Fat-positive Feminism and Weight Loss

Is fat positive the same as the fat acceptance movement?

I don't know, but that was my assumption. Obesity is a disease. "Fat positive" is an oxymoron. Would you say you're "cancer positive"? "MS positive"?

At some point in America an idea took hold that everyone has to feel good about about herself or himself all the time, to the point where one is not only supposed to tolerate obesity, but argue it's a good thing. It's not.

I'm offended that you compare obesity to cancer and MS. Those are legitimate diseases. Obesity is how much one weighs. Not a disease.

Actually the AMA just recently categorized it as a disease.

It's one thing to love your body if you are overweight/ out of shape. HAES (health at every size) is complete and total bull**** though. I'm sorry, but after a certain weight you are not healthy. That doesn't mean you shouldn't love yourself, but don't tell me your health isn't at all impacted by your weight. That pisses me off.

Body acceptance- YES
HAES- Never in this lifetime

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To me, being fat positive is about knowing what it means to be fat (or big, or overweight, or curvy, or whatever other adjective does it for you), including the negative health effects, and choosing to be that way anyway. I've recently been conceptualizing choosing to be fat as a way to "fight the power" so to speak, to challenge societal standards of beauty and femininity.

Loving yourself and realizing that you have worth without wearing a size 0 is important, but doesn't preclude a want to change to be healthier/stronger. Wanting to be healthier does not mean that you look down on people who are less fit than you, and that is what body acceptance is all about.

Your definition of "fat positive" is negative in so many ways. It doesn't sound like you're loving your body, since you recognize that there are negative health effects associated with its current state. You're creating unnecessary stress for yourself by creating a dichotomy where you want to be healthy yet want to remain unhealthy as some oblique political statement.

If you want to stand up against the system, participate in movements that prevent modeling agencies from recruiting at eating disorder facilities. Sign petitions to have fashion designers stop hiring underweight prepubescent models. Celebrate the beauty in everyday women around you. When interacting with small children, make a point to highlight "unconventional beauty." Remind people to focus more on what their body is capable of, rather than what pant size they wear or what the scale reads in the morning. Be the best you that you can be without obsessing over your clothes, your weight, or what society thinks.

I've had strong feminist tendencies from a young age, but I still struggle with self acceptance. There are too many external factors telling me what my worth is, and I make a conscious effort every day to identify them and think about how wrong they are. People are beautiful, both big and small, plain and simple - but killing yourself to try and point that out to people is not going to do any good.

fitvillains.tumblr.com <-- That's a blog I've been following on and off for a couple years. It focuses on body positivity and fitness, and I often go there when I need a boost.

Good luck in your journey, and remember to love yourself!

One more thing: I spent a lot of years feeling pressure to conform to social norms, trying to lose weight for all those reasons. Once I got to a place of embracing myself for who I am, and my focus became on being the best me I can be, my attitude changed, my commitment changed, and I started seeing results. I feel stronger and more capable now than at any other time of my life - and that is a gift every woman should give herself.

I agree with this totally. And it's very empowering to just give the British 2 finger salute to social norms and what others want, and just be who you want to be. But when it comes down to it, of those who have a choice, who's going to choose to be unhealthy over healthy? Some people don't have a choice because some health issues you can't do anything about, and I don't believe in judging others anyway. But when it comes to me, then I'll choose strong, healthy and capable every time.

Also, just because you're not judgmental about something in others, i.e. refusing to judge someone for being obese, doesn't mean you have to embrace that for yourself. You can want to be a healthy body fat percentage for yourself, while at the same time not judging others based on their body fat percentage.

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This thread was great but then it just got like....wow really judgmental. Which is fine, people are entitled to their opinions.

But I have to admit some of these responses had me like

NO FRIENDS NO

It's one thing to love your body if you are overweight/ out of shape. HAES (health at every size) is complete and total bull**** though. I'm sorry, but after a certain weight you are not healthy. That doesn't mean you shouldn't love yourself, but don't tell me your health isn't at all impacted by your weight. That pisses me off.

Body acceptance- YES
HAES- Never in this lifetime

^^^ this. carrying too much body fat has health risks. You don't have to be unkind or judgemental towards someone based on their size, in fact you shouldn't be. And some ways of measuring obesity like BMI are inaccurate so not everyone who's told they're too heavy for their height's health is actually at risk, and you can't predict someone's healthiest weight by height alone.

However there's no denying that once your body fat percentage gets beyond a certain level, there is a risk to health. And it goes the other way as well, and I don't think feminists would be advocating telling dangerously underweight women that their health is not impacted by being dangerously underweight. Ditto people suffering from normal weight obesity (i.e. "healthy" according to BMI but obese according to body fat percentage), that too carries significant health risks. There is such a thing as unhealthy body composition, and people shouldn't kid themselves that their body composition isn't impacting their health when it is. But at the same time, people shouldn't be *judged* based on their body composition. You don't know why someone's body composition is not healthy, or what they've faced in life that brought them to that point. But that doesn't make their body composition healthy and there's no point pretending that it is, when it's not.

I am trying to fight my natural urge to roll my eyes at someone declaring themselves a feminist. I am a humanist, I believe in empowering all people. Regardless of gender, age, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or weight. I was perfectly fine with myself and my body image at 320lbs.

But I was wrong. It was unhealthy. It was affecting me badly. Just like anorexia, it is a disease. A disease that can kill you. Most pro-ana people are 'fine with their body image'. It doesn't mean they're any less sick. Same goes for extremely obese people like myself. Once I realized this, losing weight became more important.

I am never going to be 'skinny'. But I want to be a healthy weight for myself and my son. That's my positive body image.

I'm A negative.

I'm A negative.

You should try to B positive.

Ba Da Tshhhh

Your life does not have to be a socio-political statement.

Think of it this way: it won't matter how fat positive you are when you die of an obesity related disease.

It's also difficult to fight the feminist cause when you're dead.

^ This.

I got fit for me.

I continue to strive to be a better me. That takes a combination of a positive internal dialogue and a heck of a lot of self *kitten* kicking.

Like me or hate me, it's not going to change who I am or what I do. And I SAS do not care what kind of political statement my life makes.

So loving your body as it is makes you a feminist eh?

By this definition the bald, 500 lb men wearing a barely noticeable underwear at the beach are all feminist.

Hello all,

I'm writing to see if there are any other people out there who consider themselves fat positive but are still trying to lose weight. I consider myself a feminist and part of that is accepting and loving my body as it is, at any given time, so I'm finding it difficult to reconcile my desire to lose weight and be healthy and remaining fat-positive. I'm feeling like a hypocrite and wondering how much of my desire to loss weight comes from societal pressure to conform to a thinner silhouette.

Any other fat-positive feminists out there? How are you dealing with this?

Thanks for your thoughts!

ME TOO i have my whole tumblr devoted to it but, at the same Body positivity should be for any shape or size whether it's petite, round, big, short, tall, fat, curvy, straight etc... you should always love yourself and it's always good to feel healthy and have the body you want it's all about how you feel!!~ and what's right for your body and what you want!!~ so it's not society ^_^ YOU SHOULD ADD ME FEMINIST SISTA!!!~ :DDD