Size & Weight
Recognizing diversity in our sizes and weight allows us to celebrate our bodies in their natural state. This also fosters a more accepting and inclusive society where everyone feels valued and respected, regardless of one's size. Sizeism, discrimination based on body size, also known as weight stigma, can have a significant impact on individuals' mental and physical health, leading to low self-esteem, eating disorders, and other serious health issues.
Our counseling center strives to provide services that are inclusive and accessible to all bodies. Explore this page for size-inclusive resources, information about campus resources, and how to get involved.
CMU Resources
- Women’s Embracing Your Body Support Group: A CaPS support group for those who want to further their journey towards body acceptance. Visit our Groups and Skills Clinics page for more information.
- University Health Services (UHS) : Provides general medical care as well as Individual Clinical Services with the Health Promotion team that provide a safe space to discuss the impact of weight stigma when seeking medical care.
- Size Inclusivity and Accessibility Working Group: A network of CMU community members dedicated to increasing awareness, acceptance, and accessibility for size and weight diversity across campus. Learn more about the Working Group. Do you want to consult about how to make your program size inclusive and accessible? Do you want to share your experience with weight stigma on campus? Do you have solutions for ways campus can eliminate weight stigma? Share your feedback by filling out the Size Inclusivity & Accessibility Working Group Feedback Form.
Community Resources
- All Bodies Welcome Yoga: A virtual + Pittsburgh pop up yoga studio
- Pittsburgh Fatties Social Club: A community for the fat people of Pittsburgh and beyond that offers opportunities to connect through online spaces, no and low cost meet ups, fat positive service referrals, and mutual aid. Check out their posts on resources in Pittsburgh for:
- Full Fat: A virtual support group hosted by FierceFatFemme. Sign up for the Full Fat Virtual Support Group.
- She's All Fat: Body positive and fat acceptance resources
- Fat Liberation Archive: Zines, flyers, articles, audio recordings, and other materials documenting the experiences and activism of fat liberation-focused individuals throughout history
- Cake Plus-Size Resale: An online plus-size resale store.
- Fat On Campus: Photos, stories, and experiences of fat students on college campuses—exploring where they feel comfortable or uncomfortable in their bodies, and how they navigate those spaces
Mental Health & Self-Advocacy Resources
- A Toolkit for Fat Flyers - Essential info for fat airline passengers
- Bad Body Day Toolkit - Strategies for managing a bad body day
- Association for Size Diversity and Health HAES Provider Listing - Health at Every Size Aligned provider directory
- Fat Friendly Health Professionals - Fat friendly directory of providers
- BIPOC therapist and dietitians who work with eating disorders from a Health at Every Size recovery modality
- "Don't Weigh Me" Cards - Wallet-sized cards you can provide to your doctor to assert your preference to only be weighed if medically necessary and if you provide informed consent.
- When You’ve Been Fat-Shamed By Your Doctor - An article on an experience of being fat-shamed and options for what you can do next.
- Take The Cake - An article with seven tips for medical self-advocacy as a fat person
- Size Friendly Care Providers Guide - A chapter from the “My Plus Size Pregnancy Guide"
- Know Your Rights Guide to Surviving COVID-19 Triage Protocols - A toolkit with information and strategies on navigating potential weight-based discrimination during medical triage that is applicable outside of COVID-19.
- FLARE (Fat Legal Advocacy, Rights and Education) - Assists individuals and organizations fighting weight-related injustice
- The Body Liberation Guide - Free weekly body liberation newsletter
- AllGo - An app that allows plus-size people to rate the comfort and accessibility of public spaces