“It’s weird, even though it’s so close to my house, it wasn’t until five years ago that I started coming back here to go to the beach.”
Rayane Souza grew up on an island in Vitória, the capital of the Brazilian state of Espírito Santo. Her parents own a house on Ilha do Boi, an affluent neighborhood with some of the best views in the city.
We met at the seashore to talk about “fatphobia”, an expression that describes discrimination against people heavier.
Raise awareness about what fatphobia is
She is one of the founders of fat na lei (“Gorsos en la ley”), an activist group that raises awareness on the issue and matches lawyers and victims of prejudice who want to seek legal redress.
Brazil may be known for the stereotype of “tanned and beach ready” bodiesbut it’s also a country where activists propose—and pass—laws to make cities more accessible to all body shapes.
Lawyers take discrimination cases to court – especially in the workplace – and women are celebrating plus-size beauty in pageants.
As Rayane talks to the BBC on a bench facing the ocean, her boyfriend takes pictures. Everything goes to Instagram, where the now influencer shares her day to day with her more than 18,000 followers.
This 32-year-old version of herself is miles away from the girl she he spent 11 years without ever setting foot on the beach.
“In my teens I used to come up with all the textbook excuses to avoid trips to the beach with my friends. I’d say I had my period, I was sick…and when that didn’t work, I was the only person you’d see with black pants and a baggy shirt sitting on the sand.
“I’ve been fat all my life. I was a fat kid, a fat teenager. I was used to hearing comments about my weight“.
But she says something changed when she went to college.
traumatic experience
In 2012, a group of Rayane’s classmates created a WhatsApp group to comment on his figure.
They took photos of her social media and made cruel comments about her appearance. At one point, one of the students felt guilty and told him what was happening.
It was that traumatic experience that changed his perspective.
When dealing with pain, the now influencer discovered the movement “Body Positive”a concept born in the USA. in the 70s that focuses on “self-care, self-love and self-acceptance”.
“When I found out what fatphobia was, I understood what happened to me throughout my life. It was never my fault, it was society’s fault.”
In 2019, she asked her friend Mariana Oliveira, a renowned human rights lawyer, to create a group to promote a campaign.
Now, rThey receive about 70 messages per month of people who want compensation for being discriminated against or to share their story.
According to official statistics, there are more than 1,400 open cases in Brazilian labor courts related to gordophobia.
Workplace Discrimination
Fatphobia is not a crime in the country, but there are ways to open a legal process, such as taking a person to court for defamation, slander or even moral harassmentMariana explains.
He mentions a particular case in which the owner of a business conditioned the payment of a bonus to the fact that one of his employees lost weight.
“He even made her stand on a scale,” he adds.
The judges ruled in favor of the employee and set a repair from about $1,800one of the highest amounts recorded in Brazil in relation to a fatophobia case, although it is still a small sum compared to other decisions of the Brazilian judicial system.
In his defense, the businessman assured that he suggested that she lose weight because “he saw her as a daughter and wanted the best for her.”
In their decision, the judges wrote that nothing in their interaction resembled a father-daughter relationship and summed up their astonishment: “The facts that emerge from this process are surreal, though indisputable.”
Despite the fact that the number of cases brought to court has been increasing, Rayane and Mariana say that not many people yet is encouraged to seek redress because prefer Avoid reliving the trauma.
That is the case of a woman in Espírito Santo who was trapped in a bus turnstile for four hours and had to be rescued by firefighters.
“People were taking photos and making fun of her, posting videos on social media,” Rayane says.
Turnstiles are a big problem for older people in Brazil. Rayane stopped taking the bus when she was 14 years old, after getting stuck while she was going to the center of Vitória.
“I have the privilege of being able to take a taxi or drive myself where I want to go. But that’s not the reality for most Brazilians.”
achieving changes
In your opinion, some of the laws need to change to make the city more accessible and comfortable for people of all sizes.
When it comes to the bus, the influencer believes that an easy solution would be to allow passengers to board through the back door; nowadays, people have to ask for it as a favor to the driver, sometimes without success.
One of the places in Brazil where a change in policy has been made is Recife, another port city.
Two anti-fatphobia bills were passed last year: one set up a day to raise awareness and another made it mandatory for schools to buy bigger desks for students, at least one per classroom.
“I heard many stories of people who had gone through so much humiliation in their school years. People who had to go to the principal’s office every day to grab an adult’s chair,” says councilwoman Cida Pedrosa, who proposed the project law.
In his opinion, initiatives to make the city more inclusive for people of all sizes are just as important as those that fight obesity and promote healthy eating or exercise.
“One thing is not necessarily connected to the other. We have an obligation to provide healthy food for public school students and encourage people to lead a healthy lifestyle. But at the same time we can’t keep reproducing the idea that fat people are sick“he adds.
That is also Carol Stattler’s campaign. She is from the Bonita de Cuerpo group, which joined Councilor Cida Pedrosa to pass the new legislation.
She says older people are often stereotyped as lazy, which holds them back in the work environment, and they are held individually responsible for their situation.
Without thinking that in today’s world, where many are employed in low-paying jobs and have to commute for hours in megacities, and where have money to eat fruits and vegetables, and finding time to exercise can be a privilege.
“This is structural, people are getting fat and we have to deal with it.”
Official figures show that half of Brazilians are overweight and one in four is considered obese.
It is not easy to lose weight and evolution is partly to blame.
Throughout history, humanity experienced more hunger than abundance, a dynamic that helped program our bodies to increase appetite when losing weight, says Dr. Lúcia Cordeiro.
The psychological component can also work against us -around 30% of obese people in the country have eating disorders-, explains the specialist in endocrinology. That is why treatment often requires input from mental health professionals.
Another 30% of cases come from genetic factors.
Doctor Cordeiro explains that obesity is a condition inflammation associated with a wide range of diseasesfrom cancer to heart failure and sleep apnea.
Even so, a person can be overweight or obese and be considered healthy.
And also the opposite: you can be skinny and unhealthy“, says the expert from her clinic in Recife.
“We assess the overall health of the patient. If he is overweight but not high blood pressure or diabetes or lipid disorders, he can be classified as a healthy patient.”
In his opinion, the increase in obesity is a public health problem that needs to be addressed. However, that does not mean that society does not need to adapt to make life more comfortable for older people or to fight discrimination. The world needs both, he suggests.
“We have to tell society to try to live a healthy life, but we have to be careful how we send the message, so it doesn’t turn into prejudice, into fatphobia.”
Back in Vitória, Rayane assures that many people are “afraid of going to the doctor”.
The BBC heard several stories of people being told they had to lose weight regardless of their symptoms or the reasons that led them to seek medical attention. There are many who say that it is common for health professionals to embarrass those who come to the consultation.
Hence the influencer its Tand in search of an “empathetic” doctor to help her eat healthier. She and her fiancé Thiago are planning to have a baby and she wants the pregnancy to go as smoothly as possible.
“I want to improve my quality of life, eat healthier. If I lose weight in the process, so be it, but that’s not my main goal. I believe you can have a fat body and a healthy pregnancy“.
In her opinion, one of the biggest misconceptions people have about anti-fat groups is the idea that activists advocate an unhealthy lifestyle.
What they want, he explains, is to make cities more accessible, for doctors to treat their patients with dignity and for people to have fair opportunities in the labor market.
“Nothing to do with romanticizing an unhealthy lifestyle. In fact, we would not encourage people to remain in a body that is constantly marginalized. We encourage people to empower themselves, to seek their rights. Lifestyle decisions belong to everyone.”
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