“Does this make me look fat?”

We play an active part in constructing our identities, as this Observer
article pointed out. We decide amongst us who counts as ‘fat’ or ‘thin’,
and our decisions shift over time. There’s an element of improvisational
‘yes.. and-ing’ going on here. If we notice lots of people showing up as
heavier, we accept that as a new reality and respond with a fresh
calibration – perhaps allowing ourself to expand by that extra inch. What
else can we re-view as contagious, that is something we want to spread more
than our waistlines? What if being slightly more cheerful became a new
default, or greater respect for others in public places?