Straight women and gay men aren’t allowed to be fat.

Something about the male gaze, I suppose. Outside of small circles of gay men who think of themselves as fetishists, dad bods are anathema.

Thin thin thin! Muscles muscles muscles!

Straight men? 10 lbs overweight, 20? No big deal. You’ll rarely see a straight man like that agonizing over whether he should have a second beer. If he likes the beer, he’ll crack another one open.

A lot of lesbians seem to have their shit together too, when it comes to not obsessing about weight. Not to say this is universal of course, but many lesbians just don’t seem to be under the same unrelenting pressure to be thin as straight women and gay men.

Are we internalizing body shaming directed at us by men? That’s probably part of the answer.