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Old 05-08-2008, 10:13 AM   #1 (permalink)
Miss Mango
Psycho
 
Fat Acceptance Movement: Overdue Reform, or Total Denial?

What do you think about the FA movement?

Fat Acceptance

naafa.org = National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance

I was a fat kid, fat adolescent and fat young adult. Within the last 2 years Ive worked to change my body so that I could be more healthy. There is adult-onset diabetes on both sides of the family and high cholesterol as well and I didnt want that to happen to me. I wasnt happy or healthy and I realized it was because of my weight. While its not a cure-all, its one thing I could work on about myself and have a tremendous impact.

But being a fat girl for most of my life definitely had its own impact. Part of denying that I was unhealthy and unhappy was empowering myself through a sort of unspoken underground Fat Movement. Beth Ditto of The Gossip who I admire greatly is a Fat Girl and proud of it. Its part of her identity and young girls look up to her, fat and thin alike for various reasons.

I still think of myself as a fat girl in that I know what its like to be discriminated against and treated differently. I want to have solidarity with other people who have weight issues because this issue will never go away for me. Its something Ill deal with for the rest of my life and I need support.

I think discrimination against overweight people is probably the last taboo. Weve talked about race, class, sexual orientation, but mums the word on fat. I know that fat does not necessarily equal unhealthy or unattractive or unlovable. My own personal decision to become thinner is mine alone, but I still struggle inside when I see obese people.

I like that NAAFA is trying to speak out and create a space to talk about fat discrimination, yet I still dont know how to reconcile this position within myself.

Some of my friends thinks that NAAFA a load of crap for the most part, designed to make people whore too lazy to lose weight feel better about themselves.

What are your thoughts?
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