Ugh, The National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance
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Yeah, they really do care, that's why their parks are loaded with deep fried fatty foods, funnel cakes, corn dogs, ice cream, etc...maybe they can start there and then move on from that!
Honestly, I liked the idea of it, but I also understand not "villianizing" fat people. It's the fat and habits we want to get rid of, not the people! I think there was a better way to do this one!
I agree with this. Plus, you can't tell if someone is healthy just because they are thin (or unhealthy just because they are fat). That's a myth, but it gets perpetuated all the time in our culture. And now there'a a display at Disneyworld so REALLY young kids are getting exposed to wrong information, and getting indoctrinated with prejudice against fat people. We can send healthy messages about eating well and being active without making it so us vs. them.0 -
I definitely want to read this entire thread later
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we need to teach our kids to stay away from JUNK food that includes MC donald's or all fast food restaurants.0
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Yeah, they really do care, that's why their parks are loaded with deep fried fatty foods, funnel cakes, corn dogs, ice cream, etc...maybe they can start there and then move on from that!
Honestly, I liked the idea of it, but I also understand not "villianizing" fat people. It's the fat and habits we want to get rid of, not the people! I think there was a better way to do this one!
I totally agree with you....
Even if some kids are obese due to genetics, that's still no excuse. They are growing and they should be allowed to eat whatever they want as long as in judicious portions. I have an 8 year old, and that boy loves to eat but me as his mother, I watch how much he’s consuming and I make sure he doesn’t over do it. Some of these kids probably have obese parents, so the problems start from there.
Physical activities and watching what they eat will help keep obesity at a low level.0 -
Honestly, I wish Disney would serve healthier foods within their parks.
And beer.
Disney does serve healthier foods and have far as I've gone for years, it all depends what you are looking for there. Every stand always is loaded with fruit and water.
Now about the exhibit. I do think the exhibit was a bad choice, it isn't going to help kids get healthier but might help them get teased more. There's better ways to go about this.0 -
I'm sorry, but I see so many people rationalizing that I just have to put this bluntly.
An obese person is NOT healthy. Period. Being obese automatically makes you unhealthy.
Looking obese doesn't mean your habits are unhealthy. It might mean they were at some point, but who knows what kind of medical past someone has. By the same token, looking fit doesn't mean someone's habits are necessarily healthy.
Turning behaviors into visual personifications, apart from logically stupid, just trains kids to turn people who look a certain way into villains. Anyone who thinks differently should probably spend some time around a group of children. And anyone who thinks an obese person should be turned into a villain, even if they used to have or currently have poor habits, doesn't get it.
It's not about rationalization. If shame works for some people, great. For other people it's a fantastic way to demotivate themselves, which just enhances the problem. We can educate and motivate without turning obese people into the villains they aren't.0 -
What actually would have taken place in the exhibit?
Maybe Will Power helped Lead Bottom to get healthy? Wouldn't that be a positive message?
As someone has said above - you can't be obese and healthy. And yes there might be people who are eating healthily and be obese, which means they are on the right track - those people should see this as a good thing surely! I don't see how it would encourage teasing and bullying just by saying that healthy is good, unhealthy is bad.0 -
I will go against the grain here... Yes we should concentrate on teaching our children to eat healthy and be active but in a positive and enabling way, not by providing negative images and sending the message that fat people = bad people.
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I understand that putting a child down because they are obsese can be very damaging to their self-esteem, etc but the damage they are doing to their bodies is even worse. Up until this point in history, there has never been a larger amount of obese children and teenagers in our country. The scary part is that their life span is probably going to be cut drastically from staying obese for longer periods of time. We will never learn that moderation is key. Junk food is not bad, especially at Disney World. Kids should be able to enjoy treats from time to time. I recently saw an old friend of mine with her son in tow. Since I had seen him in over five years, he has grown dramatically. Only 12 years old but pushing well over 220 pounds. She has become a major advocate for bullying, because of what he faces every day at school. Is it wrong that I got higly irritated that she blames bullying as the culprit-Her son is huge, just in middle school and she is worrying about bullying and not her son's diet grrrrrr0
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Also...
I like the idea of the exhibit, I just wish it wasn't the overweight characters that were the villains, rather, the foods themselves should be the villains.
