My body is fat, not wrong: how body neutrality not positivity helped me shed a lifetime of shame | Jasper Peach

In 1981, the CD and the narrator were born, and both later shifted in and out of fashion. Childhood brought celebration for a large body, followed by early experiences of offense and exclusion. At age seven, the narrator was told they were too fat to skip, learning social hierarchy from peers and adults. A father warned that nobody would love, trust, or employ them due to body shape. The narrator adapted by leaning into intelligence and humor to compensate. The era promoted unattainable and contradictory ideals, including thinness for women and muscularity for men, along with moralized dieting and cereal-based solutions. Body positivity later entered mainstream attention in the 2010s, challenging criticism of shape, size, ability, and skin tone.

"When I was seven, I remember asking to have a go at skipping, after having turned the rope for everyone else. One child enlightened me on why I couldn't: I was too fat to skip. Children learn hierarchy from adults and then their peers. Who belongs, who doesn't and why. My classmates learned from adults to see me as something to mock and despise."

"Even my own well-meaning father once sat me down and told me that nobody would love, trust or employ me due to my body shape. This didn't shock me; I'd already picked up what everyone was putting down. Overriding genetics and environment is a tall order, but I learned quickly that if I leaned into my brainy side, and could make people laugh, this might compensate for the space I took up."

"This was the era of Weight Watchers, Aerobics Oz Style and heroin chic, and the ideal body was unattainable and contradictory. You could only be muscular if you were male. Women needed to be thin, but not so thin they looked unfeminine (whatever that meant). There was nothing worse than thunder thighs. Breakfast cereals were seemingly the answer to everyone's problems."

"More than a kind appraisal of all presentations, body positivity was a philosophy that stared down overt and implied criticism of shape, size, ability and skin tone and served up the alternati"

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