Please, let fat people describe our own bodies — Just say fat. Not “curvy” or “chubby” or “chunky” or “fluffy” or “more to love” or “big guy” or “full-figured” or “big-boned” or “queen size” or “husky” or “obese” or “overweight.” Just say fat. Do not screw up your face, straining as you reach for phrases like “he…struggles with his…

An invitation to deepen straight cis allyship — Note: contains discussion of anti-queer and anti-trans violence, including suicide. I’ll never forget my first Pride. I had been one of precious few out kids in my small high school at the turn of the millennium. My experience of queerness, like many before me, was one of isolation. There is…

I learned the quiet heartbreak of losing someone who truly understood what it meant to live in a body like mine — I was 18 the first time I met a fat sister in arms. It was my first semester of college, and we immediately gravitated toward one another, buoys in the choppy waters of an unfamiliar sea. That year, we became closer than either of us expected. Both of us had…

This popular phrase might be comforting, but it also perpetuates weight stigma — “I’ll give you my old dress! You’ll love it.” A family friend is offering a kind gift: a dress she thinks I’ll like. She is a size 10. I am a size 26. “That’s so sweet of you,” I say. “But I don’t think it’ll fit.” “It’s got a lot…

New to working from home? Here are some best practices from someone who’s been working remotely for a year. — I never thought I was a work from home person. I’d spent a dozen years in high-pressure jobs in big and bustling offices. I couldn’t fathom staying motivated without the exoskeleton of regular meetings, accountable face-to-face relationships with colleagues, and more. I couldn’t imagine a work world so different than…

Bias against fat people is on the rise — and it’s harming our health, relationships, and self-esteem — The conversation is always the same and no less heartbreaking for its familiarity. After days, weeks, months of talking with their fat friends and family, a straight-size person (that is, someone who doesn’t wear plus sizes) realizes that anti-fat bias isn’t just the work of devoted bigots, bad actors hell-bent…

Fat patients are getting worse health care than ever. Here are 10 recommendations that can help. — I spent nearly a decade away from doctors’ offices. I was insured. I could afford my copay. But I weighed around 400 pounds, and nearly every doctor I saw made it clear that bodies like mine weren’t worth their time. So I simply stopped going. And I’m not alone. 62%…

What do “size-inclusive” clothing lines offer plus size people? — It was 105 degrees outside — a nightmare for someone like me. I am 36 years old and 338 pounds, which means strangers regularly comment on my body, my clothing, what I eat. Despite spending the lion’s share of my life on weight loss programs, my body remains stubbornly the…

On the eve of its return, the weight-loss juggernaut is haunted by disturbing reports from former contestant — Celebrity fitness trainer Jillian Michaels seems to want it both ways: She insists that she’s “inclusive” when talking about people’s bodies, yet at the same time she can’t help but editorialize on the body of a plus-size pop star. This most recent series of public jabs isn’t a simple gaffe…