their lives appear to be more successful and sorted than mine. They're all thinner. Nice people, decent people (as I am), so the only conclusion I can draw is that the problem begins and ends with me.

It'll be interesting to see if this understanding leads to my own self-respect increasing, along with access to greater opportunities and a chance to feel loved and accepted for the real me.

I can't convey my true worth if I can't better influence people's reactions to me. It's taken a long time to accept this. To come to terms with my issues and responsibilities to myself. I accept and embrace the fact that actually, I AM worth it.
Finally!! nowtolosesixstonesinfiveminutes

This thread has been difficult to read but I'm glad I've done so.
Thanks for all contributions. Sincerely.

Of course you can change being fat you just need to eat less and move more. You can also change being poor, you just need to work harder and earn more money
Both these sentences are factually true and yet hide a multitude of factors that contribute to the problem in question (poverty or obesity take your pick)

We live in a society that is full of fear (fear of being fat or poor or even god forbid "both" ) and the easiest way to live with that fear is convince ourselves that problems like poverty, addictions, obesity etc. are in the complete and utter control of each individual and that environment and luck play no part in them whatsoever.

If you believe that (and oh so many people do) then of course fat people (and poor people) are morally inferior, lazy etc so why would you employ them or trust them?

It is absolutely true that fat people are generally treated less well than thin ones

The whole 'thin privilege' becoming a 'thing' sits uncomfortably with me and I'm not sure why?

I can't deny that at times I've witnessed severely overweight people being being bitched about, but that doesn't automatically mean people who have not allowed their bodies to become severely overweight for whatever reason, automatically have some sort of 'privilege'.

Perhaps (and I'm just thinking out loud here) that's because I've also witnessed slim people being bitched about too.

I think (medical problems aside of course) we should all stop looking to blame society/tabloids/social media/the food industry/our childhoods etc for things that we're able to change in ourselves but we just find way too difficult.

It's a waste of energy and what next anyway?

'Non smoker privilege'?

'Non heavy drinker privilege'?

'Non drug addict privilege'?

What is the actual point? It's not about other people and whatever 'privileges' they're perceived to have. It's all about us and what we can do to avoid major health problems and passing on bad habits to our children.

That's what we need to focus on...not how awful those thin people are who have 'automatic privileges'.

Worra I think the point is to try and highlight an unconscious bias that some might hold. I’m not trying to blame others for my fatness. I know where the responsibility lies. I’m trying to suggest that you can’t make a judgement of my moral fibre or my ability to do my job based on it. Non drug addict privilege isn’t really comparable. People requiring a mind altering substance to make it through the day might not be expected to perform as well at work.

Some women are naturally thin, and if this confers an advantage it leaves them in a privileged situation. .. seems fairly straightforward to me.

Then there are all the other contributory factors which lead to people being overweight - mental health, poverty, shift work..... so it's harder for some people to get/ stay a healthy weight.

There has been a lot of research, just as there has been how in general people and particularly medical professionals do not take women's pain seriously, that also applies to not taking overweight people's pain seriously to the point that medical neglect and abuse based on such biases are as big a risk to health as the fat itself is due to how much is overlooked and ignored because the social link of fat being the cause rather than a symptom of an issue. Not sure whether we want to call it "privilege" as that seems to bring up everyone's walls but there is certainly evidence that the current way of looking at it and social framing of it is not helping anyone & needs challenged.

Anecdotally, my spouse and I both have chronic health issues including both having joint pain. He is tall and overweight and is sent for test after test "just to check" for the same things over and over. No matter what, even if he is in for his severe recurring chest infections or the growing pain in his hands which he needs for work, he will be sent for tests for diabetes and liver function and so on and often has to do it multiple time before any investigation into his current issue. He literally in the investigation into whether his hand pain was arthritis got a long lecture that walking would help joint pain...how walking is going to help his hands I'm still not sure. His chest infections have hospitalized him repeatedly yet looking into those has been repeatedly postponed until the fat tests that have been done repeatedly come back again. I fear his breathing problems will kill him before he gets any answers as they keep getting worse while he loses the weight the doctor wants which is a struggle when he can't walk for long because of his breathing.

