The San Francisco Division of Public Well being has employed a self-described “anti-weight-based discrimination” skilled to seek the advice of on “weight stigma and weight neutrality.”
Virgie Tovar, the writer of ‘You Have the Proper to Stay Fats” and different printed works on “fat positivity and body acceptance” introduced on her Instagram Monday that she was employed to seek the advice of for the division, calling the collaboration an “absolute dream come true.”
“I’m unbelievably proud to serve the city I’ve called home for almost 20 years in this way!” she wrote. “This consultancy is an absolute dream come true, and it’s my biggest hope and belief that weight neutrality will be the future of public health.”
Tovar’s web site lists her as a ”plus-size Latina writer, lecturer, and main skilled on weight-based discrimination and physique positivity with over a decade of expertise.”
She is a contributor for Forbes, the place she covers tales on the “plus size market.”
Her most up-to-date articles embrace options about internet hosting a “size inclusive” Thanksgiving and alleged “fatphobia” in present TV exhibits.
It’s unclear what function Tovar will play inside the division.
The San Francisco Division of Public Well being didn’t reply when requested by Fox Information Digital about particulars of Tovar’s consultancy.
Tovar has been vocal in opposition to weight loss program tradition and BMI metrics on her social media platforms.
In a video posted by Undertaking Heal, Tovar mentioned how medical professionals pressured her to drop a few pounds since she was a baby and that she had falsely believed they have been doing so together with her well being in thoughts.
“I really believed that this was about my health. I really believed my doctor was right and so I was using the language of getting “better” however I used to be really deeply within the throes of anorexia,” she stated.
In July, Tovar posted that she carried out a weight bias coaching for unidentified authorities staff, sharing 4 ideas she taught to assist lower “stigma around food and bodies at work.”
“1. Talk less or not at all about how you and others eat at work,” she wrote. “2. Talk less or not at all about you or others’ bodies at work. 3. Talk less or not at all about exercise at work. 4. Don’t presume that food, weight, body size or exercise are safe or comfortable topics to discuss at work for everyone.”
In a separate Instagram publish, Tovar held up an indication with the phrases “I don’t want Ozempic,” sharing that she was supplied the weight-loss drug freed from cost however declined it as a result of it could not “solve weight bias.”
She has additionally been vital of the characterization of weight problems as a “disease.”
Tovar presents DEI company trainings, per her web site, which lists the Seattle Transit Company, UC Berkeley and different notable corporations as former shoppers.
Tovar couldn’t be reached by Fox Information Digital for remark.
