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

Reckon the better term is fat disadvantage.

If you are unhealthy you are naturally at a disadvantage. We wouldn't say sober privileges or nonsmokers privilege.

Privelege puts the healthy person in a negative light. When really let's just state the obvious, there are disadvantages to being unhearthy. No surprises there.

I reckon thin privilege is the exact right term.

Thin people have a better life experience in a myriad different ways from overweight and obese people (physically, mentally, emotionally, socially, professionally, etc). OK, many of them don't get to eat whatever they want, whenever they want, but other than that.

But again, it's a privilege which is open to anyone, if they want it enough (unlike male privilege and white privilege).

But it shouldn't be that overweight people are the norm and those with a healthy weight are some kind of elite.
In a world where the majority are a healthy weight then it can't be a privilege, its the standard. Surely we want to encourage a future where healthy is the norm. Makes me sad that people view a healthy weight as having some kind of special advantage. I don't think medical professionals see it that way tbh.

Makes me sad that people view a healthy weight as having some kind of special advantage

Do you think that people who are overweight do face discrimination in life - such as when applying for jobs?

dowager thats a really dangerous view imo. Physically I'd agree with if we're talking about unhealthy fat levels. But the average size 14 - 20 (or whatever) is not going to have a much better life experience because they become a size 6. Whatever the reason they are less than happy/ successful it won't be cured by exchanging a spare tyre for visible ribs.

The reason we have a diet industry that is hugely successful financially whilst doing fuck all or actually damaging those with excess weight, is because it sells the myth that thin= win at life. Telling people to focus on the physical benefits, but not to let their self worth be defined by scales doesn't make any profit.

It's also a self fulfilling prophecy. Tell someone fat that thin people have better life experiences, and self esteem and low aspirations will usually make that happen.

But again, it's a privilege which is open to anyone, if they want it enough

But again, it's a privilege which is open to anyone apart from those with health conditions/disability/medications, if they want it enough.

I can want it until the cows come home. Doesn't give me a properly working thyroid.

I had always been very thin and was very self conscious about it because people would tease me about it at school, acquaintances, and my husband’s family later. They said if I turned sideways I would disappear, stuff like that. These comments were always said with amazement as if I were an oddity or a circus show. I felt like a freak. I tried everything to gain weight. When I had my son, I lost all the baby weight in six weeks without trying. Now that I’m a bit older, it’s easier to gain weight because of age, metabolism slowing down maybe. Now I feel I need to lose a few pounds haha just so my clothing around my waist would sit better. I never saw being thin as a privilege of any sort. I didn’t feel like I wore clothes better as a thin person. Certainly I wasn’t treated better, I’d say it was the opposite. I would choose clothes that made me look bigger when I could. Looking back I understand that those people were being bullies. Smiling while delivering a dig is still bullying. It seems to me that it’s not a simple thing for a lot of people to just lose weight or gain weight. It’s more complicated than that. Our bodies sometimes gain or lose weight easier than others. Some people have to work harder to lose or gain weight than others. I don’t judge anyone over their weight because that’s wrong, and plus I know how it feels to be made fun of for something I feel I had little control over.

Surely a privilege is something you earn? Eating a healthy, balanced diet & taking regular exercise isn’t anything other than the norm. People that don’t, are at a disadvantage like Neoflex said

lash as a fellow born skinny I've always found it to be the case that people like us aren't those doing the fat bashing. But when overweight people want to boost themselves by putting other body types down, it's usually us that get the backlash. Real women have curves and all that bollocks.

I have occasionally commented back in kind, more so in my teens. Now only for repeat offenders and not in a slanging match scenario. Eg a colleague a while ago who constantly went on, the breaking point was a day when she kept grabbing my wrist and telling everyone to come and feel how bony and bird like it was. So I asked her how she'd feel if I started drawing attention to random parts of her anatomy and telling people to come and feel how round and padded it was. Of course this was very hurtful of me and I was being over sensitive.

Esker, please try not to second guess what I write. My Mum is seriously overweight. I have exactly zero disdain for her, only respect and love. My father spent their marriage insulting her constantly about her weight, as she became overweight after three children. I certainly don't go around giving obese people advice even though I know the risks associated with obesity as my GF died a very painful death after a massive heart attack. Yep, as a slim person I have the tendency to judge as I mentioned already but I realise that someone's personality and capabilities have nothing to do with their weight.

Apologies Clandestino.

Thanks Thehogfather you totally get it. And I think your analysis is spot on. Now that I’m older and wiser I think that some of these bullies do need a little harsh word thrown back at them as that’s the only way they see what they’re doing. Me responding the way I used to, flustered embarrassment or trying to cover what they said with a kind reaction, I see now only made them more malicious. Your colleague sounds awful and perhaps your pointed response was something she very much needed at that time.

'Thin privilege' in action.

I go to the Dr complain of wheezing, gasping, coughing when lying down, palpitations, generally knackered and fatigued, unable to exercise without exercise induced asthma...

I am fat. It must be that I am fat. I must also be having panic attacks, have these sleeping pills go and do some exercise too.

My sister goes to the Dr .... complains of wheezing, gasping, coughing when lying down, palpitations, generally knackered and fatigued, unable to exercise without exercise induced asthma...

How mystifying, have these tests, ECG, echo, chest xray... oh no! Heart failure, have this treatment...

She's not fat. I am fat.

She was dx in a matter of weeks.

I was not dx for TWO YEARS.

