BUSINESS
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OVERCOMING WEIGHT INDUCED SOCIAL ANXIETY
Written by Nyemade Boiwu (African Butterfly)
Photo by RF._.studio from Pexels
It feels as though half of the country is still abiding by strict quarantine guidelines and the other half has returned to regular living. One of the benefits of things opening back up is that it gives us the opportunity to connect with family and friends we’ve missed. A downside is that as events and gatherings become in-person again it opens the door for social anxiety to return. This is especially true as we head into the New Year. Its great thinking about connecting with people but it also brings a certain level of stress. As someone who’s on the larger end of the plus size range, navigating social settings can be interesting to say the least. Most of the time I feel like I’m both the center of attention while being invisible at the same time. There’s something unnerving about feeling like all eyes are on you whenever you walk into a room. People think that we don’t see the elbow nudges or slight nods of their WWW.QUEENSIZEMAGAZINE.COM|JANUARY 2021 ISSUE
heads as they try to get whoever they’re with to gawk at our size. It’s noticeable. Then, the initial wave of unwanted attention wears off, only to be replaced by a sense of invisibility. People tend to gravitate toward those they feel comfortable with, and often this does not include the largest person in the room. When they look around the room, their eyes slide right past us. It’s like people are afraid of “catching” fatness by association — one downside of treating fatness like it’s an epidemic. As Jeannine A. Gailey writes of this phenomenon in her book, The Hyper(in)visible Fat Woman: “If a community is dealing with an epidemic, it is expected and understood that members of that community will do everything in their power to prevent the spread of the disease. It becomes a public duty, as well as a personal responsibility. However, ‘obesity’ is not a communicable disease.”
