ABSTRACT
How do you go from fat hatred to radical fat acceptance activism when you live in a small remote island in the middle of the Atlantic inhabited by a monolith nation of around 330,000 people? A nation that is not only one of the healthiest nations in the world, but is at the same time a nation in the throes of dieting culture and healthism? How can it be that 79 percent of Icelanders aged 18–79 are trying to lose weight at any given time, but that we can still boast about being one of the longest living nations in the world? Why does such a small country, where type 2 diabetes has been almost unheard of, constantly panic about the diabetes epidemic and have their own version of the Biggest Loser? In this piece I will try to tackle these questions, drawing on my master’s dissertation in Social Work at the University of Iceland; an analysis of fat phobia and weight stigma in Iceland, as well as my personal experience of growing up in this specific environment as a fat child and a teenager and my journey from fat hatred and the resulting eating disorder, to being a radical fat acceptance activist. Throughout I will be using the critical approach of feminism and Fat Studies to aid me. I believe this piece will shine a further light on the roles that healthism and societal discourses on fatness play in the war against fat people, regardless of the alleged effect of said fatness on health.
