it’s truly so heartbreaking bc i used to try to only eat like 1200 cals in a day, and my body wasnt healthy until i began eating the correct amount that i needed bc i would get into a binging cycle back then when i didn’t have enough food a previous day. it’s such a bad idea to spread, that thinness=healthy. like girl having meat on your bones saves livesss, and muscle? that’ll save your life
Love this. I've been working out more to become stronger and a better dancer but the thinness ideals keep creeping in. This is great motivation to keep going
Same! I’ve been interested in lifting to hips bone density and to stay strong, but the nagging voice of “but you don’t have abs yet” has been killing me
Love this, sooo true and in line with our gov’t not wanting us to have bodily autonomy. The diet industry controls and profits off of us by making us believe we need to shrink ourselves
Society constantly pushes body image standards, and the media, largely run by men,for men profits from keeping us distracted with unrealistic beauty ideals. While we’re fixated on having the "perfect" summer body, we’re missing the bigger picture: the real issues that need our attention. Thanks for reminding us that focusing on thinness isn’t going to get our rights back, but taking action in our communities just might.
Your personal narrative—divorce, weight loss, and the fleeting ‘glow’ of external validation—is a compelling entry point, grounded in lived experience. But the leap to a ‘fascist train’ fueled by thinness culture collapses under scrutiny. The claim that beauty standards distract from systemic issues like ‘unconstitutional laws’ lacks empirical tethering—where’s the causal link? Studies, like those from the American Psychological Association (2023), show media fixation on aesthetics is perennial, not a novel tool of control. Fascism, historically—think Mussolini’s 1922 consolidation or Hitler’s 1933 Enabling Act—relied on centralized power and suppression, not TikTok trends or Ozempic hype. Freedom House’s 2024 report still scores the U.S. at 83/100 for democratic resilience; hardly a Reich. Grocery price spikes? The Bureau of Labor Statistics pegs 2025 inflation at 2.8%—painful, not dystopian. This isn’t a slide into authoritarianism; it’s leftist paranoia inflating cultural quirks into grand conspiracies.
1933 is not 2025. Whether you believe we are in a fascist regime in the US or not, a rose by any other name is still a rose. There is more nuance still to your point. Women are losing bodily autonomy. Why? Because they hate women. Yes but deeper than that, the people in power want to control the population. Project 2025 is literally about controlling the population. How do you do that? Make sure the people you are targeting cannot fight back and if you look at the waves of media, the thinness trend never really goes away but why is it trending again? The same way all the "natural birth controls" come back when the people in power want to force women to have babies. Why? Free labor. The same reason we will never see prison reform. The more babies that are being born to people who have no right to them or to themselves (this is especially true for people/women of color), the more laws that are in place to stunt that child's growth, the better brainwashed adult it will be when it grow up perpetuating the same problem. I am not going to spend the time researching trends to cite, but if you can't link the correlation of thinness to the loss of bodily autonomy under a fascist regime, I think your take needs more nuance. It sounds like we're all on the same page- we want to push for women's (everyone's) right, so how do we do our part? Whether you believe the thinness trend is correlated to the current regime or not.
The core argument—fighting for bodily autonomy and against systems of control—is valid. But forcing a correlation where none exists weakens the argument rather than strengthening it.
I agree, the government wants healthy working tax payers so the argument doesn’t hold water that aspect.
But, I will say, corporations definitely do want dedicated consumers! But this isn’t a left versus right issue. That’s part of the reason I don’t identify with either party to be honest. The tribalism has gotten out of hand. I blame algorithms and short form content that lacks necessity of thought and context. This really is a top versus bottom issue. I’m hoping that 2026 is the year we as a society are more intentional regarding our consumption. I hope that we: ditch platforms with harmful algorithms, shop sustainable clothing, fall back in love with hobbies rather than consumption, and encourage freedom of thought to influence our actions.
With us being in a capitalist society, we have the freedom to not participate! Thats the thing people aren’t talking about enough. That’s the only way to send a message to the rich billionaires that they need to adjust to fit our needs. Don’t like diet culture, then don’t diet. Don’t like beauty standards, then don’t follow them. Capitalism creates options, and we have the option not to participate wherever we see fit. However, in regard to the industries that we cannot control, where participation is mandatory: big pharma, insurance, and real estate. Those fields have gotten out of control. But with recent executive orders and focus on passing bills in those areas, I am hopeful that things will even out in the next few years. Only time will tell, but I am hopeful!
*They* want women in starvation mode. When you’re starving, you’re half functioning and *much* easier to control. It’s crazy to think that starvation is not just weaponised in wartime, but against all women.
Loved this! I’ve had to reframe my relationship with my body postpartum and I have struggled with being perceived by ppl around me who don’t like my body and its changes. But that’s their problem not mine!
I just wrote something about this because hey if we are too busy dieting we can’t have energy to fight back. Too focus on what the male gaze wants or in achieving certain figure instead of switching that focus to us. Our rights. Our bodies’ autonomy. We need to focus girls.
i love reading work about things i never would’ve linked or thought were connected. the way you connected thinness to distraction really lingered with me - how control wears the mask of care. it’s wild how shrinking becomes a performance of safety, when really it’s surrender. beautifully written, and deeply needed.
Holding space for shaking ass in community 😔🙏🏻
It’s what I’m truly craving tbh
Really terrific essay!
Here’ a fact: 1200 calories /day is considered to be starvation.
Another fact:
Most
Women’s magazines have diets to follow that come to 800 calories, giving them 400 calories less than starvation.
How can anyone even THINK, or get through the day on so few calories, let alone vote.
Haha, MY stress over these subhumans (tRump and sycophants, not starving women) is causing me to eat, eat, eat.
