What fat activist topic should I speak on?

[firecat]

I'm going to be a speaker at the virtual Fat Activism Conference this year! Here is what it's about:

The Fat Activism Conference is "a virtual conference (so you can listen to the talks by phone and/or computer) for people of all sizes who are interested in creating a world that respects the diversity of body sizes, and who are interested in fighting the bullying, stigmatizing, shaming, and oppression faced by fat people, and want to do that work intersectionally."

I need to decide what topic to speak on! Please help me decide! I'm giving about a 30 minute talk with an opportunity for Q&A. Under the cut are some topic ideas, but feel free to suggest others (and/or suggest changes to the ones that are there.)

Fat and invisible: Do not want!

The fat activist movement, like society at large, insufficiently represents and accommodates many kinds of fat people - fat people of color, superfat people, fat people who are not cisgender, fat people who are disabled, older fat people, and so on. How can we make the fat activist movement a movement for all of us?

From sex positivity to sex inclusivity:

How can the fat activist movement honor and support asexual and less-sexual people as well as highly sexual people?

Disability in relationships:

Some fat people are disabled and some fat people are in relationships with disabled people. How do we help each other? How do we manage when our disabilities conflict?

Fat activist allies

How do thin and less-fat activists help the fat activism movement? How could they do better?

Fat and intersectional barriers to health care:

Quality health care is much harder to access for people of color and for fat, disabled, older, low-income, queer, and/or trans people. How does this affect our lives? How can we help each other?

Fat and trans/non-binary gender:

How does fatness affect our experience of gender and vice versa? How can the fat activist movement support people who are trans and/or nonbinary? And where can we get clooooothes?

Healthism in fat activism:

Healthism is the belief that health is a moral imperative for everyone and healthier people are morally superior to less healthy people. The fat activist community often reproduces societal notions about healthism. How does this affect our movement? How can we replace healthism with solidarity?

Comments

[firecat]

Thanks for your comments!

As for helping a partner who has negative self-talk, here are my two cents as someone who has negative self-talk in my head and who has sweeties who also do:

$0.01: At a time when they're not full of negative self-talk, ask them how they would like you to behave when they do it. Possibly offer some suggestions about things you could do. Each of my partners wants something different from what I want.

$0.01: Unless your partner specifically tells you otherwise, don't hold onto the idea that you can cure them of negative self-talk or the feelings behind it, or cause them to see themselves the way you see them. If someone with that idea engages with me, I feel a lot of pressure. Your job is to witness and support, not cure. The thoughts might never go away, but a lot of people can eventually come to not believe in them so fervently. Nonjudgemental support helps me with that.

OK, maybe that's a nickel's worth...