Fatadelic

• I do not define myself as either a “good” or a “bad” fatty. I am just fat. Fat is not a moral issue. Nor is food.
• But society does divide fat people in that manner. To some extent, a fat person can earn a ‘pass’ or at least avoid a ‘fail’ by following the ‘rules’ (wear black, be well groomed, eat only salad, exercise, blah, blah, blah) and - of course - by showing an ‘appropriate’ amount of shame and a desire to ‘rectify’ the situation. It’s bullshit, but it occurs. It’s the “I don’t think of you as a fat person” phenomenon.
• I do, myself, follow HAES - and I do, myself, advocate it as a sane, holistic approach to mental, emotional and physical health. I interpret it as discarding an arbitrary set of rules for “health” and, instead, learning to follow one’s own instinct with regards to food, exercise and the body’s needs - what works for you.
• But that doesn’t mean I am better or worse than … anyone.
• I believe that we are all learning to have perfect self acceptance and body acceptance. It’s a journey, sure, but do we every really reach the destination?
• I welcome any fat activism. Period.
• Discussion of fat and health is important and valid and serves a purpose. Mythbusting is good.
• But “fat people can be healthy” is not the only message we need to convey.
• And we (note the ‘we’) need to check our unconscious biases in at the door.
• Each of us needs to fully consider how we as individuals want to participate in that activism. What works for some, won’t work for others.
• Fat Acceptance is (clearly!) not monolithic. Nor should it be. We have a range of view points, a range of goals, and a range of ideas on how best to achieve those goals. That’s great. Every little raindrop counts.
• I am not asking anyone to moderate what they say so as “not to offend” - but I do believe that, periodically, we need to look at who we (again, note the ‘we’) may unintentionally be marginalising. This is the same for any movement.
• And discussion about the best strategy to counter the arguments of the opposition can’t be a bad thing, can it?
• Finally, asking the Fatosphere as a whole to reassess our unconscious biases and/or knee-jerk reactions (and evaluate whether they are continuing to work for us or not) does not equate to criticism, finger pointing or lack of appreciation for past and present contributions. Really.

I have been following (and been commenting on) the recent discussions in the Fatosphere about “good fatties” and “bad fatties”. Surprisingly and sadly, it has been a rather divisive and explosive topic with misunderstandings abounding on all “sides”.

I’m not sure why this state of affairs should be, really, since we are all on the same team regardless of our views on this particular matter. Surely constructive discussion about what Fat Activism’s goals are and how best to achieve them is to be encouraged?

Anyway, Life’s been very full on recently, keeping me very busy and without the energy to compose a decent blog post about this or anything else. But when I have more time I intend to post more about this in future.

I”ve been a bit light on the posting recently. I am SOOO behind with blogging and the Fatosphere that I have only just been able to view the Morning Show interview with Rachel and Mo (Great work, especially in the green room). I have over 1000 posts in my reader to get through and can’t even think of composing a decent post right now. Some time soon, i promise.