Body-Positive Win: Facebook Gets Rid of That "Feeling Fat" Status
Feeling—happy.
A little advice to anyone who thinks their opinion, voice, or objections don't matter: After more than 16,700 people petitioned through Change.org for Facebook to remove its "feeling fat" emoticon option, the social media powerhouse has replaced it with "feeling stuffed." Hey, we'll take it.
"We've heard from our community that listing 'feeling fat' as an option for status updates could reinforce negative body image, particularly for people struggling with eating disorders," Facebook announced on Tuesday. "So we're going to remove 'feeling fat' from the list of options. We'll continue to listen to feedback as we think about ways to help people express themselves on Facebook."
The petition began as a partnership between Catherine Weingarten and Endangered Bodies—an organization that fights anything that promotes negative body image—after Weingarten saw a friend use the emoticon on her page and felt like it was a body-shaming "feeling" to promote on such platform. Together, the two forces inspired women to speak up and tell Facebook that #FatIsNotaFeeling:
In this case we're not sure Like covers it. More like: Love.
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