The Relentless Fatphobia of Children's TV 

The only time I can think of that a skinny character was portrayed as evil and a fat character as good is the Emperor’s New Groove.

I would also like to shout out to Willow from The Owl House, whose design never becomes less curvy but who also gets more confident and even athletic as she opens up more without anyone addressing her weight.

something i really liked about bojack horseman was when diane was nervous about going onto antidepressants because she might gain weight. and then she went on them. and she gained weight. and no one treated her like crap for it, and even at teh end of the series, she's still fat. and its okay.

When I was 14, my hand swelled to double its size in orchestra class. My mom picked me up and took me to the doctor the same day. Without any blood tests, any scans, any tests of any kind, the doctor looked me over and diagnosed me with diabetic cellulitis. He gave my mom a packet on amputation information and told her to call tomorrow to schedule the surgery. I was a chubby kid. I don’t have-nor have I ever had-diabetes. Of course we didn’t fucking amputate my writing hand on a hunch and went to get tests. Turns out I was born with Ankylosing Spondylitis, and this was my first flare. That was the day I stopped trusting doctors like I did.

I was a chubby kid growing up. I tried to own it, I tried to joke about it, but the cruelty never stopped. It drove me to a very unhealthy eating disorder where I was wasting away. The media I consumed growing up ABSOLUTELY influenced that. Even the dreaded Harry Potter made me feel like a monster for being chubby.

I know that he's technically fit for what species he is, but Po from the Kung Fu Panda series is someone I always think of for positive fat representation. Him using his weight to his advantage not only reflects and mirrors real East Asian martial arts techniques but his story all throughout the films have always been one about accepting and believing in yourself no matter what. I wish we had more stories like his.

Medical fatphobia is So Very Bad. My previous family doctor was convinced I was too fat for my age bracket (14-18) and kept pushing me to lose weight- so much so I skipped meals and did even more workouts outside of the advanced martial arts I was already doing. It stunted my growth permanently and gave me a muscle tissue disorder I'll need surgeries to fix on a regular basis for the rest of my life. The kicker is, I was actually perfectly healthy and the "fat" he had me losing was the same muscle I was trying to build up with all that working out. I shouldn't have been competing with my mother to see who could shed weight the quickest while I was still growing like that.

The Augustus Gloop song always pissed me off. Like, you’re going to work in a CANDY factory and insult a kid for being fat??? There really was a message similar to Ratatouille: you can be obsessed with candy and eating tasty food, but only if you remain skinny while doing it.

god existing as a fat kid is literally so traumatizing

What I hate is how we millenials weren't taught to be healthy, we were taught to be afraid. Fearful eating habits are not healthy ones.

I'll never forget being 12 years old, volunteering at a friendship feast, having some elderly woman ask me "how long are you?" Stupid me didn't understand what she could be asking and awkwardly replied with my height, She then clarified that no, she meant how far along in my pregnancy. In my complete shock I stumbled out that I'm 12, When she acted embarrassed I thought at the time (again, idiot) that she was embarrassed to ask if a little kid was pregnant when I'm obviously just chubby, but now looking back I realized that she probably just thought I was a delinquent or abused. So yeah, existing as a fat kid is traumatizing.

30:52 “the most insidious of all might be utilizing fat phobic stereotypes to encourage laughter at a fat character for daring to assume that they could be respected, desired, or loved. The idea that the only thing funnier than a fat person is one deluded enough to think that they aren't fat or that their fatness doesn't matter there.” oh my god, this hit so insanely hard. as someone who grew up fat all my life, i still have a crippling fear of trying to be taken seriously because i was raised as a kid to believe my fatness restricted me from being respected at all. thank u for putting into words what i couldn’t.

I think that one really good example of emotional growth actually show through someone getting larger is Bojack Horseman. When Diane goes on anti-depressants she gets larger I really related to that as someone who also gained weight while on anti depressants. It made me feel less alone.

The Bluey plot is kind of disappointing but it feels so real and uncomfortable to me. How many of us have seen our parents' comment on their bodies in shame wen we were little?

I grew up fat. It was a miserable existence, one where my peers took every chance to remind me that they saw as me as lesser. My parents did a god awful job of encouraging healthy eating habits, and my severe childhood asthma and allergies made me prefer more indoorsy activities. I've been shamed by peers and teachers alike, and have gotten blatant dismissal from so-called medical professionals. My attempts to lose weight are mostly unsuccessful because they often come from a place of self-loathing and disgust. It's honestly just not okay. We all deserve to feel like we can just *exist* without someone taking personal offense to our mere presence.

