Amala Ekpunobi

She Said She Loves Being Skinny. The Internet Called Her FATPHOBIC

A TikToker called ‘Slim Kim’ is going viral for saying she loves being skinny. Now she’s facing backlash from people saying she’s being fatphobic. Let’s talk about it.

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Duration:: 16m
Broadcast on:: 26 Nov 2024
Audio Format:: other

There are toys and then there are freak-out-worthy toys. Toys that get big reactions like... Oh, I'm cheating, no way! Or... Best present ever! Or... It's what I've always wanted! For those toys, you need Walmart. They've got exclusives from major brands like Disney, Barbie, and Adventure Force that you can't find anywhere else. Toys that make kids jump for joy. Thank you, thank you! And make you a hero for giving them. Shop hundreds of exclusive toys. Yes! Welcome to your Walmart. This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Viscally responsible. Financial geniuses. Monetary magicians. These are things people say about drivers who switch their car insurance to progressive and save hundreds. Visit progressive.com to see if you could save. Progressive casualty insurance company and affiliates. Potential savings will vary, not available in all states or situations. My favorite thing to be is skinny. And I fear you cannot say that out loud, but it is my favorite thing to be and it is my favorite fear to not be. When she said she fears this is something you cannot say out loud, she was absolutely correct because this sparked a huge internet debate because apparently this is something you are not allowed to say. The body positivity movement only moves in one direction? Let's talk about it. Yeah, you better. Yeah, you better. Guys, before we get into today's video, please like and subscribe. Yesterday, we are back on TikTok for another controversial debate and this one is about body type and the body positivity movement. We're going to be meeting Slim Kim. She's a TikToker that has a little over 150,000 followers. And she posted a video talking about how much she loves being skinny. Let's watch it. My favorite thing to be is skinny. And I fear you cannot say that out loud, but it is my favorite thing to be and it is my favorite fear to not be. And this is just for me personally. This is all personal to me. But I just wanted to say it out loud because honestly, it's all I think about. It's all I think about. Okay. All right, that's the video. Of course, I'm going to jump right out of the gate and say that's a totally okay thing to say. She loves being skinny. She even said this is my personal opinion. It's just for me. She wasn't saying anything about anybody else involved or anybody who is going to see this video. And that's okay. Let's be honest. There are a lot of benefits you get for being skinny from your health to the way you're treated and perceived. And I think it's okay to acknowledge that. And if you are a slim person as Slim Kim is, you can say that's what I love and that she fears not being skinny. It is interesting that she says she thinks about it all the time. Maybe she's being a little hyperbolic for the sake of the video. I'd hope she's not thinking about it all the time and that it's something that can just sort of sit as a small thought in your brain as you live your life and think about other more important things. But nonetheless, this video is totally okay. But of course, it's getting a lot of responses because the body positivity movement it seems is only about a certain body type. And when you start talking about the love that you have for your skinny body or the fear that you have of becoming fat or overweight, people have something to say to you because apparently that's fatphobic. Let's listen to our first response. This one says Slim Kim in the alt-right pipeline. A collective outcry on this app when Slim Kim came out and said what most fat people know that many skinny people think is just indicative that we are not mentally prepared for the shift of conservatism that is happening in this country. The rise in body fascism, the narrowing and narrowing down of what is seen as beautiful or what is seen as an acceptable way to look has been happening for some time now. If I'm being real, it started with the deer versus doa versus siren eyes versus dark from an in versus all of that. It's a pipeline. Do you have cap face or deer face turned into let's turn our faces to the side and analyze the slopes of our noses like you Genesis. And I think that because we are so used to seeing the alt-right pipeline as a marketed towards men. It's more difficult to recognize and understand when it's being marketed towards us in beauty spaces. There's not a coincidence that all of a sudden skinny people are coming out and declaring that they love being skinny. It is not a coincidence that brands that formerly claim to care about diversity or whatever are rolling back on their darker skin tone. People are now openly saying that our slur on social media again like it's normal. All of a sudden it's become accepted to declare on this app that you don't care about Palestinian people in their genocide. As we scroll and consume and even participate in social media we need to be engaging in critical thought. Media literacy is dead. Can we revive it please? Okay. Oh, that took me on a wild, wild journey. You know when people are trying to solve a murder mystery and there's tax all over the board and the red strings running around. That's what I feel like this girl just did with this video. That was personal to Slim Kim. It's interesting that she's taking this on as a sort of attack on other body types when she literally says in the video, and this is just for me personally. This is all personal to me. She's saying nobody else has to feel this way. This is how I feel and it's not a statement about how she feels about other bodies. It's just about hers. And through this entire body positivity movement, people with plus size bodies have been able to say that all day long. You guys were