I, who have had joint pain since I was 13 and even after putting on 6 kg in 6 months without knowing it during an investigation of ovarian insufficiency a few years back so my doctors were the ones who found out and told me, have never been sent on any of this. I have had significant nutritional deficiencies show up in bloodwork repeatedly and have never been lectured about my diet or how much I exercise and very few even ask me. I get "I'm sure you already do [food advice] so we'll do XYZ" while my spouse gets asked if he wants another appointment with a dietician before getting an inhaler prescription.

I've had things dismissed because of early menopause, because "that's common in young women" with no other explanation, because of my disabilities. My kids have had language issues dismissed because I'm an immigrant with an accent so that must be the cause of speech delays/difficulties/literacy issues. In a world where it seems everyone is looking for a reason to dismiss things, even when I was significantly underweight (BMI below 18) or my weight jumped up rapidly or my Vit D count dropped into the teens and my irons below 7, I've never had my weight or diet or lack of exercise used to dismiss my health issues or brought into medical discussions as the cause for my health problems or a reason to delay investigation or treatment. It's pretty messed up and it is hurting people how the systems and view of people & health currently works.

IMO the perception of what's 'attractive' all falls back to money and social standing.
A couple of hundred years ago being pale and overweight was desired. Why? Because it showed you a) had enough to eat and b) either didn't work or worked inside. Being 'thin' and tanned meant you worked outside and therefore got tanned (in menial jobs) and you probably didn't have enough to eat.
Nowadays, it's the opposite. Being thin and tanned (not always) shows time and finances to use sun beds, gyms, have holidays, cook properly with the right food/equipment and are educated to know what is best to eat. Being overweight and pale means you don't have access to those things, maybe don't have the education to know where it's going wrong or the financial means to put it right 'fashionably'.
They are obviously sweeping statements, and won't apply across the board but I think it is underlying.

The words fat, obese and thin, skinny all have negative associations, they're no longer a descriptive word but they conjour up an image of not just a body but a personality too.
No one should have their eating commented on, which ever they are. No one should be disadvantaged in jobs or life in general because of how they look.

I'm overweight, always have been to some extent. I dieted a lot in my younger years. I also move quite a bit, I'd be bigger than I am now if I didn't. I'd be smaller if I ate less.
I've only had 2 jobs where I've been turned down after interview, have been promoted twice within one company and to my knowledge haven't been disadvantaged by my weight other than the health effects it may or may not have later in life. I did used to feel I struggled with relationships because of my weight, I actually now think it's because of my perception of my weight. I'm older, fatter and wear less make up than I ever have and honestly I've never had so much interest. I'm not exactly beating them off with a shitty stick but I'm definitely more popular!

We had four people apply for jobs as a receptionist / assistant in our office a few months ago, a position we neeeded to fill. By co-incidence, all four applicants were very overweight. My boss employed one of them but confided in me that if he’d had a thin applicant he would probably have chosen them, as he admitted “he was very prejudiced against fat people and couldn’t help it”. The lady we employed is lovely but I can’t help but cringe that she got the job despite being fat.

It seems that in the UK and USA everything is something-privilege and everyone has to feel guilty for literally everything.

Well if anything this thread proves that prejudice against overweight people is prevalent and nasty! I am

Quite, Worra.

What‘s really needed is to get society healthier. It really really is a UK problem, especially overweight kids. You just don‘t see it to the same level in other countries. None of this handwringing is getting anyone anywhere.

I take it that this ‘thin privilege’ concept is supposed to have parallels with ‘white privilege’?

I think that’s pretty insulting given the oppression of black people over the centuries.

So many people trying to leap on this bandwagon with whatever perceived disadvantages they have and it devalues what the real struggles people face/d just to stay alive, have the right to vote, to work etc

You can control your weight (however difficult) but you have no responsibility for your sex/race/class you were born into.
Identity politics nonsense.

I don't doubt for a second that 'thin privilege' exists, but it's not even in the same league as privilege relating to race or sex.

If you're that bothered about being discriminated against, or disadvantaged by your weight, you can actually do something about it, as difficult as it may seem to you.

