Time To Talk About Thin Privilege

In 1993, I was a dietetic intern at University Hospital in Syracuse, New York. One day we had a patient who was too large to be weighed on the standard hospital scale that was in the nutrition clinic.  I was tasked with walking him down to the shipping and trash area to get his weight on the scale that they used for large parcels…..not typically for patients.  I will never forget how awkward the walk felt and how terrible it made me feel to have to bring a patient to the dirty basement of the hospital to get a weight on him.  And I am pretty sure my thoughts were not WITH him and how unfair it was that the hospital did not have size inclusive medical equipment BUT that what can we do to help him lose the weight to be able to use the standard scale.  And no one taught me any different, as my mentors felt the same way.  Our job was to teach this patient how to lose weight.  I never was able to find out the end of the story, but I am pretty sure I know how it ended up. 

Privilege is a topic I have been wanting to publicly unpack, yet, I worry I will offend someone or say something silly and I want to “get it right”. Especially in this area.  For the most part, I was born with privilege.  I was born into a white suburban, upper middle-class family in the United States of America.  I have parents that love me (more than they loved each other), and I have always had a roof over my head and food on the table.  Life was not always peaches and cream and we had our own personal struggles, for sure, but in terms of basic needs, I never had to struggle.  And yes, I know I am blessed.

I also have “thin privilege”.  When I first heard that term, I had mixed feelings but that is because I did not understand it fully.  Being in the health sphere for my entire adult life, I was not ignorant of the fact that I would have clients that would say to me, “but you do not know what it feels like to be fat”. I would very quickly reply that while I have never been extremely overweight, when I was younger, I was “much” heavier and I struggled to be comfortable in my own skin.  I would very quickly whip out photos of myself in my self-named “fluffy” years.  And I would try to demonstrate that I too, “understood”.

But that is NOT what “thin privilege” means.  Well, it is “part” of it, but not really.

“The term “thin privilege” is meant to highlight this systemic disparity, and to call out the fact that dignity and respect and equitable treatment shouldn’t be privileges reserved for smaller-bodied folks at ALL—they should be universal rights afforded to everyone, no matter their size.” (Christy Harrison, May 7.2019 blog).    

Having “thin privilege” does not mean that you have never been body shamed, never loathed your own body, never had body dissatisfaction or disordered eating/eating disorder.  But what it does mean is that you have the privilege of walking into any clothing store and finding clothes that can fit your body.  It means that when you go to the doctor for a persistent cough, you do not run the risk of your medical professional telling you to lose weight and not running potentially life saving diagnostic tests.  It means you are not shamed when you go to the doctor, so you actually DO go get yearly physicals.  It means when you go to the doctor’s office, there are chairs that are able to hold your body size and blood pressure cuffs and scales that you can use.  It means that when you get on an airplane to go on a much needed vacation, you do not stress for weeks before because you know that you cannot fit into the seats and will get glares from fellow passengers hoping you do not sit next to them and spill into their seat too.  It means that you can walk into a fitness club and not immediately feel uncomfortable and then when you go to walk on the treadmill the weight requirement is not high enough. I could go on and on and this is what it means to have thin privilege because I have had NONE of that.  I can go through life and not have that constant additional stress that IS dangerous to your health. More so than the weight itself. I am not deemed lazy, unfit, unworthy or unhealthy because of what I look like and I am not always having to cover up with humor and being the “funny” one – like stereotypes like to portray.    

One of my biggest missions is to help break down these barriers because it truly is bullshit.  Living in a larger body should NOT be so hard.  And our society makes it so challenging.  I will 100% admit that I had prejudice towards those living in larger bodies.  I could not understand why they would not want to change their circumstances.  I felt it WAS my mission to help them to change their bodies to FIT INTO SOCIETY!  How messed up is that?? It is not a moral obligation to live in a smaller body.  And, most often it is not possible – even if one has the desire to change. This is proven in the success of long-term intentional weight loss (over 5 years) that is ONLY successful in 5-10%. Yet, the world is not built physically, socially OR medically (Most MRI machines are not accessible) for those that live in a larger body.  

There are many fat activists and larger bodied HAES professionals that I believe should have this platform.  This IS their life.  This IS their experience.  BUT, I will be loud and proud cheering them on and walking right behind them to help blaze the trail.

Yes.  I have privilege and I will not let it hold me back from holding space for those that deserve it.