CENTERING THE MOST MARGINALIZED
Categories of Fat Access
INTRODUCTION
Feedists for Fat Liberation (“FFL”) began the “Categories of Fat Access” project in June 2022 in an attempt to develop a common nomenclature to help the organization align with its guiding principle of centering the voices of the most marginalized. FFL also wanted to build inclusive definitions to meet people’s needs and to help ensure that the organization’s tailored programming reaches its intended audiences. More broadly, FFL wanted to help folks who aren’t sure where they belong on the fat spectrum.
The project stands on the shoulders of other work, including that of a Facebook group for the largest fats that points out that their shared experience is more than the size discrimination, fat oppression, and internalized anti-fat bias faced by people all sizes of fat. Rather, it’s about the very real barriers to access that the largest fat people experience because of their size. Fluffy Kitten Party’s Fategories provides a helpful framework for the spectrum of fatness, along with a history of how terms like “superfat,” “infinifat,” and “deathfat” came into existence. Like many fat folks, FFL finds that the fat category charts often reposted on social media perpetuate harm by framing fatness in terms of gendered clothing sizes; by centering the smallest fats by listing them first; and by a failure of imagination that places everyone over a certain clothing size in the same bucket of lived experience (superfat, inifinifat, deathfat).
FFL’s approach is different. This effort centers the experience of the largest fat people in two primary ways. First, our categories are based on lived experience, rather than a clothing size. Second, the lived experiences of the most marginalized – those who are most subject to anti-fat bias – are centered while the lived experiences of smaller fats are contrasted. Additionally, our tables reflect the heterogeneous nature of superfat/infinifat/deathfat people by differentiating among the largest fat people – again, based on lived experience.
CATEGORY LABELS
In this document, we refer to various categories of fat access based on the experience of how a person is impacted by anti-fat bias. Not all people are impacted by anti-fat bias equally. Fatter individuals experience more anti-fat bias and to represent this increase in experience we’re looking to find new category names to represent the levels of anti-fat bias different individuals receive.
| LEVEL | DEFINITION |
|---|---|
| Level 1 | Inaccessibility |
| Level 2 | Restricted Access |
| Level 3 | Limited Access |
| Level 4 | Basic Access |
| Level 5 | Systemic Access |
ABOUT THE TEAM
The FFL “Categories of Fat Access” project members are based in the U.S. and consist of:
- A 65-year-old cis white queer disabled woman who identifies as Level 3, and experiences Limited Access
- A 36-year-old cis, white, pansexual woman who identifies as a Level 3, and experiences Limited Access
- A 31-year-old cis white queer woman who identifies as a Level 2, and experiences Restricted Access
- A 34-year-old mixed trans woman who identifies as a Level 4, and experiences Basic Access
- A 39-year-old cis white butch lesbian who identifies as Level 2, and experiences Restricted Access
DISCLAIMER & FEEDBACK
We recognize that our project members do not represent every intersection of fat person. We do not speak for every lived experience. But we have reached out to various groups and invited feedback and dialogue. We have made changes based on that feedback. We are always learning and unlearning. Please continue to learn with us. If you have feedback, we encourage you to reach out via [email protected].
TAKE THE QUIZ!
Take the Quiz: Which Category of Accessibility Fits You?