Blog Post #6: Fat Acceptance Movement

Do you have a friend who is very fat, overweight or obese? Do you always criticize his/her fatness? Is he/she aware of his/her disproportional body? If he/she is being teased and bullied by many people, is it fine for him/her? Does he/she feel discriminated? Does he/she accept that he/she is fat and doesn't want to diet and exercise anymore? Normally, people who are overweight or obese are being teased unlike people who are very thin. Since then, it is a reality in our society that most of the people glamorized thin and skinny people than fat and overweight people. They think that being obese is unhealthy and doesn't look good unlike skinny girls who look gorgeous in any clothes they wear, more attractive, and are idolized and less discriminated. If that will always be the stereotype in our society, I don’t think that all of the people will be happy with their lives. There are still a large percentage of people who don’t agree with the fat discrimination, and obviously these people are comprised by people who are fat, overweight, and obese. These people are making movements and organizations so that their struggles will soon to end.

Are you aware that fat people have also an organization wherein they want their body sizes to be accepted and not discriminated anymore? Yes, there is. This organization is called the “Fat Acceptance Movement”. I read an article entitled The Fat-Acceptance Movement by Dan Fletcher from the site content.time.com, Fletcher wrote, “Amid all the other tumult, causes and revolutions of the 1960’s- race, sex, war, feminism- the fight of the fat is a historical footnote. But America’s overweight had their cause too. When hippies started staging “be-ins” to protest the Vietnam War, the first fat-activists co-opted the idea: they staged their own event in New York City’s Central Park, dubbed it a “Fat-in” and ate ice cream while burning posters of über-thin model Twiggy.”

 

On July 31, the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance (NAAFA) is celebrating its 40^th anniversary in Washington. NAAFA is an all-volunteer group comprises 11,000 members nationwide. Critics say that NAAFA which opposes dieting and weight-loss surgery is an apologist for an unhealthy lifestyle. But NAAFA says that it does no such thing, that there are some people who are just bigger and no less deserving of the same rights as everyone else. NAAFA started in 1969 in New York City, although it was originally called the National Association to Aid Fat Americans, Engineer Bill Fabrey had tired of the discrimination his overweight wife faced and started the group as an advocated for big-boned. But NAAFA remained at the periphery for years, prompting some members to argue for a more confrontational approach. NAAFA’s public-relations director, Peggy Howell said that her group doesn't encourage anyone to lead an unhealthy lifestyle but recognizes that some people weight loss isn't possible. A 2008 Yale University suggests weight discrimination is now as prevalent as race or gender discrimination, a trend Howell says is unacceptable.

“As a citizen of the U.S., just because I carry more weight on my back doesn't mean I should have any fewer rights than anyone else.” Howell says.

The National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance is the first organization which opposes dieting and weight-loss surgery. They oppose dieting because they know that there are some overweight people who are having hard time losing weight. There are also overweight people who are big-boned and are genetically born in a family of obese. But, the main advocacy of the NAAFA is that people who are bigger and have more weight on their backs shouldn’t have fewer rights than anyone else. They just want to protect their rights and improve the quality of life for fat people. They also work to eliminate discrimination based on body size and change fat discrimination to fat acceptance.

Americans are the only people who are informed about the fat acceptance since the organizations for fat people had started in their country. Although it started in America, the Fat Acceptance movement encourages other fat people from other countries to join other organizations via their websites. There are also bloggers and article writers who had started the issue of fat acceptance. For those people who don’t fully understand and are not quite agreeing with the Fat Acceptance movement, there is an interesting article I read. The article is entitled 6 Things I don’t understand About the Fat Acceptance Movement written by Carolyn Hall from the site thoughtcatalog.com. Carolyn Hall said, “I am by no means of health nut, but health has always been relatively important to me and my family. I've lived outside the country, and seen the way the other cultures deal with weight and body, but right now I’m based on U.S... I wouldn't say I’m an extremist about anything body or health-related, but there are certain things about this movement I genuinely don’t understand.”

Carolyn Hall is an American woman who is recently familiar with the Fat Acceptance movement via blogs and online articles. The first thing that she wrote is that America is extremely accepting of fat. America is exceptional in its general permissiveness about obesity and ill-health. Because of the 60 percent obesity in certain cities in America, it is really normal for the country to accept fat people. They also basically ensure that people will be fat and are tolerant of the lifestyle choices that surround them. The second thing Carolyn said is about the idea of body positivity. She said that being positive about the way you look is not enough, you should also be positive and proactive about your health and well-being. She is against of body positivity because of the obvious ill effects of obesity. The third is about the idea of “Health at every size”. “Health at every size” is a big part of the Fat Acceptance movement which advocates for a focus on healthy living, and not on body image. Carolyn argued because according to her, physically, we cannot be healthy at literally any size, and sparing someone’s feelings on the matter is not going to address their immediate medical concerns. Next thing she said is about people who are allowed to not be attracted to certain body types. It was a weird part for her because the focus on getting obese people to be seen as attractive seems misguided and she said that people are attracted to certain body types. For her fifth argument, she doesn't agree with Fat Acceptance movement not focusing on the very real problem that a huge number people in their country overeat in a dangerous way. And lastly, she really doesn't accept childhood obesity. 