saying big is beautiful. I love being big. I love my curves. We need more plus size models. We need this. We need that. I love me. I love that. But when somebody does it and they live in a skinny body, that's not okay. So it's a one way street. Got it. And it's interesting that she accuses others of a lack of critical thinking. And for a moment, let's touch on the body fascism. Let's bring up the definition of fascism and look at something real specific in there. It will just jump to our homeboy Wikipedia. In that definition of fascism, I'm seeing a forcible suppression of opposition. And it's almost like you don't want people to be able to espouse beliefs that you feel are opposed to yours. So who's the real body fascist? But let's move on. Where to get to? I'm going to be real. I spent my late teens, twenties hot conventionally attractive, then could get who I wanted to not appreciate it at the time, tale as old as time. My biggest fear then was being the way that I am now, right? And I like could not fathom someone being the way that I am now and not like hating it, not being so jealous and I pity them. And so now I'm on this side and I pity that person, right, who's like so afraid of looking like this. And I say this because like we'll never meet. You don't even mean like we're on our side feeling bad for people who can't fathom that we don't want to be them. They feel bad for us. We feel that's them. It's it's stupid. Right? And it's of course you like being skinny. It is a power, but it's also prison. Not to armchair psycho analyze this girl, but it's very interesting that she carries the feeling of pity with her no matter where she is in life. When she was skinny, she was looking out for who to pity and that was fat and bigger people. When she becomes a bigger person, she's looking for people to pity on the other side. And that's people who are skinny and are afraid of being her, I guess. And while this may make her seem like she's extremely self aware that she's sharing these internal thoughts that she's having about people, what I'm seeing is a little bit of narcissism. Why is it the no matter what position you're in in life, you're looking for the group of people to pity? It's a really interesting thing to be thinking about. And maybe you should just focus on yourself and living your life instead of looking to other groups of people to pity. And I do get her prison point at the end there that so many people are so obsessed with their self image and with this idea of being skinny that it does become a prison. They don't allow themselves to experience joy or make certain choices because they are more consumed with how they look than they are with their human experiences. But is she going to get pissed when people on the skinny side and on the fit side say that a fat body and a big body is a prison? I bet. I bet so. And mind you, insecurity is a prison for anybody who has it and we all have our insecurities that we're constantly thinking about and they keep us making certain actions that are not really about us and our choices, but about the insecurity itself. But if we're going to talk about imprisonment when it comes to human bodies, I would argue that the more imprisoning body is the one that has the least amount of freedom, the least amount of activity that keeps you from doing the most things. And that happens to be an obese or morbidly obese body. But wait, if you call now there's more, let's watch another video. My favorite thing about me is how wealthy I am. Like that's the life hat guys. That is the key to winning in life. People treat you better. There's a sign of status, of self discipline. Life is just so much easier when you're wealthy. That's how you guys sound. That is how y'all sound like, duh, life is easier if you're in a more privileged place. For there to be a privileged community, there has to be an underprivileged community. Mmm, whatever body you like or love to live in, I'll do it sister. Okay, like do whatever works best for you. But there are implications onto the things that we say. Like of course my life is easier because I have lighter skin and a looser curl pattern, but I don't love those things because they make my life easier. In fact, I want to dismantle those things because they make others lives harder. Before you say, I know you're not comparing thinness to racism. Read a book. Let's open one. Oh, not the black body book. Oh, goodness gracious. This is an argument in the body positivity community that a lot of our fat phobia or this fear that many might have of being fat is actually a fear of being in a black body, which is actually racist, that you attribute curvature and fatness to black people, but we don't have to go there right now. I guess you can read the book and determine that for yourselves. Now it's very interesting that she places a skinny body or a fit body in the privileged community and a bigger body in the underprivileged community. And I can see why she's thinking that society does treat these two different groups of people very differently. That's just a fact. But when you compare it to things like race, gender, skin tone, you're actually doing something very interesting. Think about your race. Think about your gender or sex. Think about your skin tone and colorism. These are features that you actually cannot help. There is nothing you can do about it. You are born that way and you will continue to be that way. We all make choices when it comes to our body type. And if you want to be a member of the privileged community, you very well can be. Now, of course, they're outliers. There are people that no matter what they do, they cannot live in a skinny or fit body. But that is not most of y'all. And I need y'all to be honest about that. And if you don't want to be skinny, if you don't want to be in a fit body, that is totally okay. More power to you. Live how you want to live. But don't get upset when somebody who is in a skinny body says they love the way they're living. And you know, it's