"It's okay to want to be thin" opinion pieces aren't a rejoinder to a prominent thread of popular discourse critiquing thinness. That doesn't currently exist at scale in mainstream media. They're a self-soothing message, a preemptive defense to an imagined criticism.

Essentially, the "it's okay to be thin" opinion pieces aren't about giving people permission to feel how they feel about their bodies. They're about reassuring people that their desire to be thin isn't the result of a profound, ubiquitous cultural bias against fatness & bigotry toward fat people.

What folks are largely responding to is a brief period in the 2010s when thin people were exposed to moderately more images of fat people in marketing and media. It was an uncomfortable experience for plenty of thin people, but formulating any objection pretty quickly sounded bigoted.

The wild thing about the cultural impulse to reaffirm that it's okay to be thin is that its inverse isn't present in mainstream discourse. There aren't op eds arguing that it's NOT okay to be thin, or that you SHOULD want to be fat. It's a defense to an attack that simply doesn't exist.

Wanting to be thin isn’t a fringe perspective, nor is it edgy. It is the dominant narrative in a profoundly anti-fat culture. And in this particular moment, making media about how it’s okay to want to be thin also acts as de facto advertising for some of the wealthiest corporations in the world.

Ahh! Congratulations, Dr McEwan 🎉🍾

🔄 An editorial explores how small, progressive improvements can result in a meaningful impact on chronic oedema care.
🧠 A clinical comment applies psychological theory to support self-care in women with lipoedema, aiming to enhance patient engagement.

For now 👀🤣

I do this so often! I think that getting all that work done allows me to relax later on… I never end up relaxing and worry about the next thing.

How long have you got before the big day? 🫣