Socialism 2026 speaker slams diet industry for policing 'Black fat flesh,' calls it 'body fascism'

At the Socialism 2026 conference, activist Da’Shaun L. Harrison argued that the diet industry and modern health standards constitute “body fascism,” asserting that the policing of “Black fat flesh” is fundamental to systems of governance. Harrison criticized the diet industry for monitoring, restricting, and punishing fat people, and extended this critique to GLP-1 weight-loss drugs, framing efforts to treat fatness as a public health issue as connected to racial control. A psychotherapist responded that such comments reflect ideology infiltrating everyday issues, framing normal medical advice as oppression.

• Da’Shaun L. Harrison, speaking at Socialism 2026, described the diet industry and modern health standards as “body fascism.”
• Harrison argued that the policing of “Black fat flesh” is foundational to broader systems of governance and racial control.
• The diet industry was characterized as operating through relationships among corporations, the medical-industrial complex, and benefactors to monitor and punish fat people.
• Harrison criticized GLP-1 weight-loss drugs and framed government efforts to manage fatness as a public health issue as intrinsically linked to racial control.
• A psychotherapist suggested that such views are a result of ideology infiltrating discussions, turning ordinary issues like weight management into framed as oppression.
• The conference featured discussions on “Health Fascism, Body Politics, and the Anti-State State.”