Fat activist says she’s been hired by San Francisco as consultant against ‘weight stigma’

A fat activist announced that she had been hired on by San Francisco to consult about combatting “weight stigma” and “weight neutrality.”

Virgie Tovar posted the announcement on Monday on her Instagram account, where she has more than 84.2K followers.

‘This work felt like the only way I could survive. I wasn’t going to live a life of shame any more.’

“I’m working with a team at the San Francisco Department of Public Health as a consultant on weight stigma & weight neutrality,” read the post.

The 42-year-old activist combats dieting and weight discrimination and has published books including “You Have the Right to Remain Fat” and “The Self-Love Revolution: Radical Body Positivity for Girls of Color.”

“I’m UNBELIEVABLY proud to serve the city I’ve called home for almost 20 years in this way!” she added. “This consultancy is an absolute dream come true, and it’s my biggest hope and belief that weight neutrality will be the future of public health.”

Tovar has a master’s degree in sexuality studies from San Francisco State University. Her thesis was entitled “How Fat Women of Color Queer the Feminine.”

In an interview from 2017 she explained her crusade to combat dieting and thin beauty standards.

“I was born a fat person into a fat-hating culture. I’d made myself sick trying to lose weight. Even when I was trying my hardest, I wasn’t anywhere near a weight where people would say I was normal,” she explained. “This work felt like the only way I could survive. I wasn’t going to live a life of shame any more.”

Critics of the body positivity movement like reality show physical trainer Jillian Michaels say society should not be glorifying obesity because the health consequences can be dangerous and even lethal.

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