And between a portion of salpicão and a spoonful of rice (with or without raisins), no fat person goes unscathed to the maxim: you have such a beautiful face, have you thought about bariatric surgery?
From green tea to crossfit - highlighting that it is for mental health and not for the body - the whole family, suddenly, seems to have come out of the Grey's Anatomy screens, offering all kinds of recipes, diets, treatments and miracles so that, a year from now, you'll be with your summer body and not imagining, mentally, each one of them catching fire in the bonfire of your own vanity, ego and, of course, fatphobia.
Honestly, in 2020, in the midst of a pandemic, a government that is plaguing us, no one can stand to listen to fat-phobic relatives over supper, and the getaway that could be that Whatsapp group or that walk through the Instagram feed becomes another type of torture.Memes with phrases like “I see you are very happy, have you weighed yourself yet?”, “Santa Claus, come back! You forgot your belly here with me”, “December is coming and I didn’t even lose weight to gain weight for Christmas”, “This Christmas, avoid everything that puts on weight: mirror, scales, photos and skinny friends”, “Will studying help me lose the kilos I gained? at Christmas”, “So it's Christmas and what did you do? I got fat", "A Christmas based on: I shouldn't have eaten so much", "The end of year festivities pass, the weight doesn't".
This flood is just a clipping of what we found. Often, it's not memes, but the people themselves ~ friends and family ~ leading this outbreak of violence against fat bodies.
The big question is: I refuse to believe that anyone is convinced that it is possible to gain so much weight in a single night of overeating. Deep down, no one believes that, but there is a perverse need to make fun of fat people's bodies, after all, that's cool, it's the high-tech version of pavê's uncle on social media.
It's exhausting as hell for those on the other end. Who's the joke. Year after year, I've been talking about this topic and hoping - hoping - that I'm the last one to deal with fatphobia - which ends up being the only exaggeration of the date.
It is worth remembering that this type of 'humor' is also violence, as it humiliates people who are outside the established aesthetic standards and are fat. Such memes dehumanize people who inhabit fat bodies, as if that were a very bad thing. In addition, they also act as triggers for self-destructive behaviors, ranging from eating disorders to suicide. And it's not because it's December that we need to forget about 'yellow September', is it? You, who posted about mental health, had to worry all year and with all bodies, not just the ones that are within the standard, okay?
So, it's Christmas and you don't have to be fatphobic. You can feast, meet family, eat, hug, celebrate whatever you have to celebrate and welcome people, instead of carving them because of their body size or weight. And it's okay if you like/want to be skinny. You just don't have to advertise it. Nobody is interested.
Now, if your Christmas is summed up in fear of getting fat or making jokes with other people's bodies, you are sick and need professional help.
And, enjoy that it's Christmas and write to Santa Claus. Ask for that dose of empathy, recognition of privilege and, get this, love with people. Who knows, maybe we can build a 2021 a little less suffering than 2020.
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Jessica Balbino is the type of electric woman, who mixes journalism, cultural production and literature with pepper, caffeine, phosphorus and gasoline.
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