The 'Fat Acceptance' Movement
Options
Replies
-
People shouldn't be made fun of or ridiculed based on appearance. That being said, I don't think being fat should be promoted either.
This is basically how I feel about it.
I also think a lot of people hide behind "fat acceptance" because they don't want to put the effort into losing weight.0 -
Just my 2 cents. There are two sides to the fat acceptance movement. One strives to stop discrimination and hatred towards fat people. The other glorifies obesity and supports the hatred of thin people. I support fat acceptance, but not fat glorification.0
-
I support healthy - at whatever size and body shape that may be.
Healthy is what needs to be promoted first.
Confidence in your own skin a very close second.
There should be no glorification of any size or body shape specifically.
There needs to be a push for healthy.0 -
Hmmm another gray line question...where do you draw that line between self esteem and loving yourself and supporting an unhealthy lifestyle? Interesting question.
I don't, for anyone but myself.
Stress, depression and anxiety will do a lot more damage, in a much shorter period of time, than being over whatever average and usually clueless metric is being tossed around as "the right weight" or "the right size" will.
You can be in incredible health, and run miles every day, and stroke out on the side of the road. You can be in incredible shape and have your heart explode while sitting at home one night in between wrestling matches. You can have a 30lb spare tire, and eat primarily pig parts and live to the ripe old age of 95.
Looking down on people who don't fit my ideal of a body weight just makes me look like a pompous, intolerant *kitten*, so I avoid doing it.0 -
As someone is who considered fat, obese, etc (throw it out.. its ok)... I am for loving yourself in your current situation. I am also part of online groups who promote self acceptance at any size, and want the world to know that you can still be beautiful in your plus size jeans. Just because you are not a size 10 or lower does not mean you should feel horrible about yourself and just give up. however, no where have i ever heard in ANY group to go ahead and eat that double sloppy fast food mess you want on your plate, go ahead and sit on your butt and dont do anything, go ahead and stop caring.... so i dont understand who is PROMOTING fat? Out of every blog, facebook page, website, etc that i have ever seen was someone saying its ok to be super fat.
Now, if you as a person are ok with being super fat and this is what you want, rock it. and do what you want... but no one shoud look down on someone who walks around the earth with an exta 10-100 lbs of weight. Im sorry for anyone that is offended, that we are walking around the world with our struggles in plain view ready for the world to judge.
i was beautiful at a size 24 and am beautiful at a size 16, but i want to be healthier as i continue to lose weight. If i choose to accept myself once I lose weight, then looks like i just missed out on about 20 years of life.0 -
I intend to treat anyone, of any size, as a respected equal. I hope that others will do the same for me, at any size.
How they regulate their health, fitness, and self-esteem on a personal level is none of my business. Nor mine, theirs.0 -
I would label myself a proponent of Fat Acceptance (alternatively known as Health At Every Size or Body Acceptance) and it appears a lot of the comments in this thread are written by people who only have a superficially of what FA actually is. That is, they might have read one or two extremist/fringe blogs (unfortunately these tend to get shared because they are more shocking). As someone who has participated in this movement for about three years now, I would like to say a couple of things.
Firstly, what Fat Acceptance is NOT:
1) FA is not about hating thin people. It is about understanding the ways in which society caters to thin people in a way that it does not cater to fat people. One simple example would be the paucity of plus size clothing options available, especially in fashionable styles. That doesn't mean that thin people should feel bad, or that thin people are bad people. It's about understanding that thin people do not experience the ostracism that fat people do. Yes, thin people can still have body image problems, and thin people are often bullied because they are thin. But those aren't the same as living in a society that does not accept who you are and does not cater to your body size. Thin people's bodies are still glorified and held up as the example of what people should strive towards. Thin people's bodies literally and metaphorically "fit" into society.
