Fat Girls in Black Bodies by Joy Arlene Renee Cox Ph.D

Author:Joy Arlene Renee Cox, Ph.D. [Arlene Renee Cox, Joy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781623175009
Publisher: North Atlantic Books

5

Acceptance + Resistance = Activism

The tug-of-war fat people are cast into can have us swinging at anything that moves! Being thrown into a fight due to accepting ourselves can cause our guards to be up most of the time. A way I found to balance the pressure of always having something thrown at me was to muster up a piece of courage to throw something back. When I realized folks really didn’t want no smoke and were hoping I’d drop my head in shame, I knew I had found a strength in my person. I had found a piece of my voice that folks didn’t think I had. Now, I haven’t always been good at math, but if I were to create an equation based off my own lived experience, I’d argue that acceptance (i.e., embracing of oneself) plus resistance (i.e., the ability to fight back) equals activism (i.e., smoke). And this ain’t no “not sure of myself, I think that’s what the literature says” smoke. Nah, this is that “I got time today, you really thought that joke you told was funny, or that listing your credentials before you spewed a bunch of racist fatphobic hyperbole was go’n get you off the hook,” smoke. Folks don’t want none of that. When I was able to identify the majority of the pressure I received from others as a form of bullying, fighting back became easier and easier. At one point, I was fighting because I was looking for smoke, and I had to stop myself to assess if fighting some battles were worth it at all. Smoke is cool sometimes, but even the smoke you can handle has a way of wearing at your well-being. Nevertheless, my strength was there. I also found that with the strength I was obtaining, I had the capacity to strengthen others.

Given the gaslighting that comes with being fat in this country, we often can see where bias and discrimination are taking place while others question our judgment. Responses like “They didn’t really mean it in that way” or “Are you sure you’re not reading too much into things?” are common statements heard around the globe related to fatphobia. If you add being Black into the picture, many of us get accused of fighting about everything and carrying our politics on our sleeves. One can only imagine the hell we catch for refusing to allow people to treat or talk to us any kind of way. Those who defend or explain bias as being implicit, without holding parties accountable, only weaken the fight for liberation, as what is not readily seen by the offender is often always seen by those they offend. Folks’ attempts at telling us that someone didn’t really mean to offend us, or that they weren’t fully aware of the harm they were causing, fall upon deaf ears. Especially in today’s climate. As a minority, Black people are inundated with information about the majority. We are not given a choice to turn off the constant ringing in our ears that is White America.

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