Activist says diet and exercise is 'conversion therapy' for fat people

A body-positivity activist has claimed that diet, exercise, and general promoting of healthy lifestyles are all examples of "conversation therapy" for fat people.

Outspoken activist Monica Kriete, who's self-described objective is "imagining size-inclusive care & public health policy," issued a "periodic reminder" that "treating and preventing obesity" actually means "trying to conversion therapy fat people into becoming thin people despite 0 evidence this is remotely possible."

Kriete, a writer and consultant from central Pennsylvania who's "fighting weight stigma in public health & medicine," has since made her Twitter account with over 10,000 followers private following immense backlash on social media.

According to her Instagram bio, Kriete also blocks "diet accounts."

"We have now reached the logical endpoint of expressive individualism," Daily Caller editor emeritus Ben Shapiro commented in a Twitter thread.

Shapiro mocked the left's affirmation mantras on obesity, gender, and promiscuity like "My fatness is my identity;" "My subjective beliefs, contra all biology, are my identity;" "My sexual choices are my identity;" and "My _______ is my identity."

"If you threaten my identity, mainly by failing to applaud, this means you are doing violence to me and must be destroyed," Shapiro continued to parody.

Shapiro warned that society should take note of the left's continual broadening of the pseudoscientific term "conversion therapy" from "using electroshock therapy for Pavlovian conditioning" to "telling people they aren't necessarily perfect the way they are and they might want to reconsider their life choices."

Kriete is a self-identified educator who often touts her masters of public health (MPH) from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, the public health school of Harvard University. She flaunts her degree across social media platforms.

The university's magazine published a feature story in spring 2017 praising Kriete's advocacy work against "fat shaming" and "weight stigma." Kriete was a student of social and behavioral sciences at the time and "identifie[d] as fat," the piece said.

Kriete spoke at a webinar in October, titled "Fatphobia in Public Health and Dietetics," that was hosted by Weight-Inclusive Dieticians in Canada. The two-hour, 24-minute discussion focused on What's Wrong With the "War on Obesity?"

Back in March, she was a panelist at a Radical Public Health event called "Unlearning Fatphobia: Moving Toward Fat Liberation in Public Health."

The push for destigmatizing obesity has gained traction among progressive groups, with the mainstream media shining a spotlight on the weight-affirming activism.

Last year, Cosmopolitan had profiled more than a dozen women in a series of stories promoting plus-sized wellness and suggesting that there is nothing unhealthy about being overweight amid known COVID-19 obesity risks.