WHAT WE'RE ABOUT
We are constantly redefining our own perspectives, and therefore tend to write a lot about our personal experiences. Many followers and contributors are living with anorexia, bulimia, body dysmorphic disorder, depression, and a variety of other body image disorders or mental illnesses, so please be respectful and remember that health applies differently to everyone. Any and all potentially triggering content will be prefaced with a trigger warning.
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Ugh I am so glad this discussion is being had because it seems like the discussion about smaller fats vs. larger fats usually assumes a “larger fat” to be like a 20/22? And I’m like what about the rest of us? And the “rest of us” shouldn’t be a…
I’ve never heard this term ‘death fat’ before, it sounds so final, so hopeless. I like Gabriel’s term, fluffy. Also I like alterabled in place of disabled, its more accurate and respectful.
To quote the deathfatties tumblr:
“Deathfatty” was coined in thefatshionista Livejournal community and serves as a mantle for those who are categorised by the (rather daft and flawed) BMI chart as morbidly obese.
It’s a tongue-in-cheek term that some fatties choose to identify with as an alternate to “morbidly obese”.
To quote Leslie Kinzel:
1) Death fat is funny. It’s pointing out the ridiculousness of “morbid obesity” as determined by the BMI scale, considering this measurement marks not only Actual Fat People as in danger of being killed by numbers on a scale, but many athletes as well, simply because BMI works based only on height and weight and does not calculate for the types of tissue making up an allegedly-morbidly-obese body.
2)Death fat is funny.It’s highlighting that “morbid obesity” is an hilariously-overwrought turn of phrase*, particularly given the simple reality that not everyone who falls under this category is in imminent danger – or even long-term danger – of death by fat.
3) DEATH FAT IS FUNNY. Laughter relieves stress; for example, the stress of being a fat person who is routinely told – by an individual and/or by cultural discourse as a whole – that you are morally suspect, intellectually-inferior, physically-disgusting, and/or ultimately doomed to die (unlike, uh, everyone else). Dealing with the above is occasionally stressful even for me, and I have the good fortune to possess a healthy dose of criticism with which to process it.
Fat people are not fluffy. They are fat. They are allowed to identify with whatever words or phrases they think best label their experience.
Fluffy-versions of the term “disabled” like “alterabled” are actually not preferred or enforced by most people who LIVE with disabilities.
Are you deathfat? Are you disabled? No? Then best not try to dictate how these groups of people IDENTIFY THEMSELVES.