What Does It Mean For Body Positivity Now Thin Is ‘In’? 

Three years ago, emboldened by the British government trying to scapegoat Covid issues onto fat patients, photographer Chloe Sheppard and I launched The Fat Zine, a platform for fat creatives looking for a safe space to present their work, backed by a team made up only of fellow fat creatives. So far, we have sold over 2,500 copies and amass more and more followers each day, made up of bodies of all kinds. 

Starting The Fat Zine was far from a new venture for me – I have been writing about body positivity for almost a decade. But the term had been around for a long time before it hit mainstream conversations in the early 2010s. Fat liberationists from the ’60s coined the phrase to encourage fellow fat people to embrace how they look and love their bodies, rather than see our forms as a negative. As plus-size fashion blogs started to gain real traction 10 to 15 years ago, coinciding with a rise of feminist ideals on other parts of the internet, body positivity came to the fore alongside other topics such as intersectionality, self-care and more.   

Soon, companies cottoned on that female bodily empowerment could be monetised, so their advertising campaigns switched lanes to match society’s new ethos. Girl power was now being used to market campaigns flogging weight-loss lollipops. Gyms offered sisterhood and solidarity over the body-shaming of the past; their bums, tums and thighs classes dressed up in a new, feminist lingo. Fast fashion brands sold out of T-shirts featuring line drawings of saggy breasts. 

It follows naturally from this appropriation of self-love language that we are tiring of these terms. Many are feeling fatigued regarding feminism and there’s now a growing fear that further liberation is no longer guaranteed in our future. 

For fat liberationists in particular, the return to idolising extreme thinness across celebrity culture and mainstream media is a pointed blow. Catwalks are back to using fewer plus-size models than previous years. And setbacks for reproductive rights will especially affect those who were already struggling to receive proper healthcare. Were you aware, for example, that emergency contraception does not, and has never, worked for plus-size people? 

Many pin the blame on Ozempic. It’s a brand name of the drug semaglutide, which is administered via weekly injection and was originally developed for the treatment of type-2 diabetes. Suddenly, there is a quick ‘fix’, and those who have hated fat people all along – even if they pretended not to – are vindicated. And while many may feel better about their bodies on a personal level than ever before, the core issues at the centre of the fat liberation movement that birthed body positivity are still left unaddressed. 

For our second issue of The Fat Zine, in collaboration with esteemed plus-size writer Marie Southard Ospina, we produced a timeline tracking the progress of fat liberation movements over the years up to the present day.  

Similar to feminist waves, fat liberation has ebbed and flowed. And as someone who lived through the body shaming of the ’00s, the overwhelming fourth wave of feminism in the ’10s and who now faces a decade that seems to be reverting to idolising thinness, it’s more important than ever to recognise these patterns. This regression is not the end of feminism or body positivity, but a crucial time in which to push through to the next crest of body – and female – liberation. 

Gina Tonic is a culture and sex writer from Wales who edits The Fat Zine – a publication dedicated to sharing the art and stories of fat creatives