A fat activist defends her perception of aesthetics, claiming society has been perverted in thinking otherwise. Fat and obesity issues are often discussed in the media. Here we have a fat acceptance activist sharing what the movement is about and why society needs it.
I am fat. I have been fat for most of my life. Excluding those times I struggled with diets to conform with society’s ideas. And now I have come to a point where I am happy being fat. It’s who I am and how my body should be. The only thing I now struggle with is society’s perversion of nature cultivating prejudice against my body.
Fat is the last and only thing you can still be critical of and vilify without causing public offence. We are still fed by the media and ‘specialists’ a skewed view of what is healthy and beautiful. People believe that obesity is a health issue, thus discriminating against those unwilling to conform to the desired thin body. We are depicted as unmotivated, having no willpower and failures. This way of thinking only serves to perpetuate self-hatred and eating disorders.
Fat is the only topic that is widely spoken about, but almost always by those who are not in fact fat. For people who are fat it is an emotionally charged topic. We live the reality of it. It seems ridiculous that we don’t often have a voice on the matter and have to sit through endless articles shaming us and pretty much just using us as inanimate examples of some research like we are some strange new species. But we want our voice heard because you know what, there’s plenty of people out there, like me, will tell you I’m fat and I’m healthy and happy. For whatever reasons the world is afraid of hearing it.
I’d like to point out that fat is in not a health issue. I can tell you as a fat person of some 30 years or so that it is not just a matter of more exercise, less food. As long as people continue to discriminate against fat people and to have people starve themselves, exhaust themselves through exercise and stick their fingers down their throat. Some people are just fat. Shaming those that are and discriminating them will never change that. I would consider myself an active person, I walk, I cycle, eat well, my weight doesn’t change and I continue to encounter prejudice. People don’t really know how to make a naturally fat person thin anymore that we know how to make a naturally thin person fat. The sooner we realise that the better.
In fact, obesity is seen as a burden to society and medical resources, when the health dangers of being underweight are far more severe. We should be fighting against this obsession with being ultra thin and working towards a healthier state of mind.
This is what the fat acceptance movement is all about. Fat acceptance is about accepting bodies of all shapes. Fat acceptance for everyone! This is for those who are size zero, so they can stop hating themselves and eat again. It’s for those who are size 30 so that they no longer feel ashamed and subsequently obliged to tell that size zero that they’re lucky to be anorexic. Fat acceptance activists are self-esteem warriors. 40% of Americans are obese. If America can get it right, why can’t the rest of us? I’m sure this figure will continue to rise in tandem with our fat pride. It’s about time that society’s views catch up with the reality that fat is healthy. Fat is beautiful. Fat is here to stay.
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