interesting that I find myself defending this video, even though it's a video that I would never make and something that I don't think I would be so bold as to put on the internet. But I understand with the climate we're in why she's saying these things. And that actually segues into our next video, this bit of criticism for Slim Kim. When I think about Slim Kim's, I love being skinny video. There are a lot of things you could say, but just purely from an etiquette perspective, it's always rude to talk about how much you love having something that other people are killing themselves for. It's gosh and it's unnecessary. And I think it belays something a little bit mean about your personality. And I also think that's what people are picking up on. Yes, you love being skinny. Like I don't, first of all, she didn't ever have to make a video saying that because her username is Slim Kim, which is why I also don't buy the whole, like, I'm never going to come on the internet and talk about how much I love being skinny again. But that little video was sort of about signal to people who love to talk about, like, and bitches never let you say you want to be thin. Everyone talks about how much they want to be thin. That's why you're not supposed to brag when you're already in that position because it's rude. You already got the, like, the privilege. You know what? Part of me watching this video was like, yeah, it is a little classless to come on the internet and start talking about how much you love being skinny. And other people are trying to be skinny. But then I'm reminded of what the past 15 years we've been living in when people are saying being big is beautiful. I love my curves. You skinny could never. If you stood sideways in class, you'd be counted absent. I didn't see you behind that blade of grass. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. I've actually never felt too much when it comes to body type. I feel like all of my insecurities have always existed in some other realm and many of them have been looks. But I feel like it's more in regard to other parts of myself. So it's interesting to watch people go back and forth on these things and to realize that so many people are struggling with their self-perception and how they come off so much so that even the simple statement of somebody saying they love their body is triggering to others. I thought the positivity was what we were fighting for, babe. But now that somebody says it, it's not an okay thing to say. And part of me thinks that none of these videos would even exist if we didn't have the body positivity movement that was essentially functioning on a one-way street. It's not controversial to say you love being skinny if all these people are not talking so much about how they love being big and cosmopolitan is making a magazine that says fat is healthy and we're saying big is beautiful. These things don't exist in a vacuum and I think we need to recognize that. It seems like in practice the body positivity movement is very different from what it was packaged as. It used to be self-love good, self-loathing and insecurity bad. Now it's skinny bad and people talking about being skinny bad, being bigger, good, or being part of a marginalized group, good. And it's interesting that all of these conversations revolve around this idea of a privileged and an underprivileged class. And now because you are part of the underprivileged class, you get the privilege of talking about it while the others have to suppress their speech. Make it make sense. And even worse than that, and this is just an aside, these people go on to attack those who are part of the underprivileged community who are attempting to become privileged. And I'll give you an example, when you saw Tess Holiday, Lizzo, or Adele go on their weight loss journey, you saw a lot of activists within the body positivity community attack them for changing their lifestyle and wanting to be a part of the privileged class. So not only are you putting people in boxes based on their characteristics and the way that they're perceived, but you're telling them you're not allowed to leave this box or you're fatphobic. I go on and on about this, I could yap on this for hours, but we'll do that on another day. I will say there were a lot of women coming forward and defending Slim Kim and her take as ridiculous as that sounds. But it seems like people are understanding that there were some false promises sold to us by the body positivity movement and that it doesn't in fact move in both directions. And that needs to be recognized. And when somebody says this is our movement towards the alt-right pipeline and people are going to become more comfortable saying these things, it's not a result of politics or the fact that Trump won this last election, it's a result of your attitude and your ideology coming full circle and people realizing that there is something ridiculous about it so long as it's not being practiced in the way it was preached. This is not people becoming alt-right or fatphobic, it's people becoming reasonable and they're also realizing that they should be able to share their opinions out loud. Even though, unfortunately, Slim Kim took down her original video. It's no longer up. I don't know if it's because it got mass reported or because she was overwhelmed by the response. It's unfortunate that these are not conversations that we are allowed to have, that she can't even say, "In my personal opinion, I love my body and I love the fact that I live in it." But you guys are body positive. Okay. But guys, those are just my thoughts on this whole situation, drop your thoughts in the comments down below. As always, I encourage healthy debates, so if you disagree with anything said in this video, do get out but do so respectfully. And if you liked this video, like, subscribe, click the notification bell to be notified every single time I post a video for you guys, which is every day and I will see you guys tomorrow. Bye! [Music] [BLANK_AUDIO]