The “Fat Acceptance Only for the Acceptably Fat” crowd are just invested in getting us to consent to them drawing a line. It doesn’t really matter where they are trying to draw it at any given point. What they really care is that we let them draw a line, because then they turn this not into a discussion of rights, respect, and dignity, but one into a negotiation of who they get to deprive of rights, respect, and dignity. And once we enter into that negotiation, it won’t end until
— Brian at red3blog speaks wisdom.
![I guess it’s the nature of Tumblr, but it would have been nice to have a “From Fatadelic” credit attached to this, seeing as it was extracted from one of my blog posts. http://fatadelic.wordpress.com/2008/05/11/diet-talk-and-fat-acceptance
Cheers.
nynakin:
1. Self Acceptance ≠ Body Acceptance
Self Acceptance relates to the inner whereas Body Acceptance relates to the outer… [read more]
2. Fat Acceptance vs Size Acceptance – Allies with a difference
Philosophically, Size Acceptance and Fat Acceptance are very similar. SA and FA both advocate an end to size & weight related discrimination. The point of difference to my mind is that Fat Acceptance explicitly states that FAT is – and must be – part of that discussion; there can be no upper weight or size limit to our quest for rights and acceptance… [read more]
3. Dieting and Body Acceptance are mutually exclusive If you are dieting, then you believe your body as it currently stands is unacceptable. It really doesn’t matter whether you are trying to lose weight for cosmetic or ‘health reasons’… [read more]
4. Therefore Fat Acceptance and Dieting are mutually exclusive If you believe your own body is so unacceptable that you must starve and shrink it, then by extension, you also must believe that bodies of people who are as large or larger than you are unacceptable… [read more]
5. Diet all you like, just don’t talk about it in Fat Acceptance spacesI really don’t care if you diet. But Fat Acceptance spaces are one place where that cultural pressure is eased (not removed, eased) for a while. I do not require your validation for my choice, nor do I require you to stop dieting… [read more]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lq48ijZAOh1qid8zzo1_500.jpg)
I guess it’s the nature of Tumblr, but it would have been nice to have a “From Fatadelic” credit attached to this, seeing as it was extracted from one of my blog posts. http://fatadelic.wordpress.com/2008/05/11/diet-talk-and-fat-acceptance
Cheers.
1. Self Acceptance ≠ Body Acceptance
Self Acceptance relates to the inner whereas Body Acceptance relates to the outer… [read more]
2. Fat Acceptance vs Size Acceptance – Allies with a difference
Philosophically, Size Acceptance and Fat Acceptance are very similar. SA and FA both advocate an end to size & weight related discrimination. The point of difference to my mind is that Fat Acceptance explicitly states that FAT is – and must be – part of that discussion; there can be no upper weight or size limit to our quest for rights and acceptance… [read more]
3. Dieting and Body Acceptance are mutually exclusive
If you are dieting, then you believe your body as it currently stands is unacceptable. It really doesn’t matter whether you are trying to lose weight for cosmetic or ‘health reasons’… [read more]4. Therefore Fat Acceptance and Dieting are mutually exclusive
If you believe your own body is so unacceptable that you must starve and shrink it, then by extension, you also must believe that bodies of people who are as large or larger than you are unacceptable… [read more]5. Diet all you like, just don’t talk about it in Fat Acceptance spaces
I really don’t care if you diet. But Fat Acceptance spaces are one place where that cultural pressure is eased (not removed, eased) for a while. I do not require your validation for my choice, nor do I require you to stop dieting… [read more]
“Fat and Fatter” Grrr!
Normally wouldn’t post this in two places - but I’ve just posted this to my main blog in response to Australia’s ABC screening a program called “Fat and Fatter” which is extemely fat hating, exploitative and offensive.
“Fat and Fatter” is the most offensively fat-hating program I have ever seen – and worse, it masqueraded as ‘helping’ two young girls, when in reality it was just a freak show with scare tactics thrown in. No doubt this was someone’s misguided attempt at a ‘public health notice’, but that’s not an excuse. Fat nd Fatter is just not up to ABC’s normally high broadcast standards, and I am appalled that the ABC even considered obtaining screening rights to this exploitative tabloid show, let alone actually going so far as to screen it.
The full post is on my main blog.
It occurred to me the other day that fat – considered, in excess, a prima facie pathogen – has come to occupy the place of the medieval humours, and diet and exercise regimens, to make no mention of actual invasive surgery, are absolutely modern bloodletting. The parallels are actually kind of spooky: near-universal support from the medical establishment, temporary and perceptual gains in health, and, on the unlikely realization of its stated goal, mortality.
Physician, heal thyself.
— From ‘Medieval’ by Defective Thin Person.
I’m always amused by people who say, “The Laws of Physics are undeniable. Calories-in/calories-out. Blah. Blah. Blah.” When I give talks about weight diversity and how we can all live happier, healthier lives if we adopt Health At Every Size principles, I ask audiences (full of people of all sizes usually mostly thin and average-weight)…”Have you ever known someone who ate a lot of fast food, pizza, etc., and never exercises, stayed home all day playing video games or watching tv.” Lots of people in the audience will laugh and raise their hands. Then I say…”But those people are breaking the Laws of PHYSICS!!!
— Marilyn Wann (in comments) (via donewiththisshit)
Why do we spend our teenaged years hating ourselves and our bodies so much? Is it universal that we look back at photos of ourselves and realise that we were actually pretty and not the hideous mostrosities we thought we were?
I posed for this photo very reluctantly at my mother’s insistence. I was about 15 at the time this photo was taken in 1986. At Australian size 12-14 this was the thinnest I got. Ever. But there was no triumph, only shame that I wasn’t thin enough. I was right in the middle of my worst body-hatred cycle (and undiagnosed Major Depression). I had been dieting under supervision (and restricting without supervision, although my mother, doctors and diet counsellors did not know it) since I was pre-teen. I had, in fact, lost a large amount of weight, but the weightloss goals that had been set for me and by me were unacheivable. My weightloss had plateaued, which really wasn’t suprising following 4 years of pretty much constant dieting and restriction. In despiration, I had latched on to a diet (recommended by a doctor!) that allowed me one boiled egg with one piece of unbuttered toast for breakfast and a small piece of grilled chicken with cabbage for dinner. I could eat all the cabbage I liked! Since I loathed both tuna with iceberg lettuce and no substitutions were permitted, I did not eat lunch at all. I remember there were some kind of tablets and a herbal solution I had to put under my tounge, as well. The lack of food made me nauseous, but I embraced that as an excuse not to eat anything else. In short, I was well and truly in Disordered Eating Land.
