#75: Is body-positivity benevolent anti-fatness?

with Da’Shaun Harrison

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In this episode we discuss…

  • What is wrong with body positivity? 

  • Good fat vs bad fat 

  • Is the term body positivity doing more harm than good

  • Does health at every size fit into the equation 

  • Who is really at the heart of anti-fat bias and violence 

  • What should we be focused on 

  • How is anti-fatness connected to anti-blackness

  • Why fat black people can never be seen in the concept of health 

  • How is anti-fatness connected to slavery

  • What is the hope for the next generation 

  • What is the experience of black students in the classroom

  • How it feels to feel cared for

  • How can fat black children fully bloom?

  • What is the connection between play and shame 

  • How can white non-fat children help fat black children 




     


Are good intentions good enough when it comes to promoting body-positivity? This week Zoë talks with writer and abolitionist, Da’Shaun Harrison, for a raw conversation about the harmful implications of peddling “body positivity”. Tune in to learn who most often gets left out of our advocacy efforts and how we can deepen our conversations with each other — and our young people — to amplify the connection between anti-fatness and anti-blackness.

Da'Shaun Harrison is a Black trans writer, abolitionist, and community organizer in Atlanta, GA. Harrison currently serves as the Managing Editor of Wear Your Voice Magazine and is the author of Belly of the Beast: The Politics of Anti-Fatness as Anti-Blackness. A public speaker who often leads workshops on Blackness, queerness, gender, fatness, disabilities—and their intersections.

Connect with Da’Shaun on Instagram, Twitter, and their website.

Resources mentioned or recommended:

Jordan Best