Fat acceptance movement- heard of it?

[Anonymous]

Should we really be encouraging people to be fat?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sizeism

The fat acceptance movement, also known as the size acceptance movement, fat liberation movement or fat power, is a grassroots effort to change societal attitudes towards individuals who are fat.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9] The movement consists today of a diverse group of people, who have different beliefs about how best to address the widespread prejudice and discrimination against people whose girth is above average in contemporary Western societies.[10][11][12][13][14][15]

Generally dated to the 1970s, the 1980s and 1990s witnessed an increase in activist organizations, publications, and conferences.[16][17] In the 1980s, new anti-dieting programs and models began to appear in the research literature in response to new information dispelling common myths about obesity.[18] The contemporary movement perceives negative societal attitudes as persistent and based on the presumption that body fatness reflects negatively on a person's character.[9][19] For example, a paper by Chang and Christakis describes how, during the early part of the 20th century, obesity was seen as detrimental to the community, by means of decreasing human efficiency, and that obese people interfere with labour productivity (V Chang and N Christakis, 2002). [20] Furthermore, anti-fat stigma and aggressive diet promotion have led to an increase in psychological and physiological problems among those who feel that their weight is above the "socially acceptable norm".[21]

[psy]

Should we really be encouraging people to be fat?

Why do you care what other people put in their own bodies?

[Anonymous]

Should we really be encouraging people to be fat?

Why do you care what other people put in their own bodies?

Why do you want to encourage other people to live unhealthy lifestyles resulting in an early death?

[TheWho]

We should continue to educate everyone one on the risk factors of being overweight and not getting enough exercise.  It does decrease productivity in many areas of the job market and therefore making it more difficult to get a job and support yourself and a family.  It shortens a persons life span.

I believe over the next decade the obesity rate will self correct thru education and medical breakthroughs like continued peer pressure, gastric bypass surgery and eventually gene therapy.  I don’t see any future in people wanting to be fat, they just want to be treated better, but that is just not going to happen.  Look at all the models in the magazine.  This is what everyone aspires to.

[Carmel]

I suppose it depends on what you consider "fat".  

Today, most women think 135 pounds is fat.  Which is ludicrous.  Even if your are only 5'2.  

There should be a natural body type acceptance movement instead.  There is never an excuse for morbid obesity, its not natural or conducive to human efficiency in any way...no more than excessive thiness to the point of emaciation is.  

I wont accept anyones poor choices in regards to their personal health.  The are entitled to them, but I will not agree with them.  Thats like saying that I should just accept the people that are lazy and dont do a good job my office becasue thats just the way they are.

Some people have a weight issue tied to hormonal imbalance and genetic issues, I am not talking about those people....who represent a fraction of those actually obese.  A great portion of obesity is not physiological "disease".  Its emotional or learned, poor habits.

If you are so big that your own bodyweight breaks your knees, thats not acceptable under any circumstance.

[psy]

Should we really be encouraging people to be fat?

Why do you care what other people put in their own bodies?

Why do you want to encourage other people to live unhealthy lifestyles resulting in an early death?

I don't encourage or discourage.  I, frankly, don't give a shit...  and if and "unhealthy" lifestyle results in a happier person, then perhaps unhealthy is ultimately healthier...  or at least resulting in a better life.

Who cares.  If a person eats to excess, it's his/her deal.  Who are you or anybody else to judge.  Frankly, i'd be more worried about the people running around like headless chickens worried to death that they didn't count the carbs/calories/latestfad in the ritz cracker they just ate... but then again, if they want to live a worry filled miserable life, that's their deal.

Only in America can you make up a problem to sell a solution to masses of hapless boobs, hooked on the TV image of "this is what you should be".  Fucking sheep.  Diet this diet that... in europe they don't' have the obsession and guess what... as a result.. there are less fat people.  Yes, I would argue that America's obsession with dieting actually causes people to gain weight.