Well, well, well - what an amount of anti-fat vitriol

I actually do (as a slim woman) see my thinness as a privilege, in the sense that I was fortunate enough to be raised slim. Neither of my parents were overweight, my mum was a healthy curvy size 12-14 so not 'thin', and we didn't particularly eat very healthy meals or exercise, but my upbringing meant I was very slim as I wasn't over fed or given tonnes and tonnes of junk.

as an adult now, I've been as low as 9st 7 (I'm 5ft 9) and am currently the heaviest I've ever been at 11st (my BMI is still healthy and I'm around a size 12). I hate it and want to lose weight. I've successfully lost weight before so I know I can do it, but I do think it's a privilege that my default growing up before I had choices over my food intake was to be thin. It's easier I think to be a healthy weight as an adult if that's been your default to go back to, and you have an appropriate relationship with food, than it would be to be raised obese and have to find a whole new way of eating and feeling about food to achieve a body you've never had before, I can't phrase it very well but I hope that makes sense.

If I was raised overweight then I'm already starting off on the wrong foot health wise and in terms of my size, and have to work so much harder to achieve a normal weight. So I do feel privileged that I was raised by parents who ensured my body was a normal healthy size, as it's easier as an adult to maintain it.

I have caught myself thinking uncharitable thoughts about obese people, like 'how did they let themselves get to this point' and 'how can you disrespect your own body to this extent when you are lucky to have a working body' and judgments that day people must be lazy or have no impulse control. I try catch those thoughts and be aware of them but if I have them I don't doubt others do, I know a lot of otherwise nice people who see someone obese and think it's disgusting or embarrassing. It's interesting how the fat positivity movement has grown in recent years to celebrate being morbidly obese, I'm not sure whether that's helpful. But nor is castigating and judging someone for their weight. I don't know if shame is the healthiest motivator.

Of course as an adult it's down to you to have whatever weight you want to have, and I think the constant emphasis on how hard it is to lose weight doesn't help, as it frightens people off from even trying and gives a ready made excuse to just give up. But it's definitely a privilege to have started life a healthy weight. I genuinely believe it's a form of child abuse/neglect to raise children who are obese, setting them up for a lifetime of struggle and health problems.

Thin privilige is no different to male privilige, white privilige, age privilige and so on. People who benefit from it cannot admit that they benefit from it - it's always the woman, or the BAME, or the young person, or the fat person who is somehow at fault - it's never the person who has the advantage of race, sex, age or weight.

You dont have an advantage of weight though. Weight can be changed. It is very rare it cannot. To say it cannot is very insulting to people who actually face discriminatiom due to race, sex, age or height.

I do wish the words 'xxx privilige' (this particular phrase originated in USA - not that that is relevant) would be dropped. As a PP said - something-privilige has entered our conversations endlessly. I prefer the word 'advantage' as it is less judgemental. Just IMO.

it's always the woman, or the BAME, or the young person, or the fat person who is somehow at fault

Yes, possibly, but out of that list which one is the thing that the person can actually do something about? Weight - you can change it. Your skin colour, your sex, your age, etc - fuck all you can do. So I suggest to anyone that feels 'fat shamed' or discriminated against, lose weight. Eat less, move more. It really is that easy.

Eat less, move more. It really is that easy

It really is that easy for SOME people. For others disability, or illness, or medication makes it immeasurably harder and in some cases impossible.

Yeah, a lot of it is the usual magical thinking. It's like insisting that harassment from men (and worse) won't happen if you're careful about your drinking and don't 'dress like a slut'.
There are quite a lot of necessary medical treatments that cause weight gain - and some people have limited mobility and cannot exercise. it's also possible to be fat and a lot healthier than the thin person who stays thin by skipping meals and replacing food with amphetamines. coffee and fags...

I also(unfortunately) think that being beautiful and skinny (and also tall if you can!) helps with everything life-related in this stupid society. I am not beautiful, but I do have a pretty face, I am not tall, I am a chubby size 8-10 and I constantly feel pressure about how much I should weigh and how I should look. Meanwhile, my blonde, 1.80 and 50 kg work colleague gets a shitload of compliments and preferential treatment. Not sure when it has become the norm to be SO skinny you can barely stand. Sad.

Quite, Worra.

What‘s really needed is to get society healthier. It really really is a UK problem, especially overweight kids. You just don‘t see it to the same level in other countries. None of this handwringing is getting anyone anywhere.

You do though. America, Mexico, Malta, Ireland, Spain, Greece, Latvia, Hungary to name but a few, all have big obesity problems.

If I remember rightly, almost half of all Maltese children are overweight/obese.