Chris Christie's "Secret" Weight Loss Surgery

[Content Note: Fat bias; body modification for weight loss; body policing; hostility to agency.]

So, Republican New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who is a fat man, had weight loss surgery. We're not going to debate the value and safety of that choice here. The only reason I'm even mentioning it at all is because I have read several headlines about it already this morning describing it as a "secret" surgery, e.g. the AP: "NJ gov. had secret weight loss surgery."

Secret.

Because fat people's health is public property.

This is the result of policing fat people's bodies constantly. Of policing fat people's bodies being acceptable. Of policing fat people's bodies being considered a moral imperative, by friends and family, by insurance companies, by the First Lady of the United States.

Our bodies are not our own, because we are presumed to govern them poorly. We are obliged to publicly justify the care of our bodies.

Thus, our healthcare decisions aren't private. They're "secret."

How dare we make private healthcare decisions about our own bodies without public disclosure, so that all the thin experts on our lived experiences can audit our personal choices. The nerve. Acting in "secret" like that.

"Secret" weight loss surgery. Like "secret" abortions and "secret" gender reassignment surgery. Bodies we publicly police. If you have a transgressive body, you are not entitled to privacy.

Your body isn't your own.

That's the message.