2) FA is not about encouraging obesity or telling people to gain weight. People who do those things are feeders or feedees and they are not representative of the FA movement. They are often disliked by people who do support FA. Needless to say, the FA movement also attracts a number of "chubby chasers" and these people also tend to be disliked by FA proponents because they are fetishising fatness. FA is also not about stopping people from losing weight. You can still be a proponent of FA and want to lose weight for yourself. I fit both of those categories.
3) FA is not saying fatness is always healthy. Weight is not a definitive indicator of health. Health is predominantly down to lifestyle (exercise and diet). There are fat people who are healthy but still stay fat. There are thin people who are extremely unhealthy. The simple fact of the matter is *you cannot determine someone's health by looking at them*. And unless you are their doctor, someone else's health is not actually your business. Health is a private and personal matter, which is why health records are confidential. Just worry about yourself.
And before the "taxpayer dollars" and "burden on the health system" arguments start rolling in, let me say that is irrelevant. Your tax dollars are spent on lots of things that may or may not directly benefit you, and may or may not be due to "self induced" problems. They are also spent on lots of things that you might think are unwise. If you have a problem with how your tax dollars are spent you should be lobbying the government for society-wide changes rather than attacking or judging individual fat people. Besides, you still pay the same amount of tax regardless of how it gets spent. Fat people aren't making your taxes increase, and nor are their health needs less important than the health needs of thin people. Everyone has the right to access health care. Everyone.
Now, what FA actually IS:
1) FA is about accepting body diversity. Every human being is different. There is a bell curve of normality but everyone deserves respect, tolerance and acceptance whereever they are on the bell curve. End of story. No exceptions. No buts. Everyone deserves respect and tolerance.
2) FA is about reserving judgement. Someone else's body is not your business. Just like someone else's fashion choices aren't your business. Just like how someone else's tattoos are not your business. Crucially, *you don't know what is going on in someone else's life so you are not able to judge*. And even if you know someone very well you aren't privy to how their mind works. People's behaviour is largely a reflection of how their mind works. So don't judge. If someone asks for your advice or assistance, then by all means offer it. But unsolicited advice and judgement is just a douche thing to do.
3) FA is about supporting health in whatever shape it takes. That is not the same as mandating that everyone be healthy. It is about encouraging fitness, encouraging vegetables and whole food, encouraging positive life choices. Sometimes making these changes causes people to lose weight, but sometimes it doesn't. Either way it doesn't matter. Health comes in different forms. Health is a good thing. Weight loss doesn't always improve health (it can, though) and weight gain doesn't always decrease health (it can, though).
If anyone is interested in reading more, I can recommend these resources:
http://www.newsweek.com/fat-and-healthy-why-its-possible-78927
http://www.examiner.com/article/new-study-finds-46-of-obese-people-are-metabolically-healthy
http://www.raisingmyboychick.com/2010/08/on-fatphobia-thin-privilege-and-eat-a-sandwich/
http://www.drsharma.ca/obesity-the-science-behind-health-at-every-size-haes.html
http://kateharding.net/2007/11/27/the-fantasy-of-being-thin/
http://charlottecooper.net/publishing/digital/headless-fatties-01-07/
http://corpulent.wordpress.com/2011/02/15/is-frances-ok/
TL;DR: Don't be an awful person to others. Different people have different needs. Respect everybody.
ETA: lauritajones1, two comments above this one, has made an excellent comment. I wholeheartedly second it.0 -
I would label myself a proponent of Fat Acceptance (alternatively known as Health At Every Size or Body Acceptance) and it appears a lot of the comments in this thread are written by people who only have a superficially of what FA actually is. That is, they might have read one or two extremist/fringe blogs (unfortunately these tend to get shared because they are more shocking). As someone who has participated in this movement for about three years now, I would like to say a couple of things.
Firstly, what Fat Acceptance is NOT:
1) FA is not about hating thin people. It is about understanding the ways in which society caters to thin people in a way that it does not cater to fat people. One simple example would be the paucity of plus size clothing options available, especially in fashionable styles. That doesn't mean that thin people should feel bad, or that thin people are bad people. It's about understanding that thin people do not experience the ostracism that fat people do. Yes, thin people can still have body image problems, and thin people are often bullied because they are thin. But those aren't the same as living in a society that does not accept who you are and does not cater to your body size. Thin people's bodies are still glorified and held up as the example of what people should strive towards. Thin people's bodies literally and metaphorically "fit" into society.