Steven Universe was honestly incredible regarding this. I grew up with a lot of fat shaming bs on TV that translated onto how i was treated as a fat kid in any facet of my life. So seeing Rose Quartz being admired and being portrayed as this masterful beauty almost made me cry. As a fat girl, you‘re not allowed to be pretty. Or even identify as a woman. Despite you being cis. If you‘re fat, you‘re a unlovable ogre that nobody will ever love and a laughing stock for everyone else. And this bs has certainly ruined me in many aspects. But nobody ever talks about the trauma you have to deal with when you‘re treated this way from birth essentially. Even videos like this that are technically on my side regarding the topic trigger me so much I wanna cry and throw up. Ppl don‘t know how bad fatphobia is. And people also don‘t get the damage they are doing to fat kids. And it makes you wonder if health is just a tool to justify abuse since mental health doesn‘t seem to matter for these targets. It‘s honestly just infuriating. It took me so long to cope with it all. And to also feel confident in myself again. I used to be a wreck. And nobody ever gave a damn. Now I‘m a adult taking up space and not giving a damn if skinny aholes think i‘m greedy cause i wanna be treated fairly. I don‘t care about their feelings anymore. And if you‘re fat, you shouldn‘t either. Life is too prechious to waste it on self hate and eating disorders. Be proud of being yourself. And everyone who‘s a hater can die in a ditch. We shouldn‘t give those freaks a single thought. Do your thing, and appreciate yourself. Cause your body carried you this far. And that‘s a good thing.

"I'm Glad My Mom Died" by Jennette McCurdy brings up a scary issue. (She was the best friend character in iCarly.) When she started going through puberty, which resulted in her developing a more curvy figure, her mother helped teach her how to restrict her eating and count calories, helping to keep her as skinny as possible for longer to counter-act puberty, which would allow her to continue playing younger roles for longer. She says that it got bad enough that it was diagnosable as anorexia or bulimia. Part of the extreme praise of thinness is directly connected to the idea of being young. Thin is associated with youth, and therefor, desirability. Fat children sometimes get ignored by adults, not intentionally in a neglectful way, but just seen as less desirable to spend time with, engage with in hobbies, or being selected for special roles in group settings. It's no surprise that fat and overweight children are also perceived to be older or "more mature" than they actually are, and thus are treated differently.

'Ths joke being that characters like Grenda are expressing romantic desire despite being undesirable to everyone around them' That's just summed up my biggest childhood fear, I've always kept my crush secret even from my friends because I'm terrified they will see me as the pathetic fat girl pining after someone who could never like her back, and media is where I learned that fat girls expressing romantic desires is pathetic and delusional

growing up with skinnier friends than you also was just so isolating because anytime you talked about your insecurities or how you wish there were fat characters they just don’t understand why its so important. seeing animated characters having a larger bodytype for the first time as a kid was one of the first times i didnt wanna change my body. i was surrounded by fatphobia in my family so seeing fat characters just exist as likeable people was something that made me feel understood and valued even as a child.

I defended my PhD when I was at my heaviest weight, firmly in the "obese" range. Still ended up with a Dr. in front of my name! Your weight does not reflect your intellect or determination, and anyone who thinks otherwise doesn't deserve to advise you anyway. 💕

"Medical fatphobia can harm patients through misdiagnosis" I literally have permanent organ damage from medical fatphobia Yes I got second opinionS, it doesn't matter when they're ALL fatphobic 🤷🏼

It does seem like protagonists are trim or muscular while antagonists, comical goofs, and bullies are stereotypically overweight. It’s precisely why we try to bring out more body positivity in hopes we see more diversity among both types of characters. And for goodness sake, don’t pick on anyone for any body type.

Another great example of representation is bobby hill from king of the hill. One of my favorite episodes is the one where bobby needs new pants, and when he goes to a store for plus size kids, his mom is embarrased on his behalf and tries to use terms like “chunky” or “big boned” trying to keep him from being embarrassed, and he proceeds to tell her that he knows she means the term “fat”. He explains that it’s okay, and he’s proud of his body as-is. king of the hill got a lot right.

Thank you for making this video. This might be a bit silly, but seeing the new fionna and cake show and how they drew fionna clearly chubby has literally changed my life. adventure time was such a special show to me when i was younger and seeing the main heroine look like me literally moves me to tears

steven universe gets a lot of hate but it honestly has some amazing body positivity and representation in it (sorry if this was mentioned in the video i'm not done yet)

I lost 6 stone in 7 months due to a sudden loss of eating (I was terrified of being sick and didn’t want to eat AT ALL) and during that time I was told constantly; “Oh wow you look great!” And “you are so thin now you look healthier” which wtf?? I’ve never cared much about my body looks but losing all that weight and then being told how ‘good’ I look is incredibly messed up- even after telling others how I was afraid of eating they would just joke around saying how they wish they could do that too?! Fatphobic mentalities are awful

