Rabin describes the Fatosphere as follows:
She continues:
Quotes from the documentary: Keena, on Fat Acceptance: Fat acceptance is just accepting your body where it is at. Whether you’re bigger or you’re smaller. Just accepting what it is, your arms, your double chin, your thighs, and just not worrying about how other people may view you.The bloggers’ main contention is that being fat is not a result of moral failure or a character flaw, or of gluttony, sloth or a lack of willpower. Diets often boomerang, they say; indeed, numerous long-term studies have found that even though dieters are often able to lose weight in the short term, they almost always regain the lost pounds over the next few years.
Fat acceptance bloggers contend that the war on obesity has given people an excuse to wage war on fat people and that health concerns—coupled with the belief that fat people have only themselves to blame for being fat—are being used to justify discrimination that would not be tolerated toward just about any other group of people.
Jessica, on Fat Acceptance: Fat acceptance is just the radical idea that every body is a good body and that regardless of your shape or your size that you deserve just as much respect as the next person.
The Fat Body (In)Visible
The New York Times published an article by Roni Caryn Rabin in 2008 titled, “In the Fatosphere, Big Is In, or at Least Accepted.” The author highlights several writers in the blogosphere who focus on Fat Acceptance and the HAES (Healthy at Every Size) Movement.
And, while Bitch Flicks hasn’t yet reviewed the worst offenders in terms of portrayals of obesity in film and television (eg, Shallow Hal, Norbit, et al), we’ve certainly noticed it in others, like Wall-E and The Big C; and the double standard that exists for men’s and women’s bodies in Couples Retreat is certainly evident.
So I was thrilled to run across a fat-positive documentary by Margitte Kristjansson called The Fat Body (In)Visible, in which she interviews Jessica and Keena about the experience of being a fat woman in a society that doesn’t value—and even openly discriminates against—fat women.
You can read the entire transcript of the documentary at Shakesville. And also, be sure to check out Substantia Jones’ Adipositivity Project, where you can find more photos like those showcased in The Fat Body (In)Visible.
Wow, this is amazing. Thanks for posting! I’ll be writing about it soon on my blog as well.