Body Image as Public Record: Challenging Stories Others Write About You

From playgrounds to workplaces, family gatherings to social media, bodies are scanned, judged, and discussed—often without consent or accuracy. For anyone whose appearance challenges the dominant narrative of what's 'ideal,' this means living in a world that assigns meaning and value before a word is even spoken.

Fatness, especially, is treated as public property—debated, stigmatized, and pathologized. Others write stories about you: lazy, unhealthy, stubborn, undisciplined. This labeling gets reinforced by doctors, commentators, and even well-intended friends or loved ones who think they're being helpful. Over time, these stories can feel so persistent that it's hard not to internalize them, weighing self-worth against someone else’s account.

But here’s the radical truth: nobody is entitled to define your narrative but you. The science of self-perception shows that the stories you hold about yourself dramatically shape your health outcomes, resilience, and well-being far more than the labels imposed by society. To counteract external scripts, consciously naming—and rehearsing—your own reality builds internal strength and clarity.

Over time, rewriting the narrative, even privately at first, is an act of resistance against a culture that prefers single stories and simple explanations. Owning and voicing your experience, on your terms, is a step toward real agency.

Take a moment to reflect on the voices and opinions that echo in your mind—maybe a neighbor’s comment about your size, a relative’s joke, or the way strangers react when you show up. Jot them down, then for each, answer with your honest experience: what’s really true for you, not what others assume? As you step into public or encounter new situations, remind yourself of just one of these self-affirming truths. This isn’t about denying difficulty but about claiming your story as yours to tell, again and again, until it feels stronger than the outside noise.