Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Yesterday I saw a wonderful YouTube called Fat Rant and it reminded me that I want to know when the NoLose conference will be because I want to go. (NoLose is a volunteer-run organization dedicated to ending the oppression of fat people and creating vibrant fat queer culture.) NoLose led me to the Big Fat Blog which is just chock full of information for straight and gay men and women that I don't at this moment have time to read entirely but I loved what I read so I subscribed. One of the questions was why did I want to subscribe (they have to weed out the diet companies etc.) and I said:
I want the connection and it's time to get involved again with fat activism again. The horror of what happens on my own son's school playground (where it is supposed to be a liberal we love all kinds place), the incredible sadness I feel when hearing yet another beautiful woman berating her beautiful body, the tragic reality of the daily battles I witness in one of my teenage friends (who is fat) and the unrelenting messages in the media (even though I do not own a TV or subscribe to any fat-hating zines) is getting to be too much to just stand by and witness. After a 4 year battle with cancer I have a bit more energy to give. I am a fat chick no longer in a fat chick's body which is weird and I think I have a unique perspective as a fat positive person who lost weight but didn't want to. Luckily my curves are back in some form but I am no longer super sized enough to be "fat enough" to be discriminated against. I must be a more public part of the solution.
So I will blog it and I will talk it and I will live it. The average American woman is a size 16 - NOT a size 4 - Tell everyone you know that they are beautiful JUST THE WAY they are. The media would have us believe otherwise and they are using us - WE are LETTING them use us - through fear and insecurity. They get our weight-loss program dollars, our fashion insecurity dollars, our diet-industry grocery dollars, our unnecessary medical procedure dollars, our very souls. I want us all to be healthy. I myself am learning how to cook (thanks Dani) and am enjoying my walks with the dogs. But it is not to lose weight or to exercise for sake of losing weight. It is to enjoy the quality of life in the body I have.
And it's not just women - they are POISONING our children. I hear it from Pk who is so concerned (at the age of 9!!!) that he have a six pack set of ab muscles that I am concerned for his health. The kids at school who are not the thinnest are pointed out and labeled as fat and by fat they don't mean big and beautiful. They mean wrong, lazy, slow, nonathletic, ugly, different, an outsider, a blob.... The new school nutrition policy was put in place with all good intentions but without any body-awareness - without any size discrimination education. It's fine to offer fruit sweetened bran muffins and fresh fruit to the kids but it's NOT fine to allow the daily constant barrage of anti-fat hatred to continue!
I do not own a scale, I do not own a television, I do not diet, I REFUSE to hate myself for my curves and lumps and dimples and rolls. I eat balanced meals along with my beloved treats and I love walking in the fresh air. What a different world this would be if we all did the same.
Labels: fat activism body acceptance children teens nutrition anti diet big beautiful women men
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