Ozymandias Note: NSWATM is proud to welcome Sir Gabe, who also goes by Succubus Boy, as our first guest blogger. He is a trans man who plans mostly to discuss issues of intersectionality for men.

Now, we’ve all heard that “fat is a feminist issue”. But what about fat as a masculist issue? I’m going to talk about pop culture’s images of fat men, and how fatphobia and body policing affects men, speaking from the point of view as a fat man.

Fatphobia is the irrational fear or hatred of fat people, becoming fat or appearing fat. I’ve seen it largely discussed as an issue for women, because many women suffer from low self-esteem and fear of becoming or appearing fat. Surprisingly, though, guys, both cis and trans, are also affected by fatphobia. Fat boys are bullied at school, and fat men are pointed at as being ugly, irresponsible and always unhealthy–this is hostile fatphobia. There’s also what I think of as “well-meaning” or concern trolls’ fatphobia, in which again, being fat is equated with poor health, laziness and making yourself a target for bullies. On another, perhaps more hidden level, there’s the “chubby chaser” phenomenon in which fat people are fetishized and objectified for their weight, because being attracted to large people, and large people themselves are seen as “deviant”.

Now, as for fatphobia in movies and TV shows, fat male characters are often stereotyped as being lazy overeaters who have heart attacks all the time and are lacking intelligence or empathy. You have literal “fat cats”, who are rich, overweight men–these characters tend to be villainous. There are also jolly fat men, like Santa Claus, who crack weight-related jokes and are generally presented as magical minority members. Then, just as nasty a stereotype as the “fat cat”, you have the “redneck”: a fat, uneducated, intolerant working-class man, a stereotype that ties in with classism. Fat men also appear as sumo wrestlers or warriors, but these agile fat characters usually appear in children’s media rather than anything aimed at adults, and it’s not often that a good, well-rounded character is literally round. In short, fat male characters are usually defined by their weight and looks, rather than their personalities. This lack of characters for fat boys and men to identify with is sending the message that fat people are unworthy, useless, always unhealthy and sometimes even downright evil, and that fat men aren’t “real men” because they’re not buff. This ties into my point about bullying and harrassment for being overweight, because if the culture is backing up the bullies’ belief that a group of people is unworthy, people in that group may feel that nobody will help them or believe them, and that they’ll be blamed for the bullying they suffer.

Back to talking about real-life fatphobia, a fat man’s body may also appear “feminine” to some people as fat men’s chests can resemble breasts and being fat rounds out the face, which can provoke further bullying, since femininity is frequently used as an insult by bullies, which is in and of itself a product of a sexist society, and this is part of why I, and others might draw a link between fatphobia and misogyny.

Fatphobia is also an issue of bodily sovereignty. Society in general doesn’t have much regard for people’s bodily sovereignty, with issues like circumcision and the stigma surrounding sex work and body modification. A man who is fat and doesn’t choose to lose weight is seen as a loser, a sad sack who must be unhappy because of his weight, rather than a whole person who just might be happy with his body–and perfectly healthy, too, because there are people who eat right and exercise and are still fat. People make fun of him for the choice not to diet or spend all his free time working out, or even the fact that he gets grief over his weight and appears miserable. People give unsolicited advice to fat men, too, and it’s just as patronising and annoying as the advice given to fat women.

In conclusion, size acceptance is for guys too, and we need to be more critical of the things we say to and about other people, guys included. No body type is better than another and weight doesn’t equal health or somebody’s worth as a person.