OOPS: University backtracks, removes post decrying ‘diet culture’ as racist

An official Instagram account of Winthrop University in Rock Hill, South Carolina stated that “diet culture” and “weight stigma” are based on “racism and anti-Blackness.”

On Jan. 5, the Health and Counseling Services office reposted an image of a tweet from Marianne Kirby, a self-proclaimed “Fat Person” who wrote a book, titled, Lessons from the Fat-o-sphere.

“We are coming up on the time of year when folks go hard pushing diets,” read the tweet reposted to Winthrop Counseling’s story. “Here’s a friendly reminder that diets are a scam and that your body loathing funds a multi-billion-dollar industry built on your misery.”

“Eat the rich, not diet foods, friends,” concluded the tweet. “Fatness is not the enemy.”

We are coming up on the time of year when folks go hard pushing diets. Here’s a friendly reminder that diets are a scam and that your body loathing funds a multi-billion-dollar industry built on your misery. Eat the rich, not diet food, friends. Fatness is not the enemy.

— Marianne Kirby (@TheRotund) December 28, 2020

[RELATED: UC-Boulder ‘encouraging’ obesity with ‘weight bias’ workshop, conservative group says]

Winthrop Counseling added commentary of its own, providing “a friendly reminder that diet culture and weight stigma are based in racism and anti-Blackness. It is all tied together.”

A third Instagram story explained that “dismantling diet culture necessitates dismantling the systems of racism that uphold our society.”

Winthrop University spokeswoman Judy Longshaw confirmed to Campus Reform that @coungelingwu is an official university account. She added that “the views expressed by the counselor regarding unhealthy eating habits were reflective of her own views and did not represent the university’s position.”

Accordingly, the school will take “corrective action” to make sure that “personal views are not reflected in future posts on university accounts.” 

Longshaw said that the university had removed the Instagram story.

Campus Reform recently reported that Simmons University maintains a library guide entitled “Anti-Oppression: Anti-Fatmisia,” which described “Anti-Fatmisia” as “strategies, theories, actions, and practices that challenge and counter fatmisia, inequalities, prejudices, and discrimination based on size.”

[RELATED: University claims being ‘fat’ is not unhealthy. The science says otherwise.]

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 42.4 percent of Americans suffer from obesity. 

Weight problems are linked to heart disease, strokes, and Type 2 diabetes. Obesity also makes individuals more vulnerable to contracting COVID-19. 

Follow the author of this article on Twitter: @BenZeisloft