Let’s dive into our super fun mini-series that’s all about celebrating a few cool entrepreneurs! PaSH is centered around sharing inspiring stories, breaking down stereotypes, and sharing the authentic, behind-the-scenes moments that make entrepreneurs so amazing. Let’s dive into, “How Diet Culture Undermines Inclusivity & What to Do About It”!
Meet Dr. Rachel Millner
Dr. Rachel Millner has been a clinical psychologist for 20 years and owns the private psychotherapy practice, Rachel Millner Therapy in Philadelphia. She is a body positive activist and advocate for size inclusive fitness, and has extensive training in working with people with eating disorders. Additionally, she is a Body Trust® specialist, committed to breaking down barriers to inclusive care.
Rachel is a proud member of the LGBTQIA+ community and a single mom by choice to 12-year-old twins, slowly coming to terms with being a “soccer mom” with her kids playing on four separate teams between them. The family also includes two dogs whose antics are a nonstop source of entertaining stories. She is a lover of spoken word poetry, Broadway musicals and the Eagles (the Philadelphia football team – not the animal or the band!).
How do you define an “inclusive space,” and where do you think diet culture conflicts with that definition?
An inclusive space is one where people of all identities are welcomed, accepted and respected. Diet culture, by definition, conflicts with the concept of an inclusive space because diet culture is not welcoming of people in larger bodies. Diet culture puts bodies into a hierarchy that says some bodies are more desirable or valuable than others and defines “success” as people in larger bodies no longer existing. A value system or belief system that is focused on eradicating an entire group of people, cannot be inclusive.
Can you explain how diet culture specifically marginalizes or excludes people in larger bodies?
Diet culture is the air that we breathe. It is every message that tells us that thinner bodies are better bodies and all of the ways that thinner people are more valued and centered in our culture. Some examples are when plus size clothes either don’t exist in a store at all or are in a tiny section at the back of the store. It is when a doctor’s office doesn’t have gowns to fit people in larger bodies and only has blood pressure cuffs for smaller bodies people leading to inaccurate readings for people in larger bodies. It is when people comment on what someone in a larger body has in their cart at the grocery store or what they order for dinner. All of these examples let people in larger bodies know that they are not welcomed or wanted, which is exactly the message that diet culture wants to communicate to all people.
What are some common ways diet culture shows up in spaces that claim to be inclusive?
One of the most common ways that it shows up is in the normalization of conversations about food/body/exercise etc. For example, someone complimenting someone else on weight loss in a space that’s supposed to be inclusive or people commenting on what they’ve eaten or that they want to lose weight or talking about other people’s bodies. All of these things are part of diet culture and make a space not inclusive to higher weight people (and harm everybody because the people in smaller bodies are receiving the message that they should be afraid of gaining weight or they will be stigmatized too). It’s also really common that body size gets left out of conversations about identity or about oppressed or marginalized groups. Or that the physical space itself isn’t inclusive of people in larger bodies (i.e. there aren’t chairs that support higher weight bodies, there are a lot of steps that need to be navigated, etc.)
Why do you think it’s so hard for people to recognize diet culture as harmful, especially in wellness spaces?
We have been indoctrinated into diet culture before we were even old enough to consent. Kids as young as kindergarten already identify a thin body as “better” and name stereotypes of higher weight bodies. When something is so deeply internalized it seems “normal” and the harm isn’t noticed until it is named or pointed out to someone. Additionally, many people grow up surrounded by adults who are actively participating in diet culture, so if the people who are supposed to be raising us or teaching us are participating in diet culture, it is easy to not realize how harmful it actually is. Wellness spaces are complicated because there is often a denial of the promoted behaviors being about weight loss. Wellness spaces might say something like “it’s not a diet, it’s about health.” Or they might focus on eating certain foods to “avoid inflammation” and then point out that someone might also lose weight as an “additional benefit.” In order to get to the point of recognizing that diet culture is harmful, you have to be able to identify and acknowledge that you are participating in diet culture and wellness spaces don’t typically do that.
Some people argue that “health” conversations should be included in inclusive spaces—how do you respond to that?
One of the things I think about with this is that the concept of “health” is not neutral in this culture. Maybe if diet culture didn’t exist and healthism wasn’t a thing and we didn’t moralize whether someone takes medication or not and we didn’t value one body over another, etc., conversations about health could happen even in inclusive spaces, but we are far from that. There are so many stereotypes around people in larger bodies and health that any conversations about “health” in a space that’s supposed to be inclusive will make it not inclusive. Given that inclusive spaces are supposed to be welcoming of everyone and center those with marginalized identities, conversations about health should not be included because they are not inclusive of higher weight people or anyone with medical conditions.