Or add someone like "Lazybones" a fat skinny person. Show what they would look like 5 or so years after high school. I remember eating bad in school and putting on the weight later. That is where the "Freshman 40" came from. Hello!0 -
I firmly believe in the carrot as opposed to the stick approach. It is hard to teach a child to love themselves and accept their flaws all while tell them their fat is unacceptable. So the trick is to incorporate being healthy and respect for one's body into loving themselves. But this takes parents as well as teachers being involved. Sadly, the schools serve less than ideal food and many teachers AND parents are morbidly obese themselves, so how to teach what one isn't modeling?
I do NOT believe in "fat acceptance", but rather, "self acceptance" and "self-respect". Which doesn't mean we have to accept limitations or mistreatment (by self or others), it means we choose to treat ourselves and require others to treat us with all the respect, dignity and care that we deserve. Including eating right and exercising....which will naturally take care of the "fat" issue.0 -
Wow, I'm surprised by the majority of responses here. For an online community full of a majority of overweight or previously overweight people I don't understand why the people here do not understand how an image of a big fat guy as a villain can emotionally traumatise kids.
That's just ridiculous. Haven't WE ALL been fat before? Don't we all remember how rotten we felt? How would you have liked to walk through a grocery store only to have some kid call you Dr. Elephaunt, Disney's new fat ghost?
When people have said nasty things to me, i haven't thought 'it's okay because tomorrow i start my fitness journey to healthy eating and will reach my goal weight through all the motivation i've just recieved by being teased within 6 months.' No, i felt terrible, mildy depressed, unmotivated, anxious. I wanted to hide. None of these feelings are conducive to healthy living, and they do not created a healthy mindset.
Of course little fat baddies shouldn't be running around an exhibit teaching kids that fat and lazy is evil. Positive images of activity, fun, and healthy foods works much better. I can remember being a kid, learning about 'the food pyramid' and reading it on the back of my breakfast cereal packet every morning - THIS helped me.
Gosh, just think back to what you all responded to as adults. It wasn't the horrible feelings you had when you considered yourself overweight...those feelings just made you stay in your house, hide from your boyfriend, binge eat because 'it won't make a difference' - it was the realisation that yes, there is hope to change, a way to change, and yes, it is within your grasp.0 -
I am conflicted here. As a person who has been overweight since the age of 9 and morbidly obese for the last 10 years (now having lost 22lb in 9 weeks. yay me!) I want plenty of positive messages about good health and healthy eating. At the same time I don't want people ridiculed or belittled for being overweight.
Having read every thread in this post I am also conflicted. I see such strong moralistic tone that equates, in my interpretation, to being "all overweight people bad, all """ healthy weighted people""" good. I offer no justification for where I got to with my weight but I could reference being a migrant child removed from his extended family, comfort habits developed from years of corporate travel with hotels and restaurants being more frequent than home cooked meals, etc.
I choose not to rationalise, I just accept that I got morbidly obese and am now doing something to reverse that. What galls me is attempts at correcting people's behaviour that starts from the premise that it is all their fault and it is a moral failure that they got "that gross looking".
We have to move beyond blame, encourage acceptance (not that it is healthy to be overweight but acceptance that people have got to where they are because they have) and provide support to change the behaviour. In my mind the Disney display is well intentioned and so far from the mark that I am not at all distressed it was closed down.
More power to Disney to come up with an alternative (and our society as individuals, regulators, law makers, etc.) but let's not base it in a base premise that the light are right and the weighty are all wrong.
That's the stuff that has started racial hatred, social divides and in extreme cases, wars. It doesn't have to be about I am right, you are wrong and you will be ok when you accept my point of view. My answers are my answers for me, not yours. Educate people from a sense of compassion and concern and not moral outrage.0 -
I firmly believe in the carrot as opposed to the stick approach. It is hard to teach a child to love themselves and accept their flaws all while tell them their fat is unacceptable. So the trick is to incorporate being healthy and respect for one's body into loving themselves. But this takes parents as well as teachers being involved. Sadly, the schools serve less than ideal food and many teachers AND parents are morbidly obese themselves, so how to teach what one isn't modeling?
