Fat acceptance movement

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The Fat Acceptance Movement, also referred to as the Fat Liberation Movement is a grassroots effort to change societal attitudes towards fat individuals. The movement consists today of a diverse group of people, who have different beliefs about how best to address fat-prejudice. Generally dated to the 1970s, the 1980s and 1990s witnessed the increase in activist organizations, publications, and conferences.

A major schism in the movement is found between those fat people who are still pursuing weight loss and those who are not. Opponents to weight loss attempts cite the high failure rate of all weight loss attempts (95-98%), the many dangers of yoyo weight fluctuations and so-called weight loss surgeries, and the repeatedly verified fact that fat people who exercise regularly and practice sound nutrition are as healthy as or healthier than sedentary thin people, dieters or WLS survivors. (Citations number in the thousands. Start with Sandy Szwarc's list of links at http://www.junkfoodscience.blogspot.com, as well as books by William Bennett, Joel Gurin, Paul Campos, etc. as delineated below. A USDA discussion of the recent U.C. Davis study confirming that fat acceptance maintains and improves health more than dieting may be found at http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/AR/archive/mar06/health0306.htm.) Due to intrinsic linguistic misunderstandings and differing definitions of the word "acceptance," some fat activists believe the phrase refers to any fat person fighting for equal rights and opportunities, regardless of whether or not that person believes pursuing weight loss is safe or feasible. Other fat activists define "fat acceptance" more strictly, applying that phrase only to fat people who are not pursuing weight loss, and instead using phrases such as "fat activist" to describe fat people and allies working more generally on fat civil rights issues. In practice, the only way to know a group's position on weight loss attempts is to ask, or read specific position papers on the issue.

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[edit] History

The history of this movement, exactly because it was grassroots, is difficult to write. Certainly, we should be suspicious of any history that focuses only on institutions, even though these are obviously important. Like other social movements from the 1960s and 1970s, the fat acceptance movement, initially known as "Fat Pride," "Fat Power," or "Fat Liberation," often consisted of people acting in an impromptu fashion. To offer one example, a "Fat-in" was staged in New York's Central Park in 1967.[1]. Called by a radio personality, Steve Post, the "Fat-in" consisted of a group of 500 people, eating, carrying signs, and burning diet books and a photograph of Twiggy, an English model famous for her thinness.

Several groups were formed in this period that promoted a fat acceptance agenda. The "Fat Pride" group, NAAFA, initially called the National Association to Aid Fat Americans, subsequently renamed the National Association for Advancement of Fat Acceptance, was begun in 1969 by William Fabrey. This group was at its inception more of a social club. A more radical group, the Fat Underground, was founded in 1973. The group had begun as a chapter of NAAFA, but had quickly developed an activist philosophy more radical than the group. To be more specific, they were inspired by the philosophy of the Radical Therapy Collective, a feminist collective that believed that many psychological problems were caused by oppressive social institutions and practices. The group consisted of a number of members including the founding members Sara Fishman (then going by Aldebaran) and Judy Freespirit, and subsequently Lynn McAffee. They quickly developed into a group that took issue with the developing science against obesity. One of their central sayings, "A diet is a cure that doesn't work for a disease that doesn't exist," reflects their dedication to fat acceptance as well as fat activism. [2].

Shortly afterwards, Fishman moved to New Haven, CT where she, along with Karen Scott-Jones, founded the New Haven Fat Liberation Front, an organization similar to the Fat Underground in its scope and focus. In 1983, they collaborated to publish a germinal book in the field of Fat Activism, Shadow on a tightrope. [3]. The book consists of some activist position papers, initially distributed by the Fat Underground, as well as collections of poems and essays from other writers.

Fat liberation has been addressed as well in a number of zines, many representing activist communities. Among them are Marilyn Wann's Fat!So? beginning in 1993, Nomy Lamm's I'm So Fucking Beautiful, and the collectively produced 'zine "FaT GiRL -- the 'zine for fat dykes and the women who want them." More Recently, Sabrina Darling has collaborated with other members of the new generation of fat liberation to release the zine Two By Four, Krissy Durden has produced the zine Figure 8 since 2001 and Max Airborne and Cherry Midnight have produced "Size Queen: For Queen-size Queers and Our Loyal Subjects."