How does centering diet talk or weight loss goals in a group space affect people who are in recovery from eating disorders?
Diet and weight loss talk are extremely triggering for people who have/had eating disorders. Listening to diet or weight loss talk is like hearing the voice of an eating disorder speaking out loud and reinforces exactly the same messages that their eating disorder did.
What’s the emotional impact of diet culture rhetoric on people who are already navigating fatphobia in their daily lives?
There is a negative emotional impact of diet culture on everyone, but it impacts those in larger bodies the most. When you are already navigating fatphobia in your daily life, diet culture continues to reinforce the message that there is something wrong with your body and that you should be focused on changing it. Higher weight people are often on guard because they might encounter fatphobia at any moment which is emotionally exhausting.
Do you think inclusivity and body autonomy are compatible with promoting weight loss? Why or why not?
No. I think that body autonomy is an important value and we can support body autonomy and still be inclusive. Once someone starts promoting weight loss (or talking about their own weight loss from a positive lens) they stop being inclusive. There is a big difference between making decisions for your own body and promoting those decisions and sending the message that other people should make those same decisions or that being in a larger body is something that people should attempt to change.
How can inclusive spaces better support plus-size individuals without slipping into performative allyship or backhanded compliments?
I think people really need to do their own healing work in order to truly be supportive and not performative. No matter what size body you are in, you have been impacted by diet culture and weight stigma. If you haven’t done your own healing work you will continue to perpetuate the harms of diet culture in overt or more subtle ways. Backhanded compliments may sound something like “you’re not fat you’re beautiful” as if someone can’t be fat and beautiful. Or it can sound something like commenting that clothes are “flattering” when what they really mean is making someone look smaller. Unless you unpack your own experiences in diet culture and your own internalized weight stigma, you can’t truly support plus size individuals.
Why is “body positivity” often co-opted by diet brands or fitness influencers—and what damage does that do to the original movement?
Body positivity was initially about centering the most marginalized bodies. It was then co-opted by primarily thin, mostly white, people and sold as revolutionary to say that you can be positive about your body even if you have a slight roll of fat on your stomach when you bend over. Once diet brands and fitness influencers started using body positivity in this way, body positivity was no longer safe for those in the most marginalized bodies. That’s why we have to go beyond “body positivity” to fat liberation or fat positivity.
Have you ever been invited into a space that claimed to be inclusive, only to discover it was rooted in diet culture?
What did that feel like? Definitely. It’s disappointing and frustrating. It is so upsetting when you are told that a space is going to be inclusive and you go in thinking that it will be a safe place to exist in your higher weight body only to encounter weight stigma and diet talk. Often times when you think a space will be inclusive, you let your guard down a little and then can be even more harmed and vulnerable when met by diet culture.
What does it look like when a space truly supports body liberation, instead of body “fixing”?
It will be a space free of any negative body talk, there will be no weight loss talk, no commentary on food or health or exercise. A space that supports body liberation doesn’t believe that there is such a thing as body “fixing” or that it is even possible to “fix” a body. If you hold body liberation as a value then there is nothing about bodies that would need to be “fixed.”
What would you say to someone who believes weight loss and body positivity can coexist in the same space?
If someone is in a place in their journey that they still believe weight loss and body positivity can co-exist in the same space, we would need to have a long conversation. I would explain the ways that intentional weight loss and body positivity are in opposition to each other and why intentional weight loss is harmful and interferes with body positivity. I would want to try and understand why they think these two things can coexist so that I could address their specific beliefs about it. I know that some people who want to say they are body positive while also pursuing intentional weight loss really want to find a way for them to coexist and can be defensive when challenged because they don’t want to have to look at their own biases or the harm of pursuing intentional weight loss.
How can people do the internal work to unlearn diet culture while still fostering an inclusive community?
Everyone gets to be in their own process around unlearning diet culture and they can still foster an inclusive community while doing that internal work. If we waited for everyone to be finished with that unlearning before building inclusive communities, we would never have inclusive spaces. People can get consultation or advice about how to make sure they aren’t bringing diet culture into inclusive community, they can have general guidelines such as no weight loss or diet talk. They can be prepared to make mistakes and then take accountability and apologize. No one has to do this perfectly, but we do have to do it.
If someone is building an inclusive space—online or in person—what’s the first step they should take to ensure it’s free of diet culture?
Set some basic group guidelines about what words will or won’t be used, what kind of conversations are welcome and what aren’t, make sure that body size is included in conversations about marginalized groups and when talking about who the space is inclusive of. If in person, make sure the space is inclusive of people in all body sizes. If you are serving food, make sure it is free from diet or wellness culture.
Thank you for reading this addition to our fun mini-series. Please check back next month for the next installment.
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