New Zealand Fat Studies Conference 2020

Fat Studies: Past, Present, Futures

Sea Matheson, Independent Scholar/Activist

E-mail: seamatheson@yahoo.com

TITLE:

Embracing Fatness as Self-Care in the Era of Trump

ABSTRACT:

Current discourse surrounding self-care is often dominated by sizeism and fatphobic

attitudes. These problems are augmented in a time when we have an openly fatphobic president.

Donald Trump’s racism, xenophobia, homophobia, and transphobia are openly discussed and

protested while the president’s fatphobia often remains ignored. Not only does he rely on sizeist

tropes to shame women, but he is also known for favoring his own children based on their

adherence to hegemonic, patriarchal conceptions of beauty. This paper argues for an embracing

and reclaiming of fatness as an act of self-care in the era of Trump. Because of this leader’s

bigotry, fatness acts as a distancing mechanism from the president, producing physical and

ideological space that can insulate the individual from intolerant ideology.
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE:

Sea Matheson (they, them) is an activist based out of Austin, TX. They have worked to

bring awareness and understanding of the fat and nonbinary community to many events such as

the Women's March, March for Our Lives, and most recently, the Global Climate Strikes. Sea

focuses on fat activism, as even in intersectional communities, discourse often focuses on race

and gender and ignores or silences fat voices.

Introduction

Current discourse surrounding self-care is often dominated by sizeism and fatphobic

attitudes. These problems are augmented in a time when we have an openly fatphobic president.

Donald Trump’s racism, xenophobia, homophobia, and transphobia are openly discussed and

protested while the president’s fatphobia is often ignored. Not only does he rely on sizeist tropes

to shame women, but he is also known for favoring his own children based on their adherence to

hegemonic, patriarchal conceptions of beauty. This paper argues for an embracing and

reclaiming of fatness as an act of self-care in the era of Trump. Because of this leader’s bigotry,

fatness acts as a distancing mechanism from the president, producing physical and ideological

space that can insulate the individual from intolerant ideology.

Fatphobia in U.S. Elections

Content Warning: Fatphobia.

It is widely acknowledged that the 2016 election of Donald Trump was evidence of

America’s racist, xenophobic, homophobic, and transphobic attitudes. Trump’s fatphobia has

received relatively little attention. Trump regularly engages in attacks on fat bodies. Trump is

known to target women with his attacks, referring to women having faces that are “fat” and

“ugly” (Shear, 2018). Trump’s fatphobia even reaches into the United States’ international

relations: in his dealings with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, Trump referred to the North

Korean leader as “short and fat” (Ward, 2017). Thus, Donald Trump’s fatphobic attacks often

intersect with his misogyny and xenophobia.

assaults. As reported in the Atlantic, Trump recently attacked a man he thought was a protester at

one of his rallies. Trump pointed out the man in the crowd and said, “That guy’s got a serious

weight problem,” and told him to “go home… and start exercising” (Levin, 2019). As it turned

out, the individual was not a protester, but actually one of Trump’s supporters. In a similar vein,

Trump’s personal assistant was fired after leaking the info that Trump refused to be in pictures

with his daughter Tiffany because he perceived her to be “overweight” (Lippman, 2019).

One might assume that because prominent publications have covered Trump’s fatphobic

attacks, that there is a large segment of Americans who are actively rejecting fatphobic attitudes,

but precisely the opposite is true. Many publications hostile to Trump, publications that in fact

claim to be pushing a progressive agenda, have covered Trump’s fatphobia in an extremely

problematic manner. Atlantic writer Bess Levin responded to Trump’s devaluation of fat bodies,

not by calling out Trump’s bigotry, but by engaging in a further degradation of fatness, noting

that Trump was “definitionally obese” and “could share clothes with Jabba the Hutt” (Levin,

2019). When it comes to many aspects of Trump’s bigotry--his racism, his xenophobia, his

transphobia--Trump’s opponents appropriately call that bigotry for what it is. But when Trump is

fatphobic, they resort to fighting fire with fire, using fatphobia in their own critiques.

