What I think of the Fat Acceptance thing.
I read and article yesterday that pretty much covered how I felt about the Fat acceptance thing.
http://thoughtcatalog.com/carolyn-hall/2014/04/6-things-i-dont-understand-about-the-fat-acceptance-movement/
First of all, I want to point out these things before I go into this speel about health and weight.
1. I recognize that being fat isn't a window into health. At least, if you are not morbidly obese. I know people who are bigger than me, but healthier. I know people who are bigger than me who eat healthier, and who excersize on a regular basis, and they still can't lose weight.
2. I understand that there are more reasons to be fat other than diet and activity. Many factors could be contributed to weight gain, like medications or a preexisting condition.
3. With that said, there is going to be mention in this blog about how our diet and life style makes to where we are STUCK taking these medications. Please understand that I recognize that some people are born with those conditions and they didn't have a choice. Like Epilepsy and what not.
4. I also want to point out that I am not fat shaming anyone. Being fat is a serious issue and the last thing that needs to be done is to shame someone for being fat. I do not tolerate bullying, and do not tolerate discrimination against someone for their size. I also don't think that being fat automatically means ugly either. Everyone is different. Some wear it well, some don't.
Now that that's out of the way, here we go.
I agree with the author of this article. It's makes a ton of sense.
What people don't understand about this article is she is pointing out what the real problem is. The thing is, like most situations, we are only looking at the surface, and not what is beneath it all. We are so focused on getting fat people to stop being considered " unnattractive", So obsessed with getting Men to think differently about heavy set women...so set on getting women to just " accept that they are fat"...that we fail to see what the real issue is.
" but....but...but....The acceptance movement is not about accepting being fat, it's about getting women to love themselves no matter their size! That a woman should not be so dead set on being model skinny"
Yes, I recognize that it's to get girls to feel better about themselves and not go through drastic measures to fit into a size zero jeans. That a woman should not be hating herself for being a size Twelve rather than a two. I get that. I am a size twelve myself, and I have trouble accepting that I'm not smaller because society has put so much focus on thinner women. However, there is a limit to what needs to be accepted, as this article points out.
I am going to be honest...if I was overweight....if I weighed 200 lbs or more...you can bet your bunyuns that no amount of size acceptance and Fat acceptance is going to make me love my body. Why? Because I will always look back on the days when I weighed 150 lbs or less, and long for those days again. Being fat and feeling sluggish, and having to frustrate myself trying to find or make clothes that fit...I would be horribly angry at myself if I gained that much weight. No amount of being told " You're beautiful" is going to make me feel better about it, and I know others who feel the same. I have told my heavier set counterparts that they are lovely, and they truly are beautiful, but they will never feel that way because they have to look in the mirror facing the fact that they are not as in shape as they used to be. They are uncomfortable. Not only do they feel unnattractive, but chances are they are worried about their health, or what caused them to gain weight in the first place. What are they doing wrong? Why did they gain all this weight? It's much different for someone who GOT FAT versus the person who spent their whole lives being fat.
And that's just it. The problem that is underneath all the " Big is beautiful" and BBW websites. Why are so many people fat? Now, if it was just " I take medications " or " It's genetic", there wouldn't be as many people who are overweight. Let's get real, here. There are a fair amount of people that are overweight for reasons that can be helped.
The real problem is not just diet and exercise,though. That's only part of it.
The real problem is our society.
Think about WHY we have poor diet and activity level. We have high expenses, which in turn makes us have to get a dead end job that we are not happy with, which makes us have less time to do anything else. We are often tired, exhausted, depressed...and becuase we have no time, we turn to quick fixes towards everything. It's why we turn to fast food and convenient foods, because we are too tired to cook real meals. We put money and financial success before our families and relationships. And even to a point, we are spiritually starved, and so focused on what is shallow that we fail to look within. ( And I am not talking about God. Any spirituality counts here.For the record, I am a heathen.)
Before everyone turns around and flames me for being an idealist, and tells me that it's impossible to have a better society because " that's just the way things are, it's part of being an adult", Take a good look at everyone around. How many of them have mental illnesses, physcial illnesses, or both? How many of them have their own pharmacy of pills that they have to take every single day? Take note of their age, should they be having that many problems at their age?
