It's not really bodily positive.
Published on 1.14.2024: Gabriella Lascano is back. In 2023, she told the truth about being obese, and health issues. In 2024, she gave a TED talk about the whole issue. The Body Positivity folks turned on her massively. I didn’t know that she’d lost a friend to health issues related to obesity, and that’s what occasioned the rant (which I watched at Megan Anne’s YouTube channel.) Megan was completely on board with the messaging. Note that Megan has actively tried to change her weight with weight loss surgery and now weight loss drugs.
This New York Times article more or less misses the point, I can see why Lascano was disappointed with it. It says not much about anything, but only briefly mentions Lascano.
Obese to Beast includes a Gabriella Lascano not-TED talk, because for copyright reasons he couldn’t react to the TED talk. In the talk, Lascano is backing away from her original statement, because she was shunned in the Body Positivity movement, and it like affected her income level. It’s too bad that she feels she needs to back away from her statements, which again, I totally agree with. But I don’t make my money as a plus size influencer.
Note: the links in this piece are to YouTube/video channels, all of which were still live at the time of publication. Apparently, people don’t like to read anymore, so blogs/websites don’t get updated. yet another way I am out of sync with the culture, as I still prefer to read.
So much of what passes for commentary is on TikTok, which I refuse to use. I have it on my phone for when my daughter sends me things to view, but in general I avoid it.
So the rest of these observations comes from an old set of notes that I don't think I've ever published— and it wouldn't matter if I had, because so few people actually read here. They are related to body positivity, hence I think they fit.
I was right. It’s not “body positivity” (BoPo), it’s FAT body positivity (FaBoPo). And the fatties don’t like that smaller thinner bodies have begun to participate. Then CALL IT FaBoPo and be done with it. If it’s BoPo, then all body sizes qualify. If it’s FaBoPo, then you can gate keep.
Interesting discussion with my ballerina daughter recently. She struggles with body dysmorphia occasionally, and so very much wanted to be a part of the body positive movement. Soon after investigating it however, she realized that she is NOT welcome in the movement. It is the FaBoPo movement… and lately there’s a push to make the black woman FaBoPo movement. Which, if successful, will be a real kick in the pants to white fatties who have been gatekeeping the movement.
This is why “intersectionality” can be so exhausting. Why can’t body positivity be for everyone? Certainly, I would like my daughter to be positive about her body, but heaven forfend she post anything like that on her Instagram or Facebook. She’d be attacked — excuse me, “called out” — if she dared celebrate her body positivity.
It’s crazy. Not everything is a zero sum game. If a thin white women is helped to feel better about her body how does that hurt a fat black woman? Why can’t both women feel positive about their bodies?
The result for my daughter is that she is supremely negative towards the entire movement, which is exactly the opposite result the movement desires. Or maybe it doesn’t. Maybe it’s just supposed to be an exclusive club of fat people and the rest of us are supposed to ignore it. Though, they don’t really like being ignored either.
Health at every size came up in conversation, because that and the FaBoPo movement are intimately intertwined. She is also negative towards that as well.
Actually think that this may have been published previously, but that's the risk of keeping so many notes.
This New York Times article more or less misses the point, I can see why Lascano was disappointed with it. It says not much about anything, but only briefly mentions Lascano.
Obese to Beast includes a Gabriella Lascano not-TED talk, because for copyright reasons he couldn’t react to the TED talk. In the talk, Lascano is backing away from her original statement, because she was shunned in the Body Positivity movement, and it like affected her income level. It’s too bad that she feels she needs to back away from her statements, which again, I totally agree with. But I don’t make my money as a plus size influencer.
Note: the links in this piece are to YouTube/video channels, all of which were still live at the time of publication. Apparently, people don’t like to read anymore, so blogs/websites don’t get updated. yet another way I am out of sync with the culture, as I still prefer to read.
So much of what passes for commentary is on TikTok, which I refuse to use. I have it on my phone for when my daughter sends me things to view, but in general I avoid it.
So the rest of these observations comes from an old set of notes that I don't think I've ever published— and it wouldn't matter if I had, because so few people actually read here. They are related to body positivity, hence I think they fit.
I was right. It’s not “body positivity” (BoPo), it’s FAT body positivity (FaBoPo). And the fatties don’t like that smaller thinner bodies have begun to participate. Then CALL IT FaBoPo and be done with it. If it’s BoPo, then all body sizes qualify. If it’s FaBoPo, then you can gate keep.
Interesting discussion with my ballerina daughter recently. She struggles with body dysmorphia occasionally, and so very much wanted to be a part of the body positive movement. Soon after investigating it however, she realized that she is NOT welcome in the movement. It is the FaBoPo movement… and lately there’s a push to make the black woman FaBoPo movement. Which, if successful, will be a real kick in the pants to white fatties who have been gatekeeping the movement.
This is why “intersectionality” can be so exhausting. Why can’t body positivity be for everyone? Certainly, I would like my daughter to be positive about her body, but heaven forfend she post anything like that on her Instagram or Facebook. She’d be attacked — excuse me, “called out” — if she dared celebrate her body positivity.
It’s crazy. Not everything is a zero sum game. If a thin white women is helped to feel better about her body how does that hurt a fat black woman? Why can’t both women feel positive about their bodies?
The result for my daughter is that she is supremely negative towards the entire movement, which is exactly the opposite result the movement desires. Or maybe it doesn’t. Maybe it’s just supposed to be an exclusive club of fat people and the rest of us are supposed to ignore it. Though, they don’t really like being ignored either.
Health at every size came up in conversation, because that and the FaBoPo movement are intimately intertwined. She is also negative towards that as well.
Actually think that this may have been published previously, but that's the risk of keeping so many notes.