Indeed, many of Trump’s opponents openly engage in fatphobia themselves, with

presidential candidate Andrew Yang saying Trump is “so fat” and that the only thing Trump

could beat him at is an “eating contest” (Panetta 2019). Biden recently lashed out a campaign

event, calling an attendee “fat” and challenging him to start an exercise program (Mangan,

2019). Most recently, Nancy Pelosi drew applause from progressive circles by calling Donald

Trump “morbidly obese” (Wilstein, 2020). Thus, while Trump’s racism, homophobia,
transphobia, and xenophobia are rightfully rejected by those in progressive circles, his fatphobia

is quite often problematically embraced and affirmed. Individuals have noticed an increased need

for self-care in the era of Trump (Benincasa, 2017). The discourse of self-care, however, often

relies on sizeist tropes itself, with encouragement to “eat less” and “lose weight.”

This context necessitates a reclaiming of fatness in the era of Trump. What follows is an

ethnography of my attempts at affirming my own body as an act of self-care. I will outline my

experiences at fattening my body as an act of self-care. I will also elucidate the ways in which

this fattening and performing of fatness in public spaces can produce physical space between me

and those who are allied with the far-right agenda of Trump. Furthermore, I will explore the

ways in which fat bodies can produce not only physical but also ideological space from the

United States’ fatphobic leader, insulating and protecting the individual against bigoted attitudes.

Fatness as Self-Care

Content Warning: Sexual Assault

It is common in conversations about self-care to exhibit a clear anti-fat bias. Many who

do so may not even realize it. Take this quotation from this New York Times about self-care. “Or

let’s say your health has dipped. In that case, self-care for you might focus on building a workout

routine” (Herrera, 2020). Here the linking of “health” with working out is an example of clear

anti-fat bias. Perhaps this bias is unconscious. Perhaps it is not. In another New York Times

article entitled, “You Can Take Care of Yourself in Coronavirus Quarantine or Isolation Starting

Right Now” (Goldfarb, 2020), columnist Anna Goldfarb devotes a majority of her word-count to

talk of exercise. Do I believe that The New York Times hates fat people? I would rather not

comment on that. The point remains that fatness is seen as antithetical to self-care. This is not

only mistaken, but a misinformed, yet regularly perpetuated point of view. Not only is fatness
consistent with a robust self-care routine. It is one of the most effective forms of self-care in the

age of Trump.

So much of the discussion surrounding self-care centers around space. Individuals

express a need for “some space.” Persons are said to be in a good or bad “headspace.” The

publication Mashable even highlighted the efforts of astronauts to practice self-care in outer

“space” (Connellan, 2020). Space is an important element of self-care. And one tool for creating

both ideological and physical space is fatness.

I would like to note, that while this is an academic conference, as both a non-binary and

fat individual, I have lived this. I have been misgendered repeatedly by strangers. And even after

clarifying my preferred pronouns, my colleagues often still misgender me with regularity. To be

clear, I understand that it is often not done out of malice. But even the accidental misgendering

of someone like myself, a CLEARLY female individual, is indicative of the influence, both

cognizant and subliminal from the President as well as our current patriarchal structures have in

conditioning people’s perceptions of those in the non-binary community.

I’ve experienced the same as an active member of the fat community. With family and

friends feeling it appropriate to suggest exercise or dietary measures to change my appearance, to

fit into a stereotype which is long since antiquated. There is no excuse in 2020, for any

individual other than myself to suggest what I do with my own body. So while the facts and data

will illustrate the problem at large, it is confirmed through personal experience.

When I was younger, I was on several occasions touched or fondled sexually. On some of

these occasions this was done without my permission. In college and graduate school, however, I

gained a significant amount of weight. At first I was driven to shame by friends and family, who

suggested that I was not practicing self care. “You need to take better care of yourself!” they
would say. At this point I did not yet identify as fat. I still perceived myself as someone who had,

to use the fatphobic language of my friends and family, “just gained some freshman pounds.”

One day, however, that all changed. I was fueling my vehicle at a nearby gas station, and as I

reached for my receipt, a man reached out and tried to touch me. Sexually. On this occasion, I

realized that I wasn’t worried. Why wasn’t I worried? I realized in that moment that because of

my fat, this stranger, regardless of his perseverance, was very unlikely to be able to grab my

genitalia. It was a revelation: my fatness was self-care. My fatness had protected me.

From that point on, I actively identified as fat. I realized that once I was always-already

being perceived as a “fat” subject by the male gaze, I protected myself from the baser impulses

of toxic masculinity and rape culture. Once I embraced fatness, and actively worked to distance

myself from a heteronormative body, the cat-calling I had once experienced completely ceased.