I’m so exhausted by people who “yeah BUT-“ and say things like “but it’s a choice” or “you can change it” or “you don’t deserve to feel marginalized because you could just exercise” like I’m so tired. So tired. If I could choose to not be fat I would in a heartbeat. Because to me it’s not worth the struggles I go through and the things I miss out on. But it’s a constant struggle and I’m constantly losing that struggle. I was given a handicap early in life by my own parents. Some people have a luckier head start

Even when I was a kid, I would look at hourglass characters then at myself then at people in the world. None of them had perfect boobs, flat stomach, and good hips. I was chubby, I had a skinny flat friend, my mom was curvy but plus sized, etc. it always seemed like they didn’t look at real people for reference when designing characters

I think this is part of why I love Luisa from encanto so much, like she is muscular but she’s also broad beneath all that - I am built like my dad and am really broad and it always felt like a moral failing to me growing up that I wasn’t super skinny

Peppa pig’s dad gets legitimately fat shamed every episode but no one says anything about that 🤨

this one's a bit of a silly one but one of my favourite fat main characters is Peppino from Pizza Tower. he's based on a stereotypical Italian archetype but he has a lot of positive traits. he's determined, brave, strong, resilient, he doesn't let his anxieties get him down and instead utilises them to his best ability. he's adaptive, fast on his feet (he does a LOT of running through the entire game; it's a core part of his character that he's fast), and he ends up becoming good friends with everyone by the end of the game. he goes through hell and back to save his home - his pizzeria. he's a really inspiring and relatable character to me and him being chubby adds to that a lot. i wish there were way more character like him, he's a good role model :) oh yeah and he can BREAKDANCE!!!

I just came back to this video to say, the creators of Bluey listened to the feedback and have since changed the episode removing the mirror scene. ❤

As a fat person, I am extremely touched that someone more on the skinny side would make a whole video on us and how weight and fatness is shown in media. It often feels like it’s only fat people speaking up about it. Non-fat allies are so rare, and so valuable. Thank you for this, sincerely.

As a child Sophie from Anastasia was my idol. Pretty, confident, feminine, flirty. She just existed in fabulousness. It was the first time I'd seen a fat woman portrayed in that way and it gave me hope.

i never actually saw the grenda/marius reveal that way, i always felt like the message of that episode was that mabel and candy were hypocritical for seeing her as someone undesirable and that their ideas of what you have to look like to be loved were wrong. i do completely agree about grenada’s masculinization though, it’s weird and dehumanizing and she was very much a “joke,” but I thought at least northwest mansion mystery did her justice. this video meant a lot to me as someone with fat parents and who’s still recovering from anorexia. i developed my disordered eating when I was THIRTEEN. way too young. i really hope we get to a better place in media someday and this shit is mocked.

What is good representation of any demographic. The answer is simple. A person. That’s it. Just treating and portraying characters like people. People are fat, people are thin, and have thousands of variations between. So often, those who are bigoted forget that the demographics they want to erase and kill off are people. Representation in every media matters, it directly shapes the way people see other people.

Really got to give extra props to Steven Universe, whose entire family unit is heavy, and yet it's never ever an issue or played for laughs. There's an episode where Steven tries to get fitter, but it's not to do with his weight, it's for being a better fighter. His mother Rose (though there's a lot more going on there) is both tall *and* heavy, and that's one of the first things that drew Greg to her (which isn't played for laughs either). And s1 Glimmer from She-Ra has the unbelievably rare body type to see on children's tv, the 'pear'. She is small breasted and narrow shouldered, wide hipped and wide-thighed, with a thick waist (usually characters who are allowed to be thick usually have a narrow waist to 'make up for it'). She's never presented as slow or less nimble because of her weight. It's hardly surprising that both of these shows came from queer creators.

I’ve always noticed too how attraction towards people with larger bodies is always treated as abnormal or as some type of fetish (despite being totally normal and a common preference for a lot of people).

I do feel like the stigma around being bigger as a kid/teen actually led to me gaining more weight. It played a role in worsening my depression and the anxiety around it led me to eat more and eating unhealthy foods because the shame I felt made me think "what's the point, I'm not going to be pretty anyway"

Fatphobia definitely impacted my mother's ability to access proper medical care. Her surgeries were pushed off over and over, she was left to become more bedridden because they didn't think it was worthwhile to give her physical therapy. And now she's dead. So this hits very hard. I wonder if I'll be allowed to have access to healthcare or of I'm just "too fat to deserve it".