In addition to zines, there has recently been a steady stream of books with a fat activist agenda including Wann's book of the same title as her zine (1998), Sondra Solovay's "Tipping the Scales of Justice: Fighting Weight-Based Discrimination" (2000);'Largely Happy -- changing your mind about your body' by Lynda Finn; 'Don't Diet' by Professor Dale Atrens and a collection of short stories by fat people (What Are You Looking At? 2003). Beginning in the earlier literature, there were criticisms of the prevailing scientific view that fat is unhealthy. A number of writers and activists have attacked this viewpoint, including more recently Paul Campos in his 'The Obesity Myth' (2004) republished as 'The Diet Myth', and Sandy Szwarc's in-depth examination of obesity research in the online magazine "Tech Central Station." [4]

In recent years, there is an emerging body of fat political and sociological studies, some with a fat activist agenda, developing within the academy. The American Popular Culture Association has an area in fat studies and regularly includes panels on the subject. In addition, student groups with a fat activist agenda have emerged in a number of colleges including Hampshire, Smith, and Antioch colleges.

Susan Stinson's novels and poetry such as Belly Songs (1993) and Venus of Chalk (2004) have integrated the insights of fat liberation into literature. Several collections of short writing on fat have been published in recent years, including 'What Are You Looking At?: The First Fat Fiction Anthology' (2003); 'Scoot Over, Skinny: The Fat Nonfiction Anthology' (2005); and Susan Koppelman's 'Strange History of Susan LaFlesh and other stories of women and fatness (2003).

Recently, fat performance art has made an impact in the fight against sizeism. Groups like The Padded Lillies, Big Burlesque and the Fat Bottom Revue and radical cheerleading groups like F.A.T.A.S.S pdx and The Bod Squad have received significant attention, as have drag troups like the Royal Renegades: The Philadelphia Drag Kings, who feature a variety of body types in their shows.

Finally and most recently, there has been a flourishing of national conferences devoted to the subject of fat activism, including NOLOSE, the conference of the former National Organization for Lesbians of SizE (now just known as NOLOSE); NAAFA's annual convention held alternately on the west and east coasts; and the largest conference, Stacy Bias's FatGirl Speaks in Portland, Oregon.

[edit] Background

Fat activism covers several fronts but generally can be described as attempting to change societal, internal, and medical attitudes about fat people, despite a great deal of criticism.

Societal: The movement argues that fat people are targets of hatred and discrimination, with fat women in particular subject to more social pressure. Hatred is seen in multiple places including media outlets, where fat people are often ridiculed or held up as objects of pity. Discrimination comes in the form of lack of equal accessibility to transportation and employment.

Internal: The movement also argues that people of all shapes and sizes should accept themselves as they are, at any size. Thus, it promotes "health at every size," which aims to place one's mental and physical health before physical appearance and size.

Medical: Through the works of authors such as Paul Campos and Sandy Swzarc, the fat acceptance movement has advanced the agenda of Health at Any Size, arguing that doctors should treat the problems of fat people independently of weight, and that fatness in no greater a threat to health than height, skin color, or any other primarily-genetic characteristics.

Fat activism faces challenges in addition to bigotry against fat people. Organizations such as the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance (NAAFA) and the International Size Acceptance Association (ISAA) are small in numbers, and people interested in the movement tend to be clustered in larger cities and spread across medium- to small-sized web communities. NAAFA changed leadership around the turn of the century and has been showing a renewed vitality applauded in the size acceptance community. Fat acceptance is a social acceptance issue and has ties and common ground with the feminist movement and other civil rights movements.

[edit] Visible people in fat acceptance

  • Paul Campos, author of books such as The Obesity Myth
  • Lynda Finn, author of Largely Happy and Healthy Kids, Happy Kids and vice-chair of International Size Acceptance Association
  • Nomy Lamm, performance artist and writer of I'm So Fucking Beautiful
  • Heather MacAllister, founder of "Big Burlesque" and the "Fat Bottom Review"
  • Paul McAleer, author of "Big Fat Blog"
  • Sondra Solovay, weight discrimination lawyer and author of the book, "Tipping the Scales of Justice: Fighting Weight-Based Discrimination"
  • Allen Steadham, President and Founder of ISAA
  • Sandy Szwarc, author of articles challenging widely-held beliefs on fat and health[2]
  • Wendy Shanker, author of The Fat Girl's Guide To Life

[edit] External links

[edit] Notes

"Curves Have Their Day in Park; 500 at a 'Fat-in' Call for Obesity." New York Times. June 5, 1967. pg. 54.

Shadow on a Tightrope: Writings by Women on Fat Oppression. Eds. Lisa Schoenfielder and Barb Wieser. Iowa City, IA: Aunt Lute Books, 1983 Bold text

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