Self (& Fat) Acceptance

The New York Times ran an interesting article* a week ago called "Tossing Out the Diet and Embracing the Fat." The article discusses the growing movement of Fat Acceptance, which is a tough stance in this era where thin is undeniably the object of cultural fetish. Author Mandy Katz (who I admittedly think, in part, misses the point throughout the article) writes:

These pro-fat results are a trickle, admittedly, in a flood of contrary reports that condemn obesity as a health risk. But that doesn’t worry the online denizens of the “fatosphere,” dominated by irreverent sites like fatshionista.com Fat Rant and Big Fat Blog, as well as those of the “booga booga” bloggers, Kate Harding (Shapely Prose) and Marianne Kirby (therotund.com). “Fat doesn’t equal lazy or ugly or even, necessarily, unhealthy,” says another blogger, the Fat Nutritionist.

There is a lot of cultural baggage associated with weight, and I think it's really important that we work on (a) accepting our bodies and (b) seeing the cultural negativity pinned on weight. I think it's important to recognize that, as the blogger above pointed out, Fat does not equal bad. You are not a bad person for being "overweight."

And I know that writing about Fat Acceptance may sound completely hypocrycitcal coming from the girl with a diet blog, but I think it's really important to engage with these issues in a full and complex way. And it's really difficult to find the place and the words to have that dialogue. I would like to live a healthier lifestyle. I would like to lose weight--admittedly because of both personal and societal pressures. But I would love to live in a world that didn't put so much negative bullsh!t on the issue of weight. Everyone deserves to feel comfortable and confident in their own bodies, regardless of BMI.

*Mad props to reader Miss R for sending along all the NYT article.