Similar to how I would argue that drug prohibition makes drugs more "taboo" and thus more desirable, food deemed to be "sinful" (and is often advertised as such) sells better.  Advertisers would not label their food "guilty pleasures" or "sinful" if this was a deterrent.  They know full well taboo sells.  Diet craze makes food taboo.  Americans are thus kept in a constant flux of "don't' do this!...  unless you want to sin because it's sinful and thus soooo good".  And when they get fat, they get sold a ridiculous, latest craze, Hollywood diet which doesn't work, but makes people feel helpless to the point where people go to OA meetings and declare themselves powerless over food (thereby adding more learned helplessness to the mix)...  and they end up stuffing their faces even more after that.  Yes, there is a lot that's amiss in American society in regards to eating, but blaming those who eat too much is missing out on the bigger picture...

All that being said, it's still a choice... and if sinful pleasures make people feel good, and they want to do it, and it's not harming anybody... let them!  If you want to help, focus on how marketing drives people to do things and show people how they are being manipulated.

[psy]

Look at all the models in the magazine.  This is what everyone aspires to.

Then they're fools.  Magazine models are photoshop concoctions and nothing more.

[TheWho]

Look at all the models in the magazine.  This is what everyone aspires to.

Then they're fools.  Magazine models are photoshop concoctions and nothing more.

They are fools!  That is one of the reasons why we have young girls who are dangerously underweight and have poor body images.  If they photoshopped these images of models to look 20 lbs heavier (instead of thinner) then that would help ease the pressure off these young girls and help the obese to be more socially accepted.  But this isnt going to happen anytime soon if ever.

[Anonymous]

I, frankly, don't give a shit...

Who cares.  If a person eats to excess, it's his/her deal.  

Well let's say for sake of argument, your mom is morbidly obese. What's eating gilbert grape type of obese. You have to live with your mom because your other siblings ran as fast as they could, but your sense of responsibility and guilt of knowing your mother wouldn't have anyone to care for her, you stay and help her.

She has a special deal with the local store to deliver her food and put it in the kitchen, same order twice a week. Four party size cheetos, two 5 pound bags of tator tots, a tub of butter, 3 cans of whip cream, case of yoo hoos, restaurant size ketchup, tub of red vines, "tha biggest hershey theys makes", four boxes of white castles, one gallon of chocolate ice cream, one gallon of mint chocolate chip icea cream, jar of cherries, 4 two liters of dr pepper, double size jar of peanut butter, graham crackers, at least a brick size piece of cheddar cheeze, largest tub of philadelphia cream cheese, and a bag of plastic forks.

She pays for this with her disability, and lives in the old farm house your father payed off, god rest his soul. She's got nobody in the world but you. One day she starts sporting a t-shirt that says "proud to be phat" and begins calling you a fascist for trying to get her to eat a salad once in a while . How would that make you feel?

[Carmel]

I, frankly, don't give a shit...

Who cares.  If a person eats to excess, it's his/her deal.  

Well let's say for sake of argument, your mom is morbidly obese. What's eating gilbert grape type of obese. You have to live with your mom because your other siblings ran as fast as they could, but your sense of responsibility and guilt of knowing your mother wouldn't have anyone to care for her, you stay and help her.

She has a special deal with the local store to deliver her food and put it in the kitchen, same order twice a week. Four party size cheetos, two 5 pound bags of tator tots, a tub of butter, 3 cans of whip cream, case of yoo hoos, restaurant size ketchup, tub of red vines, "tha biggest hershey theys makes", four boxes of white castles, one gallon of chocolate ice cream, one gallon of mint chocolate chip icea cream, jar of cherries, 4 two liters of dr pepper, double size jar of peanut butter, graham crackers, at least a brick size piece of cheddar cheeze, largest tub of philadelphia cream cheese, and a bag of plastic forks.

She pays for this with her disability, and lives in the old farm house your father payed off, god rest his soul. She's got nobody in the world but you. One day she starts sporting a t-shirt that says "proud to be phat" and begins calling you a fascist for trying to get her to eat a salad once in a while . How would that make you feel?

I have to agree...it would be the same if your mom was a full-blown heroin junkie.  I guess its her choice, but I am not going to be forced to accept it as a social norm.  Its isnt, its excessive and aberrant.  Obseity to the point of immobility is not a normal human condition.  

I dunno, I guess I am of the same mind on all personal choices....you want to be fat, junked, gay, straight, thin, dumb, furry-fucking, etc....fine great, have at it, I can accept it....but nobody is going to DEMAND that I accept anything.  A persons choices about themselves are theirs to keep, but when it starts to become my problem when they get too huge to fit in their own plane seat they need to be prepared to face the reality that it isnt the chairs fault or the airlines fault.