Now it MIGHT have helped somewhat that because I was dx before her, she could say 'yes theres a family history of xyz' however the response she got was dramatically different to the response I got and this was before she mentioned family history.

I was without being overly dramatic, damn lucky not to die at several points before I was properly diagnosed and treated.

Sister has experienced none of the risks I experienced, because she was taken seriously, because she is not fat.

Now that we have HER dx, certain Drs treat ME differently - we have the evidence that hte problem is genetic, they listen to HER history of being an active (mountain climbing, skiing, walking, riding, swimming) child and adult and that I was the same and they now believe us both...

When I was sat there alone, saying 'ive always been active doing xyz and suddenly i can't'...... not believed, at all. Because I am fat.

So yes, thin privilege is a thing and its something you'll almost certainly never notice if you have it, thats kinda the point!

clandestino

Esker, please try not to second guess what I write. My Mum is seriously overweight. I have exactly zero disdain for her, only respect and love

To be fair to Esker, earlier you also said I am very honest and I will say that I am also prejudiced so you can see where the confusion may occur.

I think there are so many factors involved that it's really not as easy as saying 'eat less, move more' or 'thin privilege doesn't exist'. I agree that it's not the same as white privilege, but I do think that there is a subconscious thinking that fat people are not as smart, lazier, can't control themselves etc. I've been known to have those thoughts myself before catching myself (and I am about 6 stone overweight!)

To the poster who was talking about how thin people are expected to put up with such remarks (maybe Lemon ? not sure without going back a few pages and losing what I'm writing!) but in the same way that if black person were to shout racist remarks to me (as a white a person) it wouldn't bother me as much as I imagine it would if a white person racially insults a black person. Quite simply because I as a white person have 'enjoyed' the privilege of not having centuries of racial inequality to contend with. And a thin person who is criticised by a fat person for their eating habits probably hasn't had to endure years of being made to feel inferior or gluttonous or lazy, and probably for the most part, don't have the crippling lack of self esteem to go with it. (I say for the most part, as I am aware that there have been a few posters who have said how as a very thin person they have never felt comfortable in their skin, and obviously what I have written above would not apply to them).

Not that excuses anything, nobody should be commenting on anyone's weight or eating habits, regardless of their size.

Surely a privilege is something you earn?

You don't earn male privilege or white privilege - it's yours by pure luck.

I agree, it's incredibly offensive to the genuinely downtrodden for those greedy pigs who gorge themselves into obesity (and i've been more than a little chubby myself at times over the years) to claim any kind of victimhood, other than in the case of those fat kids whose parents are to blame.

I disagree need centuries of ill treatment & oppression, not to mention legal murder, is not the same as the extremely recent problem of obesity. Being fat is not a historic form of discrimination. Any fat insults are therefore rude in the same way skinny insults are. Equally unacceptable because it's never ok to make personal comments.

Not me needmymouthsewnup!

Funnily enough as a thin person I've experienced nothing but compliments and praise when I've lost weight, being told I look amazing and how much they wish they could look like that. But my experiences are only my own and I've certainly witnessed other thin people be called skinny rakes and the whole 'real women have curves' nonsense.

I think I have benefitted from this. But then again I worked for it so will reap my rewards thank you I'm not good at everything...

Thin privilege is just like white privilege, but with less historical slavery and more meat pies and cake.

Thin privilege refers to the privileges you receive, perhaps without even realising it, as a result of being thin. It can include things like being confident you will always find a chair you can fit in at the theatre and being able to shop more easily for clothes, but also importantly the way you are given preferential treatment by others....in work, socially, romantically, in general perceptions of others....

If you have been both fat and thin, you know what thin privilege is. Like other types of privilege, they are things that if you haven't been on both sides, you probably take for granted. White privilege, for example....you might think that your own experience as a white person is just the way the world is....it isn't.

Privilege can be used to mean something you earn, but often it is the opposite. It is the way in which the world is set up to benefit certain people/identities/attributes, or the way in which you have been lucky. Many opportunities have been given to men just because they are men, opportunities closed to all women at a given time for example. That is privilege 'earned' simply be being born male. Or other privileges perhaps 'earned' simply through having a wealthy family etc. Things given to someone and not to others, difficulties experienced by someone and not by others, as a result of a characteristic not connected with them as a whole individual.

I know some people might argue that thin privilege not be included as such, on reflection though I think it is a fair term.

I’m calling BS on this.
First of

Oops 😬
First of all the terms male privilege and white privilege were coined by a woman who made the terms synonymous with ‘unearned advantage’ which is what you’re looking for. Being thin is not an unearned advantage, as it’s earned. Unless in the cases of illnesses or disabilities in which the privilege is of course not having a disability or illness.

Hogfather I get you. I had dozens of nasty comments when I was underweight for years owing to Crohn's. The vast majority of those commenting knew why I was so thin. And it didn't make a damn bit of difference.

I don't care whether a person is fat, thin or anything in between, it is not on to have a dig at physical appearance.
I judge people on their actions and behaviour.
I was told by my size 22 now ex mate that I got treated nicely in hospital because I was thin. The fact that I was in hospital because I was under 6 stone, had a gut full of ulcers and was being tube fed seemed to escape her completely.

But her size wasn't what made her say that, my size wasn't what made her say that, she said it because she was an unpleasant person.

How about we, as women, support each other in life instead of turning against each other? Does your dress size really matter more than your personality? We still don't have equal pay, fair healthcare or decent rates of conviction for rape. I think that's far more important to consider than the size of a colleague's arse.