Fat Liberation Terminology

As acronyms for ‘big beautiful woman’ and ‘big handsome man’, these terms were coined by Carole Shaw in 1979. While positive, they centre desirability and can be seen as objectifying. Their use is a matter of personal preference.

These terms are often a euphemism: a word or phrase used to avoid saying something offensive or taboo. By using these words instead, ‘fat’ is seen as an insult. Chubby or chunky can also feel infantilising or dismissive. Their use is a matter of personal preference.

Curvy can be problematic because it often feminises and sexualises fat bodies. It suggests that fat people, especially women, are only valuable if they’re deemed attractive or sexy. Its use is a matter of personal preference.

This term looks at how society's narrow standards of beauty (often tied to whiteness, thinness, and ableism) shape who is seen as attractive and therefore valuable. Desirability Politics encourage us to examine how societal biases affect personal preferences and how they treat those who don't fit traditional beauty ideals.

A system of beliefs that glorifies weight loss, equates thinness with health and morality, and promotes guilt around food and eating.

Fat is a neutral and honest term, simply describing body size without judgement or moral value. It’s direct and specific – no euphemisms or ambiguity. When describing individuals, its use is a matter of personal preference.

Fat Liberation is a social justice movement that empowers fat people to live freely and unapologetically, while working to create a society where all bodies are valued equally.

Fat oppressions refers to the systemic discrimination and unfair treatment of fat people in everyday life.

HAES is a health approach that prioritises overall wellbeing over weight or size. It focuses on body respect, intuitive eating (listening to your body's hunger and fullness signals) and finding joyful ways to move.

This is when fat people themselves believe harmful societal messages that being fat is undesirable, unhealthy, or shameful.

In medical language, it indicates disease. This term is an outdated and sensationalised label meant to stigmatise fatness as extreme or dangerous. It’s often used to dehumanise individuals, and it’s tied to negative assumptions about health and worth.

Often used in medical contexts, but it has been weaponised to shame fat people. It’s rooted in pathologising fat bodies, which means unfairly labelling them as a medical issue. This frames fatness as inherently "unhealthy" or “diseased”.

Overweight (and underweight) suggests that someone's body is outside an "ideal" weight range. It enforces a weight-centric view of health and beauty.

Plus-size is widely used in fashion to describe clothing above a certain size. While plus-size is generally acceptable to describe people, some believe it should only be used for clothing, not individuals.

The unearned advantages people in smaller bodies receive because of society's preference for thinness.