Diet culture floats around our lives in ways mostly just the in-treatments among us are aware of. I like to watch this certain internet show (citation missing) and the host talks about his 'weight loss journey' a lot, he tells everyone he doesn't eat frozen pizza anymore, he's putting in time on the elliptical, and he doesn't have anything against fat people, just himself. You probably have a bunch of people in your life who talk about this sort of thing too, it brings us together, this eternal dissatisfaction.
A long time ago, the host brought his parents on the show. His mom starts in on him, saying he would look so much better if he lost weight, that he'd be so much happier. 'You're calling me ugly?' the host says. No, the mom says quickly, uncomfortable, (she's been caught), 'I'm just worried about your health'. We relax, health concerns are important.
Sometimes a good friend of mine will tell me how much she dislikes her body. She'll say, 'I just want to be stronger, I just want to be fit.' But she is strong - what she means is that she wants to be thin. But that little misalignment is okay, right? Because thin is healthy. We know because everyone says it, doctors, politicians, your mother. It's the foundation of so much of our lives, it's the reason that we give kids carrot sticks and tell them that they are inadequate. It's the reason we buy wellness shots and low-fat yogurt. This has been going on for hundreds of years, and the results speak for themselves. We're so healthy now, now that everyone tells us how and why to be thin. After all, this compulsion to be thin is logical, why else would that voice speak so clearly? The one saying our body is wrong.
There are so many arenas where we give up control, so many structures in society we believe we cannot change. We cannot ordain ourselves with health care, we do not blame children for growing up in poverty, we do not see cancer as a moral failing- and yet. Our body is like a bucking mare, control her goddamn it! We may flirt with viewing fat as systemic, thank you Michelle, but behind the guise of My Plate is deep moral condemnation. We're just so worried about those poor fat children, we just want them to be healthy, and that's why we have created a world where they are constantly ridiculed, imagine their poor hearts otherwise!