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  2020-06-07

  Diet culture and Fatphobia are rooted in white supremacy

  It's not a topic people want to talk about, and most people do not even know the history behind diet culture and fatphobia in the United States. Food is a powerful tool that has been used to convey morality and racial supremacy to Americans for more than a century. As Americans have been in lockdown since March, terms like "quarantine-15" and "the covid-19," have become common phrases to shame weight gain due to anxiety, disrupted eating habits, and food scarcity. The current protests and push for the end of racism has many anti-diet culture dieticians and nutritionists speaking up about not only the ugly history of diet culture and fatphobia but the current situation of fat-shaming people for gaining weight during a global pandemic. This meme shared publicly through an Instagram story is one such attempt by nutrition professionals to call attention to the issue of racism, diet culture, and fatphobia. Contributed by Stephanie Berry, a curatorial intern for Arizona State University, HST580.