Thank you! And damn so reallll 😭
it’s truly so heartbreaking bc i used to try to only eat like 1200 cals in a day, and my body wasnt healthy until i began eating the correct amount that i needed bc i would get into a binging cycle back then when i didn’t have enough food a previous day. it’s such a bad idea to spread, that thinness=healthy. like girl having meat on your bones saves livesss, and muscle? that’ll save your life
Love this. I've been working out more to become stronger and a better dancer but the thinness ideals keep creeping in. This is great motivation to keep going
Same! I’ve been interested in lifting to hips bone density and to stay strong, but the nagging voice of “but you don’t have abs yet” has been killing me
Love this, sooo true and in line with our gov’t not wanting us to have bodily autonomy. The diet industry controls and profits off of us by making us believe we need to shrink ourselves
UGH ALSO THIS!
Fewer Diets; More Riots!!!!! 💕
Let’s work to end anti-fat bias and all other forms of oppression!
Society constantly pushes body image standards, and the media, largely run by men,for men profits from keeping us distracted with unrealistic beauty ideals. While we’re fixated on having the "perfect" summer body, we’re missing the bigger picture: the real issues that need our attention. Thanks for reminding us that focusing on thinness isn’t going to get our rights back, but taking action in our communities just might.
Your personal narrative—divorce, weight loss, and the fleeting ‘glow’ of external validation—is a compelling entry point, grounded in lived experience. But the leap to a ‘fascist train’ fueled by thinness culture collapses under scrutiny. The claim that beauty standards distract from systemic issues like ‘unconstitutional laws’ lacks empirical tethering—where’s the causal link? Studies, like those from the American Psychological Association (2023), show media fixation on aesthetics is perennial, not a novel tool of control. Fascism, historically—think Mussolini’s 1922 consolidation or Hitler’s 1933 Enabling Act—relied on centralized power and suppression, not TikTok trends or Ozempic hype. Freedom House’s 2024 report still scores the U.S. at 83/100 for democratic resilience; hardly a Reich. Grocery price spikes? The Bureau of Labor Statistics pegs 2025 inflation at 2.8%—painful, not dystopian. This isn’t a slide into authoritarianism; it’s leftist paranoia inflating cultural quirks into grand conspiracies.
1933 is not 2025. Whether you believe we are in a fascist regime in the US or not, a rose by any other name is still a rose. There is more nuance still to your point. Women are losing bodily autonomy. Why? Because they hate women. Yes but deeper than that, the people in power want to control the population. Project 2025 is literally about controlling the population. How do you do that? Make sure the people you are targeting cannot fight back and if you look at the waves of media, the thinness trend never really goes away but why is it trending again? The same way all the "natural birth controls" come back when the people in power want to force women to have babies. Why? Free labor. The same reason we will never see prison reform. The more babies that are being born to people who have no right to them or to themselves (this is especially true for people/women of color), the more laws that are in place to stunt that child's growth, the better brainwashed adult it will be when it grow up perpetuating the same problem. I am not going to spend the time researching trends to cite, but if you can't link the correlation of thinness to the loss of bodily autonomy under a fascist regime, I think your take needs more nuance. It sounds like we're all on the same page- we want to push for women's (everyone's) right, so how do we do our part? Whether you believe the thinness trend is correlated to the current regime or not.
The core argument—fighting for bodily autonomy and against systems of control—is valid. But forcing a correlation where none exists weakens the argument rather than strengthening it.
I agree, the government wants healthy working tax payers so the argument doesn’t hold water that aspect.
But, I will say, corporations definitely do want dedicated consumers! But this isn’t a left versus right issue. That’s part of the reason I don’t identify with either party to be honest. The tribalism has gotten out of hand. I blame algorithms and short form content that lacks necessity of thought and context. This really is a top versus bottom issue. I’m hoping that 2026 is the year we as a society are more intentional regarding our consumption. I hope that we: ditch platforms with harmful algorithms, shop sustainable clothing, fall back in love with hobbies rather than consumption, and encourage freedom of thought to influence our actions.
With us being in a capitalist society, we have the freedom to not participate! Thats the thing people aren’t talking about enough. That’s the only way to send a message to the rich billionaires that they need to adjust to fit our needs. Don’t like diet culture, then don’t diet. Don’t like beauty standards, then don’t follow them. Capitalism creates options, and we have the option not to participate wherever we see fit. However, in regard to the industries that we cannot control, where participation is mandatory: big pharma, insurance, and real estate. Those fields have gotten out of control. But with recent executive orders and focus on passing bills in those areas, I am hopeful that things will even out in the next few years. Only time will tell, but I am hopeful!
*They* want women in starvation mode. When you’re starving, you’re half functioning and *much* easier to control. It’s crazy to think that starvation is not just weaponised in wartime, but against all women.
Loved this! I’ve had to reframe my relationship with my body postpartum and I have struggled with being perceived by ppl around me who don’t like my body and its changes. But that’s their problem not mine!
the scream I SCRUMPT
This felt like a conversation with a friend. Made me pause and ask where my attention is being pulled. Thank you for that.
I just feel like I can participate in political action, shake ass with community, do the readings AND still want to be skinny though
I just wrote something about this because hey if we are too busy dieting we can’t have energy to fight back. Too focus on what the male gaze wants or in achieving certain figure instead of switching that focus to us. Our rights. Our bodies’ autonomy. We need to focus girls.
As someone with a eating disorder called AFRID that made me go from 156 to 93 pounds within just a few months
The amount of comments I got about how much better and healthy I looked is extremely unsettling
i love reading work about things i never would’ve linked or thought were connected. the way you connected thinness to distraction really lingered with me - how control wears the mask of care. it’s wild how shrinking becomes a performance of safety, when really it’s surrender. beautifully written, and deeply needed.
thanks for this reminder <3 all so well said