The fat acceptance movement aims to eliminate discrimination against fat people and promote size equality. It has roots in the 1960s and 1970s protest movement and includes various aspects such as promoting dignity and respect for fat people, breaking shame and fear, and encouraging healthy lifestyles for people of all sizes. However, the movement is not without its problems, including disagreements on diet and weight-loss surgery and criticism from some who fear promoting dangerous weight gain.
Fat acceptance is a social movement that aims to eliminate discrimination and prejudice against fat people. As is the case with many social movements fighting discrimination, the fat acceptance movement has tried to reclaim “fat” by turning it into a simple adjective, rather than a pejorative word. Members of the fat acceptance community run the gamut from anorexic to morbidly obese, engaging with the larger global community in a variety of ways that are designed to promote size equality.
The roots of fat acceptance can be found in the protest movement of the 1960s and 1970s. A notable milestone in the fat acceptance movement occurred in 1969, when the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance (NAAFA) was founded in the United States. Members of the early fat acceptance movement sponsored Fat-ins, fat pride marches, and fat power rallies, as did members of other marginalized communities who also fought for equal rights during this tumultuous period.
There are numerous aspects of the fat acceptance movement. Most activists agree that they are working to promote the treatment of fat people as human beings deserving of dignity and respect, whether they are applying for jobs, seeking medical attention or walking down the street. Some activists are also part of the Health at Every Size movement, which promotes healthy diet and lifestyle choices for people of all sizes, with the goal of encouraging people to understand that size is not necessarily related to health. .
A primary goal of many activists is to break the shame, fear, and hatred that surrounds fat in many cultures. This is accomplished in several ways. Fat activists may organize marches, rallies, or teach-ins, for example, and they also organize conferences, distribute magazines like Fat! So?, and they participate in letter-writing campaigns to encourage fair representation of fat people in the media and call for anti-discrimination language to be written into laws and business plans. In the world of activism, many people say that every little bit counts, and people who are new to fat acceptance are generally encouraged to engage in fat activism at whatever level they feel comfortable with.
As with many social movements, the fat acceptance movement has not been without its problems. Movement members are divided on issues such as diet, weight-loss surgery and binge eating. Some activists argue that dieting should never take place, for example, and view other fat dieting activists negatively, while others accept a diversity of opinions and activities. This activist community also experiences a great deal of criticism from a variety of sources, with some people expressing hatred and fear of the acceptance of fat, while others raising reasonable if exaggerated concerns about promoting dangerous weight gain. While this may occur in a very small subset of the fat acceptance community, most fat activists do not, in fact, promote rampant weight gain, and many accept the stress of people of all sizes. .
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