As someone who's brother loves watching children cartoons, they can get away with SO much more shit than shows for adults. Not just fatphobia, but misogyny, racism, abelism, queerphobia and some stuff that I don't even know the name for but is weird. It's strange how you seeing the same stuff you watched at 5 years later and wonder how it was actually allowed to be aired around kids

I hate that Fat phobia is normalised in many kids' TV shows, which sends the message that people who are of a bigger build deserve our ridicule. Daddy Pig gets the brunt of this, to the point of a tree house password being "Daddy's big tummy", and Peppa laughing at him when he can't fit inside.

I recently watched every Disney channel cartoon pilot and this trope was really noticeable. Until recently, it was very common for there to be the third main character be a fat comic relief character, they always have them be butt of every joke.

I feel like the attitudes of fatphobia are in some ways rooted in ableism. Not because fatness itself is a disability (though many disabilities and treatments for disabilities do relate to weight), but because a person needs that ableist approach to arrive at fatphobia. To be fatphobic you need to be comfortable judging a person's character purely based off of their physicality and the presumptions you make about their capabilities. I have a broader theory about how ableism can in some ways be seen as the root of all prejudice but that's a whole essay.

The Shrek franchise has some epic body positive vibes. The brief scene of Shrek and Fiona shaving together in a mirror did wonders for me as a larger afab person with facial hair. I love that embracing being a “hideous” ogre was their happy fairytale ending!

One of the things that I really liked about Turning Red was the diversity among the group of girls and that they never used Abby as a source of comedic relief.

wow even in a video talking about the harm in fat shaming, people are still awful in the comments… i’ll worry about my own health honestly. at first, i was like omg why are people so awful? *sad face**sad face* but honestly, i know which weight is healthy for me and i’m doing what i can physically and mentally. the people that say awful things don’t care about my health, they care about inflicting their standards on others. even the “you’ll never find someone who will love you” bullshit is useless bc i’m aroace, i literally could not care less. and even if i did care, i know there’s someone for everyone. so at the end of the day, you’re not my partner, you’re not my mom, you’re not my doctor so you really have no say on my weight.

Due to stress and depression i lost a lot of weight over the past year, and the amount of happy comments i get when they tell me "You lost so much weight!". Im not happy about it, i constantly feel like shit and either forget to eat or don't feel hungry. On that same note I have being bullyied in school for being fat and being told that my body pain is due to me being overweight, up until now im afraid of going to the doctor despite my body constantly aching because im afraid i'm gonna be told that it's just because i'm overweight. Idk where im trying to get with this story but thanks a lot for talking about this Rowan.

Thanks for the Dead End shoutout! Shockingly, having a fat lead character often was a harder struggle then having a trans or queer lead character. There was a lot of pushback, or auto-pilot fatphobic jokes that found there way into early drafts of episodes. It felt like a constant battle to stamp that all out.

Princess Fiona’s storyline in Shrek really made me think as a child :) I was so surprised when she stayed as an ogre and it challenged my internalised bias.

I'm 30 and only realized recently that the reason I hate exercise like workouts but love "fun" in the form of outdoor games is because exercise in the gym, pilates, and so on have always been something I've done as self-punishment for for my "fatness". For the record, I've never even been "fat". Maybe a little chubby in some spots at best, but I've suffered severe body dysmorphia and eating disorders all the same.

I gained a lot of weight suddenly right before I graduated college even though I was very active. I have still had no luck in discovering why because every doctor ignores my explanation of what I was eating and how active I was and just lectures me about portion sizes. I’ve never been able to lose the weight I put on and am now overweight/obese and I keep feeling like there might be something out of balance but I’ve gone to several doctors and it’s like they’ve already decided before they talk to me. I even walked out of an appointment, for a basic checkup, because the female doctor spoke so condescendingly to me and refused to listen to what I said. I stood up, told her I would not be requiring her services, and walked out, but I was sobbing by the time I got to the car.

I am endlessly frustrated by people saying 'kids won't notice it'. Kids pick up on EVERYTHING (and they're kinda supposed to - they're learning how to human!). I grew up during the 'super skinny' body trends of the late 90s and early 00s and massively internalised that messaging. I had serious body dysmorphia by the time I was about 6/7. I was unaware of my neurodivergence and didn't understand why people didn't like me. My child brain interpreted it as 'I must be too fat' because of the kind of fat representation on tv and in the media. The people getting bullied and shamed were primarily fat (or perceived as such) so I concluded that 'I must be too, right?' and 'once i'm skinny enough, people will finally like me'. Good representation in media, especially children's, is invaluable.

We need more characters like Mikey on Recess. He was fat but he was also portrayed as being sensitive, artistic, and kind. His size occasionally was a theme of an episode but it was rarely the main focus. If they did address his weight it was usually sympathetic- addressing how other kids’ comments hurt him rather than implying that he was the one who needed to change. I think he’s a good model for future representation.