“Feeding children constant junk food, letting them be sedentary, or giving them sugary sodas instead of water is something that we need to be judging harshly as a society.” Carolyn Hall says.

From all the six things that she doesn't understand about the Fat Acceptance movement, I certainly agree to all her arguments. First, America is a country wherein there are a lot of overweight people because of the abundance of high-calorie but delicious foods, so if there are many fat people, they should be really accepting them. About body positivity, I don’t also agree that an obese person with health complications like diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease should still be thinking positive; he should be now consciously thinking for her health. On her fourth argument, it’s kind of ridiculous to be now seeing obese people as attractive. Some of them are attractive but, they will be less judged if they could lose their fats. For her last statement, I also don’t want to see parents who are making their children fat by eating unhealthy foods because if their children become teenagers, I guarantee that all of them will be body conscious and might have eating disorders.  

Some people had read Carolyn Hall’s article about the six things that she doesn't understand about Fat Acceptance movement. Some of them had agreed but others want to correct the things that she misunderstood about it while some have their own argument. One of those is an article entitled 6 Things I Understand About the Fat Acceptance movement written by Jes Baker from the site huffingtonpost.com. Jes Baker is an American woman who is involved in the Body Advocacy movement and also a mental health professional. According to her, she is a logical, intelligent, and critically thinking blogger who wants to explain to Carolyn Hall and the rest of the world the six things that are often misunderstood about the “fat acceptance” movement. She had an introduction of, “All bodies -- large, small and everything in between -- pay dearly for the negativity in which fat bodies are perceived. Why? Because as long as we demonize a body shape (any body shape) there will always be a fearful comparison. And the fearful comparison will inevitably breed all forms of hatred; both internally and externally. We will never be able to embrace our bodies as a diverse society as long as negative body messages exist. So yeah, we're going to be talking about the "social deviants" of the body world, but this discussion is applicable to us all.”

If you could remember Carolyn’s first argument that ‘America is extremely accepting of fat’, Jes said that it was easy for her to say something like that although they are both Americans. According to Jes, there are tons of researches conducted by scientists, doctors, and social scientists that can prove that fat people are paid less money than their thin counterparts, that fat people receive sub-par medical care because of fat bias, that fat people are stigmatized and stereotyped in the media and that fat students are often not accepted to college or bullied by their educators. Secondly, Jes doesn't quite agree with the body positivity. Since she is involved in a Body Advocacy movement, she had trained many fat women who weighed 200-400 lbs. These overweight women have big bodies with big capabilities and limitless lives; also they are strong, healthy women who come with a clean bill of health. About the ‘Health at every size’, she had quoted that ‘Health at every size’ does not claim that everyone is at healthy weight, it only ask for respect and help people shift their focus away from changing their size to enhancing their self-care behaviors. About the ‘people are allowed to not be attracted to certain body types’, she also disagree. She simply said that no person is obligated to “force themselves” to be physically attracted to a certain type of body because we all have our preferences. For Food Addiction, she wanted to make that all Americans have access to nutritious foods, educate their society on how to take care of their bodies with a focus on health and not on weight, and make behavioral health services available to everyone in order to address mental health needs.

“I think the coolest thing about the body acceptance movement is that its success doesn't rely on the understanding of or compassion from others. Don't get it and still think fat people are awful? Too bad so sad, and really not cool. But individuals get to choose whether they will love their body or not regardless of what you or society/the media believes. And this in and of itself is the most powerful thing.” Jes Baker said.

Jes Baker is really a logical, intelligent, and critically-thinking woman because she had well-stated all of her arguments about the Fat Acceptance movement and she even cited researches, studies, and quotes from different people. Because of her, people would have different perspective and opinion about the movement, but those opinions and comments will be more logical and well-thought. It is true that body acceptance movement is cool and its success doesn't rely on the understanding of or compassion from others. It can be a way to stop the thinking of fat people as awful. And, all individuals have their own choice whether they will love their body regardless on the society or media that they believe.

Fat Acceptance movement is becoming a hot issue not only in the America but also around the world. Since foods are discovered and made, obesity had always been a problem which is really difficult to fix and give effective solutions. Because of the outgrowing number of people who are obese, there are also an outgrowing number of people who are developing health problems like diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease and others. Obese people have been negatively seen by most people in our society, but since they are continuously growing because of the very delicious foods that can be seen anywhere, other people are becoming tired of criticizing them. Others had started to realize that they should treat obese people equally, and they should have the same rights like them, and those realizations is because of the Fat Acceptance movement. It is a good job for the Fat Acceptance movement members and organizers that they have been seeing some improvements in their society on the way people treat them.