I have done this very same thing. I am twenty seven years old, and I have friends who fall around my age range. I even have friends who are younger than I am. Want to know what we all have in common? We all have something wrong with us. I myself have an anxiety disorder and I deal with arthritis and neurological issues. Several of my friends suffer from depression, diabetes, anxiety, fibromyalgia, arthritis, bipolar,and the list goes on..Every single person I know has something wrong with them. They take medication for something. I ask myself Why. What does everyone I know have so many physical and mental issues? This doesn't make sense. When I was a child, most of these issues were either very rare or for people who reached a considerable age.I always thought that you had to be born with it or reach a considerable age to get it. Now it's EVERYWHERE, and not all of them are just born with it. That makes no sense.
Now I know the original topic I was pointing at was obesity, but that's just it. This is the root of the problem. We are fat because we have all these problems. And why do we have these problems? It's because we live a stressful life style. We work to pay pills that we can barely afford. We end up getting into debt because in order to get a job, we had to get an education ...that we couldn't afford in the first place. We are often told to make money before taking care of those that we love. We often told to put our jobs before our own health. We get sick,we risk losing our jobs, and therefore everything we have. We take time to take care of ourselves or those we love, we risk losing our job. We are expected to forsake our humanity for the sake of working for someone who forgot what it's like to be human because they are obsessed with money.
This in turn makes us depressed and stressed out, causing the mental illness. This, on top of the expecations that family members have in regards to career and education...all brought to you by " The American Dream." Am I saying that becoming successful is bad? No. But the expectation that everyone has to succeed on their own, that the only socially acceptable success is financial success is what's killing us. That when we choose something else, we are wrong...is what is killing us.
Now where does the obesity start to happen? It starts to happen when people have to take medications for the mental illnesses brought on by too much stress. It's starts to happen when a meager half and hour lunch break forces one to rush to get the quickest fix to hunger that is available. Fast food, that Bag of Chips that was right on hand, the hot pocket that one could just throw into the microwave. What else makes one fat? The fact that one is so burned out at the end of the day because of poor diet and stress, that all one wants to do is watch TV. And Television is available Twenty four seven nowadays, where it used to be limited.
We are a society of convenience, materialism, and Greed, and in turn....we are getting fatter and more unhealthy. If it's hard to beleive, then look around. Make observations of the people around. Ask if that's how it's always been? Is it this way all around the world, or just in America. Do research about how the work week is in other countries, and what their obesity percentage is. Ask about what their family lives are like, what their social lives are like. Play Spot the Difference.
I know I've done a fair amount myself. In Italy, they have three hour lunch breaks, at least, last I checked. That's three hours to makea decent and healthy meal and spend it eating with your friends and family. Granted, it means they get off work later...however, they still had a fulfilling day of both hard work and leisure, and wonderful balance. Wanna know something else? You go to Italy...you rarely find anyone who is fat. I have been told this by people who have been there.
Am I saying hard work is what's making us fat? No. Hard work is beauty in motion if you ask me. It's what makes humanity so lovely. What's wrong is that we can't stop for a break to hug our children, to spend time with those we love. To spend time doing things that help us relax. Our problem...is we are not allowed to slow down...all for the sake of one word.
Greed.
So, to accept just being fat with everyone would be to ignore the real problem. Just like when we focus on Kim Kardasshians Ass when the world around us is falling apart and wars are happening. We are so focused on the Glammer and vanity of everything instead of seeing what really is going on in the world. We are like the Capital in the Hunger Games, where we are more focused on the colour of our nail polish and whether or not we have a second bathroom...than on the fact that all our luxuries come from the people who are rebelling against us. We can't just focus on whether or not " Big is beautiful". We need to focus on the why's. Why do we HAVE to have fat acceptance. Why is it so important? Yes, I agree, we should accept people for who they are. We should not judge a person because they are fat. The last thing we need to do is make fun of someone for their weight, or point it out as a character flaw, because that's not what being Fat is. Being Fat is a symptom of a greater problem, and that's the real issue. There are some people who ARE born unable to keep weight off, there are some who have preexcisting conditions that make to where they CAN'T do the things that would help. I know this. A very important person in my life has a condtion to where if he sweats, he could die, therefore he can't just excersize. I get it. But other than those circumstances, Fat is a symptom of a much greater illness.
But what we don't need is to just accept being fat. If a person wants to make the personal choice to be happy about being fat, more power to them. But this movement....we really don't have our priorities strait. We need a movement against greed. We need a movement about living differently. Pushing for a better future. That's what we need to move against. We need a movement for Well being and Balance in work and rest. That's what we need. And we need to stop bullying and stop pushing girls to be anorexic in order to be beautiful. That's what we need. Stop bullying and create a better lifestyle for ourselves. We have that power, whether we know it or not. Is it glamorous? No. Maybe we can't afford the 200 dollars a month for that iphone...oh well....I'll take health and happiness over being rich any day.