We can never control the outcomes of our activism, we can only decide what it is we want to put out into the world. The best we can do is give people opportunities to question their own biases and preconceived notions, what they do with those opportunities are entirely on them. Different people respond to different things which is why it’s not important that we all do activism the same way, but rather that we each do it in our own authentic way.
Often we never even know the outcome of our activism since we might plant the seed but never see the plant grow. Add to that the messages that we get from everyone from pathetic online trolls who insist that we’ll never make any progress, to the messages from well meaning people who say that we should just ignore injustice and “just be positive“, to people who don’t want to try to change the world (which is fine) telling us that there is no point in us trying (which is very much not fine,) and fighting for a world without size-based oppression can sometimes seem like a hopeless, sisyphean task.
So for Say Something Sunday, I wanted to share a comment that I recently received from Camila, with tremendous gratitude to them for having done the very hard work of examining their preconceived notions, and for taking the time to share this. I’d also love for you to put your stories of activism success in the comments!
Hello Ragen,
I wanted to write to let you know that you managed to completely alter my perspective, and I am very glad.
I have been thin my entire life (to the point where I would often get bullied for it, and would embark on several journeys to gain weight). Mostly due to being on the receiving end of comments such as.. men like meat bones are for dogs, real women have curves, etc.etc. I (now shamefully admit) subscribed to the notion that larger people should all be able to, and want to, be quote “healthier”, Although I never bullied or shamed anybody directly myself, I did subscribe to reddit forums such as r/fatlogic, which is where I found out about you and your blog.
For the past couple of weeks I have spend several hours reading many of your current and past posts, and have been completely enlightened. I have found myself agreeing with what you say, which in the past I believe I would not have.
I truly apologize for what I now see is completely baseless hate mail which you receive, as all you are doing is promoting equality, acceptance, and positivity for ALL. I can truly say you have completely changed my way of thinking.Thank you.
Activism works, people change, we are making progress, and someday we will live in a world that celebrates size diversity, and we will each have been part of that!
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