Socialism 2026 speaker slams diet industry for policing ‘Black fat flesh,’ calls it ‘body fascism’
At the Socialism 2026 conference in Chicago, author Da'Shaun L. Harrison told a panel titled "Health Fascism, Body Politics, and the Anti-State State" that the "diet industry" and modern health standards function as forms of "body fascism" that specifically police "Black fat flesh." Harrison argued that concepts such as BMI and the framing of obesity as a public-health crisis exist primarily to discipline and control fat bodies, tying this surveillance to broader systems of racial and state control. The remarks matter because they surfaced a wider argument, gaining attention beyond the conference after clips circulated online, about how activist movements are reframing weight, health and diet culture as instruments of political and racial oppression rather than matters of individual health.
The four-day conference, organised by Haymarket Books at the Hyatt Regency McCormick Place, featured over a hundred talks and workshops; the "Health Fascism" panel drew more than 200 attendees and also included podcast hosts Beatrice Adler-Bolton and Artie Vierkant. Harrison contended that diet culture trains "obedience" and "self-denial," and separately criticised GLP-1 weight-loss drugs such as Ozempic, linking public-health efforts around obesity to racial control and state power over bodies. Clips were shared by Manhattan Institute analyst Stu Smith, and psychotherapist Jonathan Alpert countered to Fox News Digital that while some criticisms of BMI are valid, describing it as "body fascism" reflects ideology being applied to areas where it doesn't belong.
In short
- Speaker at Socialism 2026 called diet industry standards "body fascism"
- Argued BMI and obesity concerns police "Black fat flesh" for state control
- Critic called the framing an overreach of ideology into health debates
Steelman: both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
Harrison’s strongest case is that weight standards and diet culture are not applied in a social vacuum: they can stigmatise fat people, especially Black people, and encourage intrusive surveillance and pressure to conform. BMI is a limited measure of individual health, so treating it as decisive can turn contested norms into tools of discipline while obscuring wider social conditions.
The case against
The strongest case against Harrison’s framing is that identifying bias or limits in BMI does not make weight-related health risks or public-health efforts merely instruments of racial control. Measures such as BMI can be imperfect yet useful at population level, and evidence-based care, including discussion of weight-loss treatments, can support people’s health and autonomy. Calling these practices “body fascism” may overstate their purpose and make legitimate health concerns harder to discuss.
Explained simply
Socialism is a political tradition that argues society and the economy should be organised to reduce inequality and give people more shared control. Haymarket Books is a publisher that organises the annual Socialism conference in Chicago, where speakers discuss politics, culture and public policy.
Da’ Shaun L. Harrison is an author who writes about race, gender and fatness. BMI is a calculation based on a person’s height and weight that is often used in health research and medical settings; GLP-1 drugs such as Ozempic were developed to treat diabetes and are also used for weight loss. Debates about these measures and treatments touch on how health is assessed, who sets standards, and how those standards affect people’s lives.