I don’t understand why people have an issue with the bluey one? There is nothing wrong with showing people who do want to change their bodies. Especially when its shown as a result of not being active enough. Why do y’all hate to admit that while no one should ever be told they are worth less for how their body is weight is still a reflection of health. Health isn’t a moral thing but how you promote health is. There is nothing wrong with someone who smokes cigarettes they aren’t a bad person but if they say it’s healthy then they are. Showing two adults notice they have gotten less healthy due to an inactive lifestyle and then making changes based on that isn’t “disordered” that’s what people should be doing. I really hope we can swing past this weird part of body positivity where we forget that we are a world becoming more and more inactive and weight related deaths are at an all time high.

This was a hard video to watch because of how hard and true it hits. Thank you for doing such a good job on this essay.

i'd also add mei from turning red to the list of positivie fat represntation. she's chubbier compared to her friends, but she's never shown to be insecure about it, even though the movie takes place in 2002 and the early 2000s were very fat phobic. there is a joke about her weight but it's also not really about her weight if you think about it. the joke is that one of her aunties claims that she's gained weight while the other claims that she's lost weight. the joke isn't that she's chubby, the joke is that older relatives feel the need to comment about every personal thing and that they can't seem to agree on whether or not she's lost or gained weight. i'm sure the joke would've stayed in had she been skinnier. There's also Abby, who i don't remember being the butt of any fatphobic jokes. it's been a year since i've seen the movie so maybe she was portrayed as being gluttonous, but i'm not sure about it. she is portrayed as very loud and angry but i thought that was more of the chihuahua stereotype rather than the "fat people are impolite" stereotype

I wish that more children's media would acknowledge that there's many different body types and shapes. An episode of Arthur had him try to diet, and come to the conclusion that healthy exercise helps to help you fit, but not before he has a fat shaming dream where he's ballooned to the size of a blob.

I’ve never watched Bluey. So I went in thinking the issue was the kids and wife mocking the dad for being overweight. Like on Peppa Pig where the whole family constantly roast the shit out of the Dad Pig for being fat. But no, Bluey just has both the mom and dad acknowledge that they’re chubby after using the scale and want to do something about it by exercising. There is literally no problem here.

Body shaming is never okay. However, educating children about how important exercise is for your health, is completely necessary. Fat people are just as beautiful as skinny people. Being fat isn't bad because it's "unattractive", it's bad because it can majorly hinder your quality of life. Especially if you're a child.

James Somerton's "The Gay Body Image Crisis" details the Queer side of the conversation.

I've also seen that it's agreed that Ned from Spiderman is really good fat representation - his weight is never pointed out nor is it the butt of any jokes and he's just allowed to exist and be a really likeable character in the movies

Womp womp

As someone who is underweight, fatphobia really upsets me. I've never received the hatred disguised as health advice from others, there's plenty of skinny characters in media too. My weight is just as unhealthy as obesity, so why don't people call out underweight people? Why is it so normalized to hate on someone just because of their body size? Only a qualified doctor should be giving weight advice, telling someone they're too fat or too thin doesn't inspire them to go on a diet or eat more food, it just lowers their self-worth. People should be able to feel happy regardless of their body size. Lots of obese people are obese as a result of mental health issues, eating disorders and disabilities. It's not as simple as just being lazy, or eating too much food. I'm lazy, and I'm underweight.

When I was a teenager I was so depressed I had to go to a special clinic for mentally ill children. Most of the children where either depressed or had eating disorders. The youngest patient was a 9 year old girl that was there because of an eating disorder. I will never forget her crys when the doctors told her she had to eat or she won't be able to go outside and play with us because the exercise could be dangerous for her, since she was so thin and frail. I struggle with my weight as well but in the other direction and she told me when she looks into the mirror she sees a girl that is twice the size as me... made me realize that being thin and struggling with being too thin is also a real problem.

All you have to do is type the words fatphobic and ableist and people come out in hordes to deny but actually confirm it.

A message for anyone strugling with being overweight, If you want to lose wait do it for yourself not others and validation from other people, it will not leave you satified or happy and very much can lead to eating disorders putting you in a worse state then before. I wolnt sugar coat anything because loosing weight is absolutly not easy and never will be but make sure your doing it for a reason you will truly feel happy with from start to finish and from then on.

