This is too good - FAT ACTIVIST lectures college students

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A self-proclaimed "fat activist" gave college kids in Minnesota yet another issue to angrily protest: Thin privilege.

To mark “International No Diet Day,” the University of Minnesota's School of Public Health invited Virgie Tovar, a Cal-Berkeley lecturer and “fat activist,” to instruct America’s future nutritionists, dietitians and social workers on the finer points of “fat oppression.”

Tovar’s talk, entitled “Dispelling Myths: Fat, Fatphobia, and Challenging Social Stereotypes,” was designed to help students understand that “fat phobia” is rampant in a “white, heteronormative society” that is looking to actively oppress people with larger body types. Society’s bias against fat people is, apparently, a form of bigotry and discrimination, evident in everything from sexual preferences to the size of seats on public transportation.

She even, reportedly, compared society’s anti-fat culture to so-called “rape culture,” and chastised society for its obsession with what she termed “thin privilege.”

According to Tovar, the students, who study public health (at one of the top 10 schools for public health), shouldn’t push people they deem overweight to shed pounds, even if it’s better overall for health. “Weight loss is not a realistic goal for most people,” she said, declaring that exercise and diet are “social constructs.” She implored her audience to “lose hate, not weight” and rebel against “diet culture.”

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