i'm not OVERweight

i am fat.
i am large.
i am chubby.
I AM NOT OVERweight.

now, i'm sure that some fat folks identify with this term, and that is totally fine. but i hate it.

what does overweight mean? what weight am i over? this term implies that there is some ideal weight and that being over (or under) it is hazardous. yes, being extremely over or under the 'average' weight CAN be dangerous, but these things are not linked in an essential way. to me, the term overweight implies that until one's weight is no longer "over" something (the ideal), there is a problem, a risk to one's health.

i just spent four days at a conference called "community-campus partnerships for health" and although this conference was fabulous and inclusive, because it was related to health, there was a lot of talk of "the obesity epidemic". in fact, in one session when the presenter asked folks to shout out 'the -isms', there was confusion when i said 'sizeism' (although not nearly as much confusion as when i said 'cissexism', but that's a conversation for another day). being in such an atmosphere had me feeling rather ranty a lot of the time, but it was the use of this term - overweight - that really got me.

i'm not sure if the term overweight is hated by other fatties, but it really rubs me the wrong way.