I've never seen your channel before, and I have to thank the algorithm for actually giving me a good recommendation. You are immensely intelligent and well-spoken. It is clear that you have taken careful time researching and reflecting before speaking. Love it

The kid in the neverending story in the books was a fat kid being bullied by skinny children for his weight but in the movie they casted a thin child which aggravated the author a lot since he wanted especially to show how poorly fat children are being treated

growing up as a chubbier kid, I never truly realized how much the media had influenced the way I and many others my age viewed my body. I was bullied a lot for my size by friends, my own family, etc. And growing up watching movies and tv shows that demonize being wider set hurt so much. I started realizing as i have grown up that my body is just naturally curvy and wider than what would be considered “average.” No matter what weight I was at, my fat distribution throughout my body remained the same. The thought finally occurred to me when I had my first healthy romantic relationship that weight itself doesn’t determine if someone is “healthy” or not. I wish I would’ve gotten more support growing up for being myself and felt comfortable in my own skin. ❤

When I was a kid, I had a book called Catundra. It was about a cat who is so fat from eating things she "shouldn't" that she can't chase mice, who then tease her about it, and this makes her feel awful. Some other animal character (a mole or something, I don't remember) tells her that if she loses weight, the mice won't have any reason to make fun of her. It turns into this "journey to fitness" to stick it to the haters. I didn't realize until I found the book much later at a thrift store that the book had scarred me emotionally as a fat child. What the fuck kind of message is it to give to kids, that if someone teases you about being fat, just stop being fat and they'll leave you alone? As if people wouldn't then be able to find something else to bully you for? Where was the acceptance and compassion and self-love? Goddamn. Somehow I missed a lot of the fatphobic stuff in kids' shows and movies, but I remember watching episodes of Will & Grace after school and hearing at least once in almost every episode that one of the very fit main characters was fat. Upon rewatching the series last year, I found that it truly does come up in the vast majority of episodes across all eight seasons. No wonder I'm still trying to grow out of self-esteem issues around my size. Also, thank you for sharing that you are asexual. Since I realized that I am asexual a couple of years ago, it's felt very lonely in some regards because I don't know anyone else who is, aside from one friend who lives a long distance from me. It was comforting and grounding to be able to connect you in my mind as "one of my people".

What really worries me is that fat children or fat people in children's TV programmes are immediately represented as having a bingeing eating disorder...and having that disorder played for laughs. It's especially worrying because not only are most fat people eating pretty normally, those who aren't are only eating that way due to INSULIN RESISTANCE. Adults go on and on about how mean children are, yet don't stop to think what those children are influenced by when it comes to the treatment of others. For real, imagine teaching children that making fun of an ill person is perfectly OK. Children's TV doesn't permit this with anorexia or bulimia, so why does mocking someone's genuine health issues get a pass here?

I was a fat kid. When I was 9 in 3rd grade, our class put on a Cinderella play, which I loved (I won a costume contest when I was 4 as Cinderella). I wanted to play Cinderella (which I put my name on the list for). I was not given Cinderella; I was instead cast as one of the evil step sisters (which I didn't put my name on the list for), and the girl who got Cinderella was the small, pretty, popular girl. I definitely understood that this was because I was fat and ugly, regardless of how the teacher meant it, because that's how kids are trained to think about fat people.

I never thought Trish from Austin and Ally was lazy because no lazy person has the motivation to keep getting new jobs lol

Being fat is a bad thing.

These examples are just heartbreaking. It reminds me of how the Magic School Bus reboot not only lightened Tim and Keesha's skin and de-frizzed Ms. Frizzle's hair, but also made Ralphie thinner. It's such a shame bc the original designs are all so lovable! Excellent video as always. It sucks that fatphobia is still such an acceptable form of bigotry in our culture. I hope with enough discussion like this, things will get better, but progress in mainstream media is very slow and difficult.

I almost cried when I saw the Duke in Resident Evil Village. For ONCE, a fat character isn't demonized, isn't the bad guy, isn't the comic relief. He is the one reliable ally of the main character throughout the game. He is obese but his weight is never brought up in conversation. He is not seen eating all the time either, as the stereotype would have. He is a glorious and fascinating character.

She can talk faster than a person fasting

I just want to say genuinely, thank you so much for this video. As someone who has spent my whole life as a plus size person, I obviously knew about fatphobia, but never really thought about how deep it went I always thought about it surface level rather than a more intricate network of hatred. I didn’t realize how much the “lazy, evil, stupid” trope affected how i view myself. Now that i’m more conscious of the mental effects/biases it’s given me, i’ll think about that mental stuff when it comes to my ed recovery. This was all very well put and interesting!

The way the Total Drama fandom always complained about Owen getting so much screen time and dubbed him the "Writer's Pet"

My mad fat diary is one of my favourite tv shows! As someone who is plus size and has mental health issues I never really connected with a character in the way I have connected with Earl. It's so rare seeing a three dimensional character where their weight is one aspect of their personality but not the only one. We need more of this and in general more body diversity in kids tv shows to reflect real life.

I was a big kid as a boy, which mainly stemmed from genetics and diet, which has continued to get worse throughout the years, as eating was what I used to cope with stress before getting properly diagnosed with anxiety issues. I continue to try and lose weight, with me now working a manual labour job, doing a lot of work around two small plots of farmland, controlling what and when I eat, and generally wanting to be more active not because I have to be for my weight, but because that's what I want to be. Honestly, I don't know if bigger kids in media would've helped me or not, but I know one thing is for certain, having healthy relationships with eating and exercise are incredibly important to be healthy. Go too far on either extreme and you end up with your body being under a lot more strain than it should be.

Ive grown up chronically ill as well as autistic. I was hated as a child for being unable to be how others wanted physically and mentally. I forced myslef not to eat lunch for over half of my school career because of my parents saying nobody would love me and id never "get better" if I gained weight. Now im gaining weight on purpose because I now realize it isnt wrong for me to want to eat, and it isnt wrong for me to not be able to work off the weight due to my disability and illness. Nobody is evil for being ill, or for wanting to enjoy a nice meal.

As a tween i had internalized the idea that guys liked girls who didn't care about what they eat and likes "hamburgers and pizza over a salad", however i quickly realize that was only acceptable if you where skinny, not chubby like me

For unrelated reasons, I spent several hours reading r/medicine, the subreddit for doctors, nurses, pharmacists, etc. It was very interesting, but the one thing I couldn't get over was the all caps hysteria over fatness. In so many ways, the forum was a place of frank discussion about difficult topics, except when it came to weight. The descriptions and conversation about fatness were shocking and horrifying, and spoke loudly to the type of discrimination that I have zero doubt fat people experience when seeking any form of healthcare. Disgusting and worrying.

Imagine how confusing it was being the chubby girl ('00s chubby, so really just curvy), hitting puberty, then having grown men giving me attention and hitting on men while as someone in the comments mentioned trying to have crushes on classmates was met with the experience of disgust because as media showed, a fat girl having a crush was a pathetic debacle. A lot of problematic things happen. I didn't stop dating older men until I was in my mid 20s and realizing what was wrong with it. And naturally those same guys in school who made fun of me immediately hit me up when we became adults and the "thick" body type suddenly became okay. Ironically now I'm actually fat after the pandemic. Literally fat. I became disabled due to some issues unrelated and have to take steroids. And am way more comfortable with myself.

It's unhealthy to be fat Don't give kids too much food

So I live in Colorado in the USA, and I'm very lucky in that we're one of the states that insurance has to cover transgender care. The thing is, when I went in search of getting my top surgery I was pointed to one place multiple times. It was where I was supposed to go because I have Medicaid. But when I called they gave me a long list of what I needed, one of those things? A low BMI. Now I'm fat, and I don't mind that, it's not something I obsess over, but on the phone they made this sound like something the state required and it really fucked me up. I already have major depression issues and I knew I couldn't pay for this out of pocket so I didn't know what I would do. Later when I went to my primary care doctor and complained about this she seemed really confused and then livid. Turned out as far as the state was concerned literally all I needed was approval from her, that's it. Again I was lucky that I had been going to a primary care doctor who specialized in transgender health. So what was going on? Denver Health had recently opened up it's transgender health wing and wanted to make itself look as good as possible. It didn't want any possibility of anything at all going wrong. It also wanted to be able to take pictures and other things of that order. So they didn't want me because they considered my fat body unappealing to take pictures of, and they considered the like .01% increase in anesthesia risks too dangerous to their bottom line. I ended up going to Rose Care Center. The doctor their was very respectful, very helpful through the whole process, and she told me she had other patients who came in who had gone through the same thing as me. I loved her, and will always be grateful for her. Plus, after the surgery I got a card in the mail signed by my whole surgery team with little personal messages that I still keep and cherish. They all made up for what happened to me before I got to them. If you have a fat body in Colorado and want top surgery, skip the headache of Denver Health and go to Rose Care Center, you won't regret it. Lol I didn't mean to make this an endorsement for Rose, it's just Denver Health really was such a horrid experience for me, I cried so much trying to deal with them and their insane demands for my body. I guess I just want to save other people the heartache.

I like that the book Uglies- all about dystopian obsession with plastic surgery- says almost nothing about the character's weight. The whole point of becoming "Pretty" was to correct every little thing about a person that made them unique regardless of whether readers would think it was a flaw. It wasn't really about body shaming, but about conformity. Everyone was expected to fit into a particular visual mold. Much like beauty trends in recent years, it wasn't about not having any fat, but about having it "in the right places" as determined by society. As a teen, the book showed me how people will find ugliness anywhere so long as they are looking for it. I recommend Karolina Zebrowska's video titled "Why Are Body Parts Fashion?"

