“When we say, “Oh, you don’t look fat! You look lovely!” we are assuring our friends that they are still socially acceptable, that they aren’t one of those fat people.”
I'm Michelle. This is my blog. I write about women and fatness, expound upon semi-coherent thoughts I have in the middle of the night, and offer tough love to those in whom I am disappointed; they are legion. I was born in New Jersey and live in Italy, the Jersey of Europe.
King of States! 
So right on, so few words.
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I began saying, in the ninth of my attempted comments subsequently deleted because they were so wrong, that few words are as fraught with so much fear, loathing, judgement, and baggage as that word. And all the others so distorted by ill will are based in identity: race, gender, orientation. The words that function like fat does are all ways to prop up normativity against a perceived threat.
Yuck.
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