San Francisco's New 'Fat Positivity' Expert, Hired to Fight Weight Stigma in the City, Is Causing a Stir Before She's Even Sunk Her Teeth Into the Job

A newly resurfaced clip of Virgie Tovar, who describes herself as a 'leading expert on weight-based discrimination and body positivity,' shows her talking about how cutting back on cake is a form of oppression.

A San Francisco body positivity advocate, who was recently hired by the city to fight weight stigma, has sparked controversy with a resurfaced video where she claims cutting back on cake is a form of oppression.

Virgie Tovar, who describes herself as a "leading expert on weight-based discrimination and body positivity," posted the video on her Facebook page in 2018, but the link no longer works. It was reshared this week on End Wokeness' X account.

In the video, titled "No, I won't cut you a smaller slice of cake," Ms Tovar slams women who "ruin everything" for asking for less cake while attending events.

She goes on to coin this phenomenon a "Cake Related Fatphobic Incident (CRFI)."

"A Cake Related Fatphobic Incident or CRFI is that moment when it's time to eat delicious cake and it's interrupted by a moralizing impulse," she explains.

"Inevitably, there's always someone at the party who has to declare publicly that their slice is too large and that the person who's cutting the cake (almost invariably a woman) must do some disproportionate amount of labor in order to accommodate their need to feel superior."

The video then shows three female actors role playing a CRFI.

"Can you do a little bit [of cake]... like, can you like scrape all the frosting off and cut it in half and give me two forks, because I'm sharing," says one woman, embodying the "annoying" party-goer role set forth by Ms Tovar.

Another female appears, echoing similar demands and constantly resizing her slice of cake to be smaller.

The third takes things further, whining to the camera: "Could you just cut my piece into 12 equal symmetrical little pieces and put each one into a tiny little Tupperware, so that I can have a bite for each month of 2018. Thanks!"

Ms Tovar then continues her monologue on CRFI.

"Let's take a step back and view what's happening through a critical feminist lens," she says.

"CRFI typically happen in environments where there are primarily or exclusively women.

"Women are disproportionately, negatively affected by diet culture because diet culture maps on to sexism like many parts of diet culture.

"There is a significant performance component you have to show others that you are being good.

"Controlling how much you eat is part of what it means to be a quote "good woman".

"This kind of behavior is a way for people to keep other people in check through food moralizing, surveillance and policing."

In a caption accompanying the YouTube clip, Ms Tovar wrote: "Statistics indicate that 104 percent of women will experience a Cake Related Fatphobic Incident (CRFI) before the end of 2018."

While the clip is no longer on Ms Tovar's page, it has recently done the rounds on social media, with many commenters outraged by her "fat acceptance push."

"@EndWokeness posted the video to X, with the caption: "San Francisco Weight Czar Virgie Tovar on why eating less cake is oppression."

It was announced this week the San Francisco Department of Public Health had hired Ms Tovar as a consultant on "weight stigma and weight neutrality" despite the city in the midst of a battle against rampant homelessness, open-air drug use, and violent crime.

Announcing her appointment on her Instagram, she called it "an absolute dream come true."

"I'm unbelievably proud to serve the city I've called home for almost 20 years in this way!" Ms Tovar wrote.

"This consultancy is an absolute dream come true, and it's my biggest hope and belief that weight neutrality will be the future of public health."

Critics argue San Francisco has far bigger problems to deal with than how people feel about their weight.

With the city struggling to deal with homelessness, drug addiction, and public safety concerns, prioritizing a weight stigma consultant feels tone-deaf, they argue.

"This is real?" tweeted Elon Musk upon hearing the news, believing it might be satire.

"So the goal is not to fix any problems. Just to make people feel better about having them," surmised one user.

"San Francisco is just making their problems worse," added another.

"You do have the right to remain fat, but that doesn't mean it's healthy!" quipped a fourth.

Supporters see the move as typical of progressive politics emphasizing the importance of addressing weight-based discrimination as part of broader public health goals.

Ms Tovar, who authored a book entitled You Have the Right to Remain Fat, positions herself as a leading voice against weight-based discrimination.

Her website describes her as a "plus-size Latina author, lecturer, and expert on body positivity with over a