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#031 Jess Stands Up to Diet Culture
Manage episode 305666765 series 2979739
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CW: Eating Disorder
Jess came to tell us that it's okay to be fat. We chatted this week, with Jess Sims, a radical self-acceptance, and body neutrality advocate. Jess spent a good portion of her life dieting before deciding one day that she was never going to diet another day in her life, and began unpacking diet culture. Jess is honest and open in sharing her views on diet culture, its root cause, fatphobia, and how we can begin our body acceptance journey.
Topics Discussed:
(0:00) Introductions: Jess tells us a little about herself.
(4:40) Diet Culture Hamster Wheel: Jess grew up in a fat body, always thinking that her life would begin if she lost weight. Being diagnosed with ADHD and binge eating disorder as an adult, and as part of her recovery, she decided that she didn't want to diet ever again. She talks to us about radical body acceptance and body neutrality.
(16:00) Feminism and diet culture: We discuss dieting as a way of making ourselves smaller, and more palatable in a patriarchal society. Society has told us not to love our bodies. Dieting is about the internalized messages that our appearance, as women, is the most valuable thing about us.
(22:47) Fatphobia in Medicine: Jess explains that women’s health is not taken seriously, especially if they are living in bigger bodies. We discuss doctors finding a way to work weight loss into the conversation, and not providing the same access to care for overweight people.
(28:43) Punishing ourselves: Jess talks to us about women focusing on their weight, and struggling for their entire lives. We weigh ourselves daily, feeling as though we’ve failed and punish ourselves for any minor weight gain.
(32:49) Body Positivity vs. Body Acceptance: Jess talks to us about gentle body acceptance, and the idea that it is normal and natural to have days where we don't like part of our bodies. We do not have to be positive all of the time. Body positivity is toxic positivity.
(39:25) Creating Change: We talk about the discrimation that fat people face, and the real reason behind it. White supremacy keeps these systems in place because thinness and being small are qualities that white men value in white women.
(43:11) Diet Industry: We discuss the diet industry, and their potential for causing active harm, while making themselves rich. We talk about weight loss on television, and the acceptance of the “Dad Bod” in the media.
(56:24) How do we fight this?: Jess talks about realizing that body acceptance is not going to happen overnight, and our need to unlearn internalized fatphobia.
Resources:
Intuitive eating: A Revolutionary Anti-Diet Approach
by Evelyn Tribole M.S. R.D., Elyse Resch M.S. R.D. F.A.D.A.
About Jess:
Jess Sims is a freelance fashion, health, and culture writer. Her work mainly concerns marginalized people, and focuses specifically on fat people of color. She is currently writing her first novel.
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