A War Between Love and Hate: Our Bodies Pay the Price

Abstract

This manifesto is a call to reframe the cultural narrative around fatness, moving beyond frameworks that have historically marginalized fat bodies. From early religious associations of gluttony with moral failure to the neoliberal belief that bodies are entirely within individual control, fatness has long been deemed inferior. Even body positivity often reinforces existing norms rather than challenging the structures that uphold thinness as the ideal. This manifesto critiques the pressures placed on fat and queer individuals, exposing how institutions, rather than individuals, perpetuate systems of exclusion and shame. It rejects the narratives that demand self-hatred as a precursor to acceptance and instead advocates for a world where fatness is recognized as a valid and unremarkable existence. Calling for solidarity among those deemed abnormal by society urges a shift away from assimilation and toward true cultural transformation. By dismantling the scripts that define desirability and worth, we can reclaim fatness not as something to be justified or overcome but simply as a way of being.