Delving Further into Fat Activism

After completing today's reading, I delved into information on the internet regarding societal beliefs surrounding fatness. I had found Farrell's elaboration on fat activists particularly interesting, and wanted to find out more about these specific organizations. For you see, individual defense against fatness - that it sometimes borders on the discriminatory - failed to register with me initially. I wasn't surprised necessarily that there were organizations which exist to combat fat prejudices, but actually enticed to find out more about them.

Many Americans - including myself - will most likely fail to realize and understand that being fat almost automatically classifies a person within a greater distinct cultural stereotype, and usually yields to broader and nastier connotations about that person. What many haters may neglect to realize is that being fat is not something that is always controllable, that a person could be overweight because they do not have a choice.

So I looked into some of these Fat activist groups, scrounging their pages for information about their programs and individual purposes. Perhaps the most prominent of these organizations - no wonder - is the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance (NAAFA). (Of course, I immediately drew a parallel between this organization and the NAACP).

Scouring the sections, I noticed some of the rhetorical devices they use. Their slogan, hung across the top of the "About us" page, is "We come in all sizes." It is not a self-deprecating, but more an attempt to help viewers understand not necessarily the plight of being fat, but attempting the viewer to accept fatness as an intrinsic part of our society.

It does not glorify or boast. There is an underlying ideal that this is the way things are, the hand that was dealt for them. And the picture at the top of the page supports that, too - a white woman, slightly plump, looking out at the viewer through vibrant eyes (http://www.naafaonline.com/dev2/about/index.html). A younger girl (it's hard to tell if she, too, is overweight) kisses her on the cheek, again speaking volumes on this premise of acceptance while asking for understanding.

Especially represented in this picture is an angelic feeling, which helps sympathize the viewer with the picture. Looking at it, I feel somewhat linked to this person looking out at me; I almost feel bad for her, especially when looking into her hypnotic gaze. What this picture and its accompanying slogan does is frame these people in a different light: while in our society, there is a growing premise that fat people are disgusting, this picture plays into that, but spins the notion on its head to make the viewers take that back and feel sympathetic.

I perused the site further, and found a section on "The Issues." Much of the website points to facts about discrimination against fat people, especially prevalent in the work place people feel hampered about weight issues in which they receive unfair treatment in hiring opportunities. An especially salient point was:

• Stigma and shame motivate dieting and other attempts at weight loss

Although this is not pertinent to the dieting industry itself, I began to consider how they - and Farrel corroborates this in her book - is the main faction of our society which perpetuates debilitating stereotypes against fat people. They are the contingent which necessitates an organization like the NAAFA to interfere and defend against fat persecution.

Analyzing the problem in this light frames these people in the context of a hate crime, almost like victims, which in many ways they are. Again, many Americans neglect the fact that fat is a connotation which causes as many unfair generalizations as any racial stereotype, and many of which which that are just as unfair.