2) FA is not about encouraging obesity or telling people to gain weight. People who do those things are feeders or feedees and they are not representative of the FA movement. They are often disliked by people who do support FA. Needless to say, the FA movement also attracts a number of "chubby chasers" and these people also tend to be disliked by FA proponents because they are fetishising fatness. FA is also not about stopping people from losing weight. You can still be a proponent of FA and want to lose weight for yourself. I fit both of those categories.
3) FA is not saying fatness is always healthy. Weight is not a definitive indicator of health. Health is predominantly down to lifestyle (exercise and diet). There are fat people who are healthy but still stay fat. There are thin people who are extremely unhealthy. The simple fact of the matter is *you cannot determine someone's health by looking at them*. And unless you are their doctor, someone else's health is not actually your business. Health is a private and personal matter, which is why health records are confidential. Just worry about yourself.
And before the "taxpayer dollars" and "burden on the health system" arguments start rolling in, let me say that is irrelevant. Your tax dollars are spent on lots of things that may or may not directly benefit you, and may or may not be due to "self induced" problems. They are also spent on lots of things that you might think are unwise. If you have a problem with how your tax dollars are spent you should be lobbying the government for society-wide changes rather than attacking or judging individual fat people. Besides, you still pay the same amount of tax regardless of how it gets spent. Fat people aren't making your taxes increase, and nor are their health needs less important than the health needs of thin people. Everyone has the right to access health care. Everyone.
Now, what FA actually IS:
1) FA is about accepting body diversity. Every human being is different. There is a bell curve of normality but everyone deserves respect, tolerance and acceptance whereever they are on the bell curve. End of story. No exceptions. No buts. Everyone deserves respect and tolerance.
2) FA is about reserving judgement. Someone else's body is not your business. Just like someone else's fashion choices aren't your business. Just like how someone else's tattoos are not your business. Crucially, *you don't know what is going on in someone else's life so you are not able to judge*. And even if you know someone very well you aren't privy to how their mind works. People's behaviour is largely a reflection of how their mind works. So don't judge. If someone asks for your advice or assistance, then by all means offer it. But unsolicited advice and judgement is just a douche thing to do.
3) FA is about supporting health in whatever shape it takes. That is not the same as mandating that everyone be healthy. It is about encouraging fitness, encouraging vegetables and whole food, encouraging positive life choices. Sometimes making these changes causes people to lose weight, but sometimes it doesn't. Either way it doesn't matter. Health comes in different forms. Health is a good thing. Weight loss doesn't always improve health (it can, though) and weight gain doesn't always decrease health (it can, though).
If anyone is interested in reading more, I can recommend these resources:
http://www.newsweek.com/fat-and-healthy-why-its-possible-78927
http://www.examiner.com/article/new-study-finds-46-of-obese-people-are-metabolically-healthy
http://www.raisingmyboychick.com/2010/08/on-fatphobia-thin-privilege-and-eat-a-sandwich/
http://www.drsharma.ca/obesity-the-science-behind-health-at-every-size-haes.html
http://kateharding.net/2007/11/27/the-fantasy-of-being-thin/
http://charlottecooper.net/publishing/digital/headless-fatties-01-07/
http://corpulent.wordpress.com/2011/02/15/is-frances-ok/
TL;DR: Don't be an awful person to others. Different people have different needs. Respect everybody.
ETA: lauritajones1, two comments above this one, has made an excellent comment. I wholeheartedly second it.
i hope you and i can get married one day. thanks for the post.0 -
A lot of the "hating thin people" is unintentional.
EG: the "real women have curves!" crap that turns up on FB.
