8: Living in a Fat Body: A Narrative of a Fat Trans Teacher

In this chapter, Ruby narrates their embodied experience navigating pervasive social tyranny as a fat Trans teacher. Their narrative reveals the familial, educational, medical, and social structures that dictate appropriate body size and punish those who do not fit such norms. Tracing the racist history involved in developing standardized medical instruments, such as the Body Mass Index (BMI), and the relentless social pathologizing of people of size, Ruby narratively lays bare the multidimensional costs of weight stigma. The chapter emphasizes the connection between widespread structural patterns and individual experience through Ruby’s navigation of microaggressions, stigma, and abuse in a variety of familial, health, educational, and work spaces. Education is both a place that can perpetuate stigma and misinformation and one that can cultivate socially-just educational practices, including fat-positive activism. The chapter concludes with practical insights on how educators can confront their own embodied biases and create inclusive spaces with all bodies, including fat students, in mind.