Some may advocate changes to a woman’s appearance or dress in order to avoid sexual assault.

This is clearly victim blaming and should be rejected. But when women live in fear, when one in

four women on colleges campuses are assaulted, I believe embracing fatness is an act of

resistance against rape culture. Fatness, embracing a fat identity, ensuring one is always already

perceived as a fat subject--these actions become performative acts of resistance as well as

self-care in Trump’s America.

Especially in this tumultuous time, as deaths from COVID19 surge over one-hundred

thousand, space is of critical importance. Space is, these days, often a matter of life and death.

Recently, I was patroning my favorite grocer. There I saw a man without a mask. And though

this man decided not to protect others by wearing a mask, he had taken the time that morning to

put on his “Make America Great Again” cap. But I was not worried. I knew that, because of my

fat, I was guaranteed at least a certain amount of space. If you believe the Trump-puppet
National Institutes of Health, you may believe that fat is a threat to your life. But in many ways,

it may save your life. I used to feel guilty about eating certain foods and drinking certain soft

drinks, but no longer. Every scoop of Ben and Jerry’s “Coffee Toffee Bar Crunch” ice cream is

an act of resistance not only against homophobia, but against fatphobia. As the waist size on my

jeans increases, so does my power.

We unfortunately live under the rule of an administration who have repeatedly and

definitively displayed an anti-science agenda. And that agenda includes antiquated presumptions

of a correlation between “obesity” and poor health. Just like the President’s stance on climate

change, or even his directly anti-scientific approach to the current CoVid19 pandemic (which has

resulted in tens of thousands of additional lives needlessly lost), so too could the current

approach and push for un-scientific measures in relation to self-care like the conventional

paradigm of “diet and exercise”.

Conclusion

Personal fatness is a visible statement. It says, “I do not conform. I do not submit. I

decide what I do with my body and no one else. Not you, not a medical professional, and

certainly not Donald J. Trump.” It says, “Keep your distance. I am not one of you. Arbitrary

standards of so-called health do not rule me. I will not participate in your mutual bullying. I am

an individual. I am here, and I am resisting.” Fat is there. And it is not silent.

Benincasa, S. (2017). Self-Care Will Be More Important Than Ever In The Age Of Trump.

Refinery29.

https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2017/01/136943/self-care-ideas-sara-benincasa-trump-

presidency

Connellan, S. (2019). How do astronauts practice self-care in space? Mashable.

https://mashable.com/article/astronauts-self-care/

Goldfarb, A. (2020). You Can Take Care of Yourself in Coronavirus Quarantine or Isolation

Starting Right Now. The New York Times.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/20/style/self-care/isolation-exercise-meditation-corona

virus.html

Herrera, T. (2020). How to Make Self-Care Actually Feel Like Self-Care. The New York Times.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/03/smarter-living/self-care-routines-that-actually-help.

html

Levin, B. (2019). Whoopsie: the “protester” Trump called fat is actually a Trump supporter. The

Atlantic.

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2019/08/donald-trump-protester-weight-problem

Lippman, D. (2019). Trump's personal assistant fired after comments about Ivanka, Tiffany.

Politico.

https://www.politico.com/story/2019/08/30/trumps-personal-assistant-fired-ivanka-tiffany

-1479226

Mangan, D. (2019). ‘You’re a damn liar, man!’ – Joe Biden blasts Iowa voter, calls him ‘fat’

after man repeats Ukraine smear. CNBC.

-accusation.html

Panetta, G. (2019). 2020 Democrat Andrew Yang says Trump is 'so fat' and that the only thing

Trump could beat him at is an 'eating contest'. Business Insider.

https://www.businessinsider.com/andrew-yang-calls-trump-fat-and-a-slob-2019-8

Shear, M. and E. Sullivan. (2018). ‘Horseface,’ ‘lowlife,’ ‘fat, ugly’: how the President demeans

women. The New York Times.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/16/us/politics/trump-women-insults.html

Ward, A. (2017). Trump's latest tweetstorm called Kim Jong Un “short and fat”. Vox.

https://www.vox.com/2017/11/12/16639462/trump-kim-north-korea-russia-twitter

Wilstein, M. (2020). Nancy Pelosi calls Trump ‘morbidly obese.’ The Daily Beast.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/19/politics/nancy-pelosi-donald-trump-fat-hydroxychloroq

uine/index.html