[Anonymous]

Man the harpoons.

[Anonymous]

Should we really be encouraging people to be fat?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sizeism

The fat acceptance movement, also known as the size acceptance movement, fat liberation movement or fat power, is a grassroots effort to change societal attitudes towards individuals who are fat.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9] The movement consists today of a diverse group of people, who have different beliefs about how best to address the widespread prejudice and discrimination against people whose girth is above average in contemporary Western societies.[10][11][12][13][14][15]

Generally dated to the 1970s, the 1980s and 1990s witnessed an increase in activist organizations, publications, and conferences.[16][17] In the 1980s, new anti-dieting programs and models began to appear in the research literature in response to new information dispelling common myths about obesity.[18] The contemporary movement perceives negative societal attitudes as persistent and based on the presumption that body fatness reflects negatively on a person's character.[9][19] For example, a paper by Chang and Christakis describes how, during the early part of the 20th century, obesity was seen as detrimental to the community, by means of decreasing human efficiency, and that obese people interfere with labour productivity (V Chang and N Christakis, 2002). [20] Furthermore, anti-fat stigma and aggressive diet promotion have led to an increase in psychological and physiological problems among those who feel that their weight is above the "socially acceptable norm".[21]

I don’t think it’s so much about encouraging people to be fat, it’s more about getting people to drop the sanctimonious, judgmental, contemptuous attitudes about people considered fat.

Also, if I'm not mistaken, being large isn't necessarily as unhealthy as it’s supposed to be. In fact, overweight people live longer, or something as according to one study. A lot goes into being healthy or unhealthy. I am about 89 lbs and 5 ft 7 (or so) and quite unhealthy, but no one looks at me and thinks, oh gross, like they do with people who might be on the larger side. That’s not right.
 :soapbox:  :soapbox:  :beat:  :jamin:  :cheers:  :deal:  :nods:  :whip:  :dose:  :trophy:    :rasta:  :smashcomp:  ::poke::  

[TheWho]

I don’t think it’s so much about encouraging people to be fat, it’s more about getting people to drop the sanctimonious, judgmental, contemptuous attitudes about people considered fat.

Also, if I'm not mistaken, being large isn't necessarily as unhealthy as it’s supposed to be. In fact, overweight people live longer, or something as according to one study. A lot goes into being healthy or unhealthy. I am about 89 lbs and 5 ft 7 (or so) and quite unhealthy, but no one looks at me and thinks, oh gross, like they do with people who might be on the larger side. That’s not right.

Lose 8 more pounds and you will look like this:

Photo

Both ends of the spectrum have a reduced life expectency.

[Anonymous]

I don’t think it’s so much about encouraging people to be fat, it’s more about getting people to drop the sanctimonious, judgmental, contemptuous attitudes about people considered fat.

Also, if I'm not mistaken, being large isn't necessarily as unhealthy as it’s supposed to be. In fact, overweight people live longer, or something as according to one study. A lot goes into being healthy or unhealthy. I am about 89 lbs and 5 ft 7 (or so) and quite unhealthy, but no one looks at me and thinks, oh gross, like they do with people who might be on the larger side. That’s not right.

Lose 8 more pounds and you will look like this:

Photo

Both ends of the spectrum have a reduced life expectency.

i don't look like that though. You cant see my ribs. I am just very small boned. My body seeks and finds its own comfort level. I do think if I was healthier I might weigh a bit more, but all things considered, my body weight is not a problem and i dont look weird or anorexic, just very slight.

[Anonymous]

no one looks at me and thinks, oh gross, like they do with people who might be on the larger side. That’s not right.

I don't see how it's a matter of what's right or wrong. This is about basic human instinct and reaction. In time it might become so politically incorrect that you just can't mention the obvious fact that rolls of fat on people is not physically attractive. But then people will just be lying. Fat people aren't as attractive as people who stay in shape, this is a fact of nature.

Being too skinny and having bones stick out is also unattractive, but not in the same revolting way that the obese are. Too skinny is more like holding up a sign saying "I got mental problems", which is also unattractive. But not as unattractive as two hundred pounds of unnecessary fat.