My Thin Privilege


Thin privilege has become part of our cultural vernacular more and more in the past two to three years. It has been controversial, and lots of people like to declare that it doesn't exist, or that "thin people face discrimination too!"

Well, I'm here to let you know that thin privilege is totally real, and I know it is because I experience it. I have experienced it my entire life. 

I have always been on the thinner side, and even when I was technically considered "overweight" I was still passing for thin, meaning I did not look obviously overweight or fat, so I still experienced the privilege that comes from "passing" as thin. 

I always knew there were people of different sizes. I had some friends that were larger than me and some friends that were smaller.  But I never felt hurt about the fat jokes I heard from television, or from the adults around me, or the jokes that elementary and middle school kids like to tell, because I knew it didn't apply to me. But I never thought of how alienated some of my friends may have felt when those jokes were told, or how forced their laughter might have been.  

I first really noticed thin privilege after my family moved to Texas right after I finished 8th grade. When my freshman year started I also started doing ballet in the area. I did pointe, which I was really excited to learn. Our recital piece that year was Jaws (yes, we did a piece to the Jaws theme song), and it involved all levels of pointe. As the recital grew closer we got to practice with the girls that were at the top of their game in pointe.  They were beautiful, and elegant and could do things on pointe that I would never be able to do. And the top girl was big.  She was probably between 5'5'' and 5'7", and could have weighed anywhere between 145-185.  And I remember thinking how sad it was that she would probably never be able to pursue a professional career in pointe (which she clearly was awesome at and had a passion for) solely due to her size.  While times are changing slowly, the ballet field is still very fat-phobic, size-concious, and have not been known to be friendly to people beyond the "ideal" ballerina size zero.  So, my first lesson in thin privilege was that talent and/or passion was not all that was needed to do well in something.  Somebody at the top of their game could be looked over just due to their size.  

Since that first lesson, I have learned that I can get away with unhealthy habits such as smoking, much easier than my fat counterparts because people assume that I must be healthy already because I am thin. I have learned that I can literally eat as much shit as I want and no body accuses me of not wanting to be healthy.  I can go grocery shopping for whatever foods and no one has ever commented on the food products that I have put in my shopping cart. I can wear skin bearing clothing and people do not yell at me that I am disgusting, or nasty, etc; because my ability to pass as thin automatically cloaks me in the shining light of health, beauty, and morality.  Despite me doing the same exact thing as my fat friends, and even sometimes doing it at the same time. 

So...with all this knowledge, what can be done to help combat thin privilege, especially when we are experiencing the benefits of it? 
  1. Listen to fat people. Read their stories, yield the floor to them, and actually think about what is being said, and not about how you disagree.
  2. Acknowledge your privilege. If you go out to eat today and order something that would typically be deemed "unhealthy" pay attention to how people react (or don't to your order).  Wear shorts when it is hot and notice how people are not telling you that you are disgusting for being comfortable. 
  3. Challenge it if you are in a safe environment to do so.  Don't let your friends make fat-phobic jokes, comments, etc. without challenging them on it. 
  4. Challenge your own actions and thoughts in regards to thin privilege and fat phobia.  Do you make mental assumptions about people based on their weight? Do you make faces when you see fat people in skin revealing clothing? Do you judge people based on their weight? 
If you want additional information regarding thin privilege and/or fat phobia please check out some of the links below: 

Do you have your own story about thin privilege or fat phobia? Please share in the comments below, or message me! I would love to hear from you! 

Photo by Harli Marten on Unsplash

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