Why Facebook changed the 'feeling fat' emoji
鈥淔at is not a feeling.鈥� That was the rallying cry of the 16,771 people who signed for Facebook to remove the 鈥渇eeling fat鈥� emoji from its collection. Today, after some negotiation with the non-profit, Facebook replaced the emoji. The chubby faced, double chinned yellow smile is now 鈥渇eeling stuffed鈥� instead of fat.
"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. So we're going to remove 'feeling fat' from the list of options," MoMo Zhou, a spokeswoman for Facebook .
, the non-profit that started the petition, is an international organization that challenges听how popular culture promotes negative body image. The organization chose seven people around the world to be ambassadors for the Change.org petition to get the emoji removed.
One of the ambassadors was Catherine Weingarten, a graduate student at Ohio University who struggled with an eating disorder when she was younger and got involved with the petition because of how harmful the term 鈥淚 feel fat鈥� can be.
鈥淚 always had this idea of 鈥業鈥檓 fat,鈥� 鈥業 feel fat,鈥� but when I was saying that, that wasn鈥檛 actually how I was feeling,鈥� . 鈥淚 was feeling angry at myself and like I wasn鈥檛 good enough, but I simplified it to 鈥業 feel fat.鈥� Through therapy, I was able to work through it, and now I feel like, 鈥榃ow I never felt fat. I felt like I wasn鈥檛 good enough.'鈥�
While some people use the word fat playfully, for others it is really damaging, particularly on Facebook where it is so easy for people to compare themselves to others.听
鈥淚t鈥檚 really normalizing the idea of negative body image and making it part of the vernacular which is a piece of some of the factors that drive eating disorders,鈥� Samantha DeCaro, assistant director of the , which specializes treating eating disorders, .
Facebook works with the to provide resources for people whose posts indicate that they may have an eating disorder, but the social network did not immediately agree to remove the emoji.
Initially, Facebook defended the inclusion of the emoji, but after talks with Endangered Bodies agreed to change the name.
鈥淔or me, when I see the words 鈥業 feel fat,鈥� it takes me back to when I was struggling, and I don鈥檛 want people to not take it seriously,鈥� Weingarten said. 鈥淲hen people see that on Facebook, I want them to realize that it鈥檚 not just a light, cute sort of thing for everyone.鈥�
