What We Don't Talk About When We Talk About Fat

by Aubrey Gordon

This desirability myth—the deep-seated, ubiquitous cultural belief that fat people are categorically undesirable—means that our assault and harassment is unthinkable to most. But fat people experience sexual violence, and some are even targeted because of the likelihood we won’t speak out. And who would want to rape you? is more than an anecdotal experience or a cultural meme. Academics at Brigham Young University found that fat survivors of rape were dramatically less likely to be believed than thinner victims.15 In Tipping the Scales of Justice: Fighting Weight-Based Discrimination, Sondra Solovay tells the story of one fat woman who was harassed by a physician after surviving rape and another who sought a pregnancy test. “‘My doctor said I couldn’t get pregnant, I was fat, who would want to make me pregnant?’ She was pregnant.”16 The desirability myth ensures that fat survivors will stay silent—and if they don’t, they still won’t be believed.