Damn, this hit hard. Especially your discussion of "a fat character daring to assume they're deserving of love". As a fat person my whole life, I've really felt this one. I also really don't like Rebel Wilson or Melissa McCarthy because they're lauded as "female comic actors" but all their characters are just fat women who are meant to be laughed at, not laughed with.

That's why representation like Guillermo in What We Do In The Shadows is so important, because he's never the butt of the joke because of his weight. He just exists and he's badass.

I think there’s a balance to be found - body positivity is great, and fat shaming and tropes are harmful, but there does also seem to be a link between average weight and diabetes. So while we shouldn’t be fat shaming, we also need to be able to encourage healthy eating and exercise. I fear that banning all mention of weight relating to health would shut down discussion. Personally I struggle with weight, and I know that the times when my weight is more in the “normal” bmi, I feel much more energetic and healthy, able to do more without getting winded. So there is work to be done in changing cultural attitudes towards weight, but there should also be healthy ways to discuss weight rather than brush off any health concerns as fatphobic.

looks like somebody didn't get the message of wall-e

Ive always found it so devastating that if a female character loves to eat and doesn't worry about her body weight, there can only be two possibilities: one, if she's skinny, she's a manic pixie dream girl "not like other girls", authentic, admirable person. If she's fat, she's the butt of the joke and everyone immediately is disgusted by them.

About the intersection of fatness and gender nonconformity - I think it goes beyond just not having access to as many clothing options or gender affirming care. I feel like there's this social pressure for fat people to almost... Hyper perform gender. As a fat person perceived as a woman, it took me so long to explore more masculine presentation, because to refuse to perform femininity as a fat woman, to refuse to put in the "effort" of it, is to be seen as slovenly and unhygienic. How many times have I seen skinny women get praised for pulling off simple casual fashion choices that would get me pitying looks if I dared wear them to the grocery store? Fat woman are never given the same freedom to dress "comfy", or go bare faced, or not shave our legs. We have to atone for the crime of being fat by dedicating ourselves to being the perfect woman in every other way. Anyway great video and to any fat butches reading this you're braver than any U.S. Marine

Motivating a fat person to do excercise is great, making fun of their appearance, considering them less than, stereotyping isn't.

TW: bodychecking and ED I learned to bodycheck for the first time when I was seven from the Bernstein Bears book where the doctor pinches the side of Papa and is like "everything I'm pinching is fat. you need to stop eating all that candy." I started pinching myself around the stomach and became worried about candy from that time on, and when I developed an ED many years later thanks to ballet and health nut parents, that was still my main bodycheck. thanks Bernstein Bears. (im mostly recovered now and doing well btw)

When I was 14 I went to a doctor for pain and numbness in my hands and was told there was nothing wrong with me except I would feel better if I lost weight by the specialist I was sent to see. At this point I was a size 12 and weighed maybe 160lbs and was able to sustain a jog for nearly an hour and could swim and tread water for many times longer than most of the kids my age. I was in the best shape of my life but the number on the scale meant more than my actual problem. It took until shortly after my 16th birthday to be diagnosed with bilateral carpal tunnel and have surgery to correct the issue when the non surgical treatments did not work due to it taking over 18 months to diagnosed. My age, gender and weight all stacked up against me and prevented simple health care that could have prevented the need for more extreme care until after it was too late. It still is a fight every time I develop a new issue related to a genetic condition I have

I will literally never stop being grateful for what Kung fu panda did for us especially because at first it SEEMS like it’s gonna be a story where the fat main character is going to have become thin and that will be part of the signifier for his success in training -cause yeah they do make jokes about his weight, about him loving food, and about how difficult physical exertion is for him, BUT THEN…HE TRAINS….AND HES STILL FAT!!!!! WE SEE THAT HES LEARNED DISCIPLINE, AGILITY, AND SWIFTNESS AND THINNESS WAS A SYMBOL FOR EXACTLY NONE OF THAT!!!! BECAUSE HE NOW HAS ALL THOSE SKILLS AND HIS FATNESS WHICH ENDS UP BEING AN ADVANTAGE FOR HIM!!!!! and one of my favorite dialogues ever created, “you’re just a big fat panda!” “I’m THE big fat panda.” PO IS THAT BITCH AND ALWAYS WILL BE

"Exercise is for pleasure and feeling good, rather than punishment" Exercise is for health. Many of us don't remotely enjoy it, but it's still important. Exercising to lose weight doesn't necessarily make it a punishment. Losing weight should primarily be about improving health, rather than appearance. Getting healthier can lead to feeling better, both physically and psychologically. Some people get direct pleasure from exercise in the form of "endorphins", but apparently not everyone, cause it's never happened to me. You will never catch me exercising for fun. Fatness is not morally wrong or an excuse to treat people badly, but it is unhealthy. HAES is wack.