Fat people face universal bigotry, and fatphobia is present all across this world. Itโs truly an exhausting and uphill battle for fat people to be seen as fully human andย live limitless lives when researchers like the ones in the U.K would rather see fat people in pain and misery.
Capitalism, fatphobia, and medical institutions do not want us to exist.
We are asking for racially and trauma-informed equitable healthcare. We are asking for health professionals that look like us and provide ethical care.
We are asking for all things owed, and all theyโre giving us is a device that will bolt lock our jaws to prevent us from eating because the medical industry and โhealthโ institutions view fat people and fatness as a disease, an epidemic, undisciplined people that need to be erased and/or controlled at all cost.
When I first saw this research hit my Twitter timeline, I froze. First, I read the header, and then I kept scrolling byโbusiness as usual.
DentalSlim Diet Control is an oral device that uses magnetic control to keep the top and bottom jaws locked together. Researchers from The United Kingdom, in partnership with the University of Otago, created this device as a โsupportive toolโ for folks who are both interested in weight loss surgery and are lacking โdisciplineโ with sticking to their liquid diet and also for folks who are interested in weight loss altogether and would like to supplement their meals with liquids.
I mean, what better way to help people who are possibly coming to you for some guidance than to tell them they lack discipline and structure, theyโre untamable, and need to have their jaws locked? *sarcasm*
When reading this article debuting this research, two things that stuck out the most to me were how violent fatphobia is. When documenting how this device affects peopleโs day-to-day tasks, they shared, โNevertheless, all the participants got accustomed to the device during the treatment period and were able to work effectively in their usual employment.โ Because I mean, that would be terrible if this death gripping device prevented people in the U.K from carrying out their capitalism goals, right?
Thereโs literally a device meant to torture you into what thin people believe to be a โbetterโ human, a โbetterโ version of yourself yet. Still, whether or not you can carry out the responsibilities of capitalism is the top goal here.
This is fatphobia. This is terrorism. This is eugenics. This is psychological torture.
Researchers have identified and noted that fat people, during and after using this device, have experienced embarrassment, depression, and eating disorders while simultaneously seeming to forget to think about the after-effects of what using a device like this can have on someone. According to the National Eating Disorders Association, thirty million Americans will have an eating disorder; about 40% of those people are fat.
As someone who lives with an eating disorder, neither this device nor the researchers consider the emotional, mental, and social health reasons why someone might struggle with food or have a strained relationship with food. Yet, scientists and society continue to prescribe people in larger bodies yo-yo dieting, and everyone sits back and watches because fatphobia allows it.
The medical industry will continue to push devices such as these, procedures, regimens, etc., to reinforce their bias towards fat people. These researchers are literally telling fat people in the U.K that to receive adequate care, you need to be thin, and a part of being thin is surviving this device and only drinking all of your meals. Magnets will clamp your jaw down. A custom tool will be needed to unlock it.
Is this real life? Are we on the set of The Handmaidโs Tale?
Fat people do not need to lose weight to receive equitable access to supportive and holistic medical care. Forcing someone to lose weight to treat them is unethical. Fat people deserve to exist freely.
Have you heard about this new research and development in the U.K? Let me know what you think about this device?
Learn more about body politics and fatphobia here.
Wow is all I can say.
This is Handmaids Tail for Fat People
Iโm sick of these devices, diets, surgeries, and general hate from the medical community. I know some of them genuinely want to โhelpโ us, but do they ask those of us who are pretty well adjusted what WE want? No. They assume that because they think weโre broken, and because some of our fat compatriots agree, that we want to even maim ourselves to be thinner.
Iโm looking around for someone to punch. Good thing I live in NYC, Iโm sure someone will oblige with a cover provocation. Iโm a โhealthyโ weight, always was, thanks entirely to my familyโs metabolism. I certainly donโt eat healthy and other than walking everywhere, I donโt exercise. Iโm not skinny, have good curves and jiggle that is well received by others. I also grew up overseas,& thought that was the reason (along with parental influence-the metabolism skipped Mum & sister)I never had any self consciousness about not being a size 4(or 8), having a little cellulite, a -trying to think of a word,mine isnโt really appropriate for public comment-a derriere that knocks โem out their socks. Now, in my family, eating healthy and exercise were a big deal, but we never owned a scale. The one time my sis tried to sneak one in I had a great time reducing it to dust. Sheโs beautiful, and even in the hardest years โ remember Jr High?- she knew how to dress to show off what she had (like porcelain skin and unreal eyelashes that I really truly donโt covet with every inch of my being. Really). But we saw enough eating disorders. And sis has been treated by some so-called doctors who Iโm sure would love this device, since they canโt prescribe something worse(I know theyโd love to). The fact is, sheโs not even overweight anymore, just built big.And sheโs not the sister who deserves a lecture on salads & gym membership.One Dr-we were in the ER after she twisted her ankle running cross country-kept answering every question,about healing time,pain, physical therapy, etc, with really obnoxious weight loss lectures. She was RUNNING CROSS COUNTRY! I almost was removed from the hospitol,as I lost my temper while my much more laid back sis just laughed. Where did that white coat get off? And how many people had he verbally abused(thatโs just what he was doing) instead of treated? How many people went home in pain from something that had nothing to do with weight because this, this dink was too busy โfat shamingโ (the quotes are because I donโt really believe in โfatโ)? As for this thing, no one I care about is getting one. My best friend was nearly 400lbs just 3&1/2 years ago. Wednesday at the Drโs (I threw out her scale without using Daddyโs weights, itโs nice to be a grown up sometimes) she was weighed and the number started with a โ1โ. She was still crying when she got home. She didnโt need the staple the Dr was pushing and she didnโt need her mouth stuck shut. We worked out a workable eating & exercise plan for a then 41 yr old single Mum of a little boy and it worked. More importantly, sheโs happy with her body now, buys nice clothes, got her teeth fixed. Meanwhile, in my hometown, there are, as I write this at 7:30am, flocks of skeletal multi-millionaire housewives flocking to the gyms at double time,on empty stomachs, to fight not fat but theyโre own unhappy minds. It breaks my heart & Iโm just grateful our National obsession wasnโt an export 30-40 years ago, when it may well have caused damage to sis & I. God bless and help those who donโt have the same blessings we had, because it seems the attacks are only getting worse.