Christmas is my favorite time of year. One of my favorite things about the holiday is that Santa Claus is one of the few fat-positive characters in popular culture. He’s strong and gentle and kind and loves children and is FAT!!

Well, I was listening to a friend’s iPod, and a song called “Sexy Santa” by a band called Steel Panther came on. The lyrics were so incredibly traumatizing I’m having trouble typing straight. Right out of the gate, the singer yells “Santa’s getting ripped and he’s lost some weight/he’s on a low-carb diet and he’s looking great.” Other choice lyrics include “More cushion for the pushin’ don’t apply to him now/he looks hot but he used to be a big fat cow”–as though being fat is incompatible with being hot! Somehow this song manages to erase the fat identity of Santa Claus, one of the few fat characters not denigrated in general in our fatphobic culture, while also erasing fat people’s sexuality: as though fat people aren’t hot and sexually desirable.

Thin privilege is not having your favorite holiday undermined by ubiquitous fatphobia. Thin privilege is not having your sexuality erased by fatphobic musicians.