Yes, there is a fat acceptance movement.
It exists for the same reason any civil rights movement exists: bigotry. It turns out that when society hates and persecutes a class of people, those people get hurt. Socially, psychologically, economically.
Fat people are still human beings, and what does any human being do when they get harassed and disrespected and made fun of day after day? First they get upset. Some give in. But, eventually, others fight back. That?s the story behind the movement to abolish slavery, the rise of labor unions, the sexual equality movement, the racial equality movement, gay rights activism, you name it. And it?s the story behind fat acceptance.
If you think about it, it doesn?t even have anything to do with being fat. People used to get harassed (and still do in some places) for stuff as shallow as hair color and handedness. Bigotry doesn?t care what form it takes. All of this stuff about whether fat is unhealthy and whether it is an economic or environmental burden is a red herring. Bigots always have a rationale ready to go for why the class of people they persecute ?have it coming to them.?
But it?s all beside the point. Whatever the reasons you make up to justify hating on fat people, the bottom line is that the fat acceptance movement only will go away when individuals and society as a whole stop treating fat people like crap. Not before.
Fat acceptance stands for respecting the humanity of fat people.
Ironically, then, the people who most strongly dislike the fat acceptance movement are the people most directly responsible for its continued existence.
My personal advice? Don?t get bent out of shape when other people live their lives in a way that you don?t like. Save the confrontational attitude for stuff that really matters. And if you?re hating on fat people simply because you need somebody to hate, why not just hate on Nickelback? They?ve earned it.
CLASS DISMISSED.
(Extra credit time! If you really want to keep reading, here you go: I know that bigots don?t like to think of themselves as bigots, but I?m not going to indulge their wish for political correctness. The dictionary defines bigotry as ?prejudice,? and prejudice is literally ?pre-judgment?; i.e., making judgments before you should. If you see a stranger, and they?re fat, this doesn?t tell you anything about who that person really is, except for that they?re fat. The fat on their body doesn?t tell you anything about their dreams, their ideology, their family and friends, their personality type, their decency, their intelligence, their health, or anything else. Yet, routinely, people assume that being fat equates to being dumb, selfish, ugly, smelly, unhealthy, perverted, and to having low self-esteem, self-discipline, and self-respect. Notice that the assumed qualities are always negative, never positive. These assumptions are always intended to dehumanize their target. That is bigotry. Luckily, being a bigot is something people can change about themselves.)
(One more bonus credit, because MY POST ISN?T LONG ENOUGH YET RAAAAH!! Somebody upthread said that ?In their heart of hearts, %99.99999... of men truly would never pick an overweight or obese woman over a thin one.? That?s just plain ignorant, son. That claim is scientifically testable, and empirically wrong. It doesn?t even pass the smell test. If only one out of ten million men preferred a fat partner, then, for the entire United States, you could count those men on your fingers. Most men?probably about 60 to 90 percent?do prefer a skinny partner. The other 10 to 40 percent honestly prefer heavier women. And that doesn?t even take social conditioning into account. (Beauty ideals are heavily influenced by social fashion.) By the way, plenty of women also prefer fat men.)
All right. I?m outta here. I saw this thread out of the corner of my eye while watching LRR and couldn?t help myself from commenting. I hope this post did some good for someone.