I do NOT believe in "fat acceptance", but rather, "self acceptance" and "self-respect". Which doesn't mean we have to accept limitations or mistreatment (by self or others), it means we choose to treat ourselves and require others to treat us with all the respect, dignity and care that we deserve. Including eating right and exercising....which will naturally take care of the "fat" issue.
I agree with this - but having watched Jamie Oliver try to get American schools to accept his healthier menus and then see that the children wouldn't eat it, and didn't even know what half of it was, then see their parents objecting to him feeding them food they didn't want it shows that people just aren't ready to help themselves.
People will always judge others in a large part on how that person judges themselves - ie if someone thinks they are not worthy of respect, then others will see that in them, and will also think that person is not worthy of respect, after all, if someone doesn't respect themselves then why should I? This leads onto appearance being used as a judgement of people, in that if someone is large, then others will assume that they don't respect themselves as they aren't looking after themselves, so why should they respect them?
Whether it's right or wrong, it happens, so the best course of action is to show people how to improve themselves.0 -
What actually would have taken place in the exhibit?
Maybe Will Power helped Lead Bottom to get healthy? Wouldn't that be a positive message?
As someone has said above - you can't be obese and healthy. And yes there might be people who are eating healthily and be obese, which means they are on the right track - those people should see this as a good thing surely! I don't see how it would encourage teasing and bullying just by saying that healthy is good, unhealthy is bad.
Saying healthy is good and unhealthy is bad won't cause bullying but if a kid sees another kid looking like 'lead bottom' or make that connection that the fat kid is align with the villian, that will cause bullying.0 -
if my thirteen year old self, who was stick-thin but felt very overweight in my mind, went to this and saw the vilian 'lead bottom', i think i would have immediately labeled myself as such and the name would still be stuck in the back of my mind somewhere today.
in addition to making all of the overweight kids who want to have a good time but are secretly wondering if they will fit in a seat feel like crap, i think this kind of thing could do real damage to young children and teens who are *not* overweight, but have self image/esteem issues.
the root of the problem is most likely the habits of the parents, and that is what needs to be addressed.0 -
People are twisting this so much to rationalize why it's terrible.
This exhibit doesn't equate "fat" with "evil." It shows how poor habits can lead to poor health, and how good habits can lead to good health. Does it use exaggerated cartoons? Yes, of course, just like EVERY kids show/movie ever. Should we ban 101 Dalmations? After all, it pushes the stereotype that tall skinny women with salt & pepper hair are evil and kidnap puppies. :huh:0 -
Wow, I'm surprised by the majority of responses here. For an online community full of a majority of overweight or previously overweight people I don't understand why the people here do not understand how an image of a big fat guy as a villain can emotionally traumatise kids.
That's just ridiculous. Haven't WE ALL been fat before? Don't we all remember how rotten we felt? How would you have liked to walk through a grocery store only to have some kid call you Dr. Elephaunt, Disney's new fat ghost?
When people have said nasty things to me, i haven't thought 'it's okay because tomorrow i start my fitness journey to healthy eating and will reach my goal weight through all the motivation i've just recieved by being teased within 6 months.' No, i felt terrible, mildy depressed, unmotivated, anxious. I wanted to hide. None of these feelings are conducive to healthy living, and they do not created a healthy mindset.
Of course little fat baddies shouldn't be running around an exhibit teaching kids that fat and lazy is evil. Positive images of activity, fun, and healthy foods works much better. I can remember being a kid, learning about 'the food pyramid' and reading it on the back of my breakfast cereal packet every morning - THIS helped me.
Gosh, just think back to what you all responded to as adults. It wasn't the horrible feelings you had when you considered yourself overweight...those feelings just made you stay in your house, hide from your boyfriend, binge eat because 'it won't make a difference' - it was the realisation that yes, there is hope to change, a way to change, and yes, it is within your grasp.
Word.0 -
Why not suggest all kids should eat healthfully, instead of implying only fat kids have to?
I agree with this comment.0 -
Obesity is unhealthy, period. Obesity "acceptance" sounds as silly to me as smoking "acceptance." We know cigarette smoking kills, we know obesity kills. So smoking is ostracized, but there are actually people out there pushing for obesity "acceptance?"
Makes no sense to me.0
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