Sure, it's a stand against the somewhat ridiculous standard put forth with freakishly tall and thin supermodels.
it's also an unsult, probably unintentional, to anyone who is built like my wife.
She's 5'4, about 125, eats whatever she wants, runs 15 miles a week, doesn't count calories, and other than when she was pregnant, has never weighed much more or less than that.
"real women" have XY. Beyond that.. there's no flat statement.0 -
i was beautiful at a size 24 and am beautiful at a size 16, but i want to be healthier as i continue to lose weight. If i choose to accept myself once I lose weight, then looks like i just missed out on about 20 years of life.
(Assuming you mean "only once I lose...")
:flowerforyou: :flowerforyou: :flowerforyou:
This. My journey to better health now was actually made possible in part because of fat acceptance movement. I am getting healthier now because I learnt to accept and love myself as fat as I was, not in spite of it.
Shocking how many comments there are by people who very obviously know little, if anything at all, about the movement, but people are people I guess....0 -
Hmmm another gray line question...where do you draw that line between self esteem and loving yourself and supporting an unhealthy lifestyle? Interesting question.
It was when I found a way to appreciate myself that I was able to look beyond the cookies on the table to the bigger picture and make some positive changes.0 -
I hope you and I can get married one day. Thanks for the post.
At the very least we can be friends on here :-)0 -
The point of the movement is that fat women deserve to feel good about themselves. It's important because thin women - even women who suffer from eating disorders - are glorified. It's a movement against the brainwashing and exploitation of women to make billions of dollars off of them via the weight loss industry. There is literally a "War on Obesity" being waged while mental illnesses such as anorexia or bulimia are overlooked and glorified in the media. Regular women who glorify being fat isn't the same as the billions of dollars spent telling these women that they aren't even human because their bodies aren't "ideal". Thin women do experience body shaming and they do experience body image issues, but they experience it on a very different level. There is an effort to literally eradicate fat women - men tend to get a bit of a pass until they reach a certain weight. Fat activism is important because fat women are still WOMEN, regardless if they're "healthy" or not, and they still deserve to love themselves. So do women suffering from eating disorders, but they need that love on a more intimate level whereas heavy women are still having to argue about the fact that they're even human. If any of the people on this board have been extremely overweight, you understand what I mean by being treated like an animal just for being fat. Being fat is not a mental illness unless it involves binge eating disorder, it is not shameful and it's not someone else's right to tell somebody they should lose weight. Like, think about it: I'm having to explain why fat women should be treated like human beings. That's pretty sad, no?
Oh, and also, the whole doctors are fat shaming people is a real thing. I suffered for years from an undiagnosed autoimmune disease and was told the entire time that my weight was the cause. I maintained that it wasn't and my doctors laughed at me. After missing out on high school because I was in the hospital so frequently and thousands of dollars spent in treatment and testing, I just couldn't believe my doctors were chalking it up to me being fat... And I was only 15 at the time. Doctors often do discriminate against fat people, disallowing them diagnostic testing just because they think losing weight will fix all of their issues when it won't. I've been heavy my entire life, and doctors will take every chance they can to tell you that being fat is the bane of your existence when really, they're just not doing their jobs. If you take the time to look over the "research" revolving around weight and health issues, you'll find that much of it is skewed/biased and was paid for by companies who can make money off of the results.
I want to lose weight for personal reasons (most of them stemming from the societal issues I mentioned in the first paragraph - I just want to be treated like a human being and not something less because of my weight). However, I strongly support the FA movement. These women are not like pro-ana or pro-mia where they encourage people to eat as little as possible or binge as much as possible. These women are not like those other sources where they compete for how long someone can fast or how much they can vomit up their food. Those women suffer from a debilitating disorder, whereas fat activists encourage women to love their bodies and are attempting to dismantle the societal expectation of a perfect-bodied woman. Again, they just want for fat people to be treated with respect and dignity instead of being treated like **** constantly by individuals and by society.0 -
Pro ana websites encourage others to follow very dangerous diets. I personally have never seen a fat acceptance website encourage others to put on weight. They tend to just put their image out there, which seems to upset some people. If someone struggling with anorexia wanted to put their thoughts out there on a blog, as long as they were not encouraging others to follow a dangerous diet, why shouldn't they have a blog or website? I have asked for evidence of a mainstream blog or website that encourages unhealthy weight gain, but no one has provided one.
I wouldn't hold your breath. I'm pretty sure people are misrepresenting the popular "fat scene" in the blogosphere. I don't know any blogs that advocate for healthy people to get fat because of fat acceptance. That doesn't even make sense. Someone misread something or is misrepresenting something and ranting about it on the MFP forums. Rants aren't known to be logical.
0 -
People should be healthy. They should be active. They should eat fruits and vegetable and maintain a balanced diet.
People should not yo-yo diet. It's worse for you than being overweight. People should not be morbidly obese. They should not be dangerously thin.
That being said, judging a specific person for the choices you assume they are making is stupid. You don't know what is going on in their lives.
For example, if many people saw Holley Mangold eating two quarter pounders and a large fries in McDonalds, they'd assume that she lacked self-control and was killing herself through poor choices. They probably wouldn't register her as an Olympic level athlete.
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1285642-holley-mangold-competes-in-womens-weightlifting-at-2012-london-olympics
EXACTLY.
She came in 10th despite outweighing many other contestants by 150lbs+, Oly level athlete? Or pathetic US lifting team with low standards?
She's still an athlete.
So's the fattest, slowest defensive lineman on the worst college team in the country. That doesn't mean he should be celebrated as a paragon of health while obese.
She's not the slowest, fattest lineman in the worst college team. She went to the Olympics.
She was a participant in the olympics, due how crappy our oly lifting teams are. She had 562lb total @ 350lbs, which is awful
Just because she is strong, that doesnt make her healthy. So I dont really get the point of bringing her up.
I know I am quoting the wrong person.
Fine. What about Sarah Robles? Does she look "healthy?"0 -
Being over-weight is just like being a smoker, except tobacco companies failed at infecting the majority as the food industry has.0
-
Being over-weight is just like being a smoker, except tobacco companies failed at infecting the majority as the food industry has.
Those things are not the same at all. Food is needed to live. Food is not an infection. Food doesn't cause disease. Cigarettes are not needed to live. Cigarettes cause disease. Your analogy is very poor.0 -
Just my 2 cents. There are two sides to the fat acceptance movement. One strives to stop discrimination and hatred towards fat people. The other glorifies obesity and supports the hatred of thin people. I support fat acceptance, but not fat glorification.
This. Too bad most people see fat acceptance only as fat glorification.0 -
Being over-weight is just like being a smoker, except tobacco companies failed at infecting the majority as the food industry has.
Those things are not the same at all. Food is needed to live. Food is not an infection. Food doesn't cause disease. Cigarettes are not needed to live. Cigarettes cause disease. Your analogy is very poor.
Certain foods do cause disease. Being over weight causes disease.0 -
Being over-weight is just like being a smoker, except tobacco companies failed at infecting the majority as the food industry has.
Those things are not the same at all. Food is needed to live. Food is not an infection. Food doesn't cause disease. Cigarettes are not needed to live. Cigarettes cause disease. Your analogy is very poor.
Certain foods do cause disease. Being over weight causes disease.
Who told you that? The companies that pay "scientists" to conduct biased, uncontrolled research so they can sell diet pills? What foods cause disease? What diseases do these foods cause? Do you have sources for that statement?0
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 391.4K Introduce Yourself
- 43.5K Getting Started
- 259.7K Health and Weight Loss
- 175.6K Food and Nutrition
- 47.3K Recipes
- 232.3K Fitness and Exercise
- 391 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.4K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.5K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 152.7K Motivation and Support
- 7.8K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.3K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 3.2K MyFitnessPal Information
- 22 News and Announcements
- 922 Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.3K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions