Fat feminism
Encyclopedia
Fat feminism or fat-positive feminism is a form of feminism
that argues overweight women are economically, educationally, socially and physically disadvantaged due to their weight. Instead of losing weight, fat-positive feminists promote acceptance for women of all sizes and oppose any form of size discrimination. Fat feminism originated during second-wave feminism
, and has not met mainstream acceptance. While very closely affiliated with the fat acceptance movement
, fat feminists focus on women who are discriminated against because of their size.
Fat feminists argue that the likelihood of women to experience discrimination increases proportionally with body size; women who are naturally larger than the norm would be forced into a cycle of spending more money on health care just to compensate for being overweight.
Also argued is that size discrimination is associated with, and is similar to racism, sexism, and ageism. This view has been rejected by many other minority groups because popular opinion assumes that weight, though mildly affected by genetics, is mostly in the control of the individual through diet and exercise, while race, gender, etc. are uncontrollable. Biologically, females tend to have more body fat than men, leading to the view that size discrimination affects women more so than men. Size discrimination is associated with racism, as some suggest that size is affected by race. The ageist argument stems from the view that women gain weight naturally with age, especially after childbirth because the mother is no longer as active during or after childbirth but continues to eat as she had before.
weighs 23 percent less than an average woman, and less than 5 percent of the female population have figures like her. Fat feminists criticize these body-type ideals for the reason that for many real-life women these figures are impossible to achieve, pointing to findings, such as Kramer's 1989 study published in the International Journal of Obesity, that less than three percent of weight loss attempts are successful after five years. They believe this would put women at risk for distorted body image
, anorexia
, bulimia, or other eating disorders, which can lead to death, especially among the young.
(HAES), an approach that focuses on healthy behaviors, including self-acceptance and regular exercise, and eliminates the goal of weight loss.
originated in the late 1960s during which second-wave feminism
took place. During the late 60s and 1970s, activists such as Sara Fishman, Dr. Franklin Igway, Judy Freespirit, and Karen Jones, now known as Karen Stimson, emerged. In 1973, Fishman and Freespirit released Fat Liberation Manifesto in which they opposed size discrimination as sexism. Their movement was met with mixed reactions during the 1960s, the same decade when Twiggy
-esque figures became fashionable. Some of the feminists, such as Gloria Steinem
and Jane Fonda
active during the decade believed that removing traits of "femaleness" was necessary to gain entrance to a male-dominated society. Activists continued to hold demonstrations and continued their course of action. When the fat feminists did not get support from National Organization for Women
, they founded organizations to advocate size acceptance, such as NAAFA, Fat Underground, The Body Image Task Force (Santa Cruz) and The Body Positive.
In the 1990s, fat feminism was officially supported by National Organization for Women
when the organization adopted an anti-size discrimination stance with no dissenting vote, and started a body image task force. In 1992, Mary Evans Young, a fat activist in England
, launched No Diet Day, which was planned as a picnic. Due to the rain, her plan failed, although 25 states participated in its second annual celebration. International No Diet Day
continues to be observed on May 6 each year.
In 1993, the California Supreme Court ruled in favor of Toni Cassista who filed a lawsuit against Community Foods, a store in Santa Cruz, California
when she was not hired because of her size. This put an end to work discrimination based on weight in the state of California.
During the 90's the zine
movement, the riot grrrl
movement, and the Fat Liberation movement converged for many young activists, resulting in the publication of numerous fat feminist zines. Among these publications were Fat!So?: for people who don't apologize for their size, by Marilyn Wann
, I'm So Fucking Beautiful by Nomy Lamm
, and Fat Girl: a zine for fat dykes and the women who want them, produced by a collective in San Francisco from 1994-1997. Nomy Lamm was named by Ms. Magazine
as a "Woman of the Year" in 1997, "For inspiring a new generation of feminists to fight back against fat oppression.". In 1999 Marilyn Wann
expanded her zine into the book Fat!So?: Because You Don't Have to Apologize for Your Size. In 2005, former Fat Girl collective members Max Airborne and Cherry Midnight published Size Queen: for Queen-Sized Queers and our Loyal Subjects.
Feminism
Feminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of women's rights...
that argues overweight women are economically, educationally, socially and physically disadvantaged due to their weight. Instead of losing weight, fat-positive feminists promote acceptance for women of all sizes and oppose any form of size discrimination. Fat feminism originated during second-wave feminism
Second-wave feminism
The Feminist Movement, or the Women's Liberation Movement in the United States refers to a period of feminist activity which began during the early 1960s and lasted through the early 1990s....
, and has not met mainstream acceptance. While very closely affiliated with the fat acceptance movement
Fat acceptance movement
The fat acceptance movement is an effort to change societal attitudes towards fat, obese, and overweight people.- Background :...
, fat feminists focus on women who are discriminated against because of their size.
Views
According to Monica Persson, over 56 percent of obese or overweight women have answered that they have been treated disrespectfully by their physicians, and 46 percent view their physicians as uncomfortable with the women's weight.Fat feminists argue that the likelihood of women to experience discrimination increases proportionally with body size; women who are naturally larger than the norm would be forced into a cycle of spending more money on health care just to compensate for being overweight.
Also argued is that size discrimination is associated with, and is similar to racism, sexism, and ageism. This view has been rejected by many other minority groups because popular opinion assumes that weight, though mildly affected by genetics, is mostly in the control of the individual through diet and exercise, while race, gender, etc. are uncontrollable. Biologically, females tend to have more body fat than men, leading to the view that size discrimination affects women more so than men. Size discrimination is associated with racism, as some suggest that size is affected by race. The ageist argument stems from the view that women gain weight naturally with age, especially after childbirth because the mother is no longer as active during or after childbirth but continues to eat as she had before.
Body image
Fat feminists oppose the concept of a fixed "ideal" figure for women imposed by the society. They scorn fat jokes on sitcoms, and the promotion of skinny figures seen on television, in Hollywood and on fashion catwalks. A supermodelSupermodel
The term supermodel refers to a highly-paid fashion model who usually has a worldwide reputation and often a background in haute couture and commercial modeling. The term became prominent in the popular culture of the 1980s. Supermodels usually work for top fashion designers and labels...
weighs 23 percent less than an average woman, and less than 5 percent of the female population have figures like her. Fat feminists criticize these body-type ideals for the reason that for many real-life women these figures are impossible to achieve, pointing to findings, such as Kramer's 1989 study published in the International Journal of Obesity, that less than three percent of weight loss attempts are successful after five years. They believe this would put women at risk for distorted body image
Body image
Body image refers to a person's perception of the aesthetics and sexual attractiveness of their own body. The phrase body image was first coined by the Austrian neurologist and psychoanalyst Paul Schilder in his masterpiece The Image and Appearance of the Human Body...
, anorexia
Anorexia nervosa
Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder characterized by refusal to maintain a healthy body weight and an obsessive fear of gaining weight. Although commonly called "anorexia", that term on its own denotes any symptomatic loss of appetite and is not strictly accurate...
, bulimia, or other eating disorders, which can lead to death, especially among the young.
Fitness
Fat feminists contest the belief that one cannot be overweight and fit at the same time. Instead, they believe in Health at Every SizeHealth at Every Size
Health at Every Size is an approach to health that focuses on intuitive eating and pleasurable physical activity rather than dieting and weight loss.-Overview:The major components of HAES, as described by Jon Robison, are:...
(HAES), an approach that focuses on healthy behaviors, including self-acceptance and regular exercise, and eliminates the goal of weight loss.
Early years
Fat feminism and the related fat acceptance movementFat acceptance movement
The fat acceptance movement is an effort to change societal attitudes towards fat, obese, and overweight people.- Background :...
originated in the late 1960s during which second-wave feminism
Second-wave feminism
The Feminist Movement, or the Women's Liberation Movement in the United States refers to a period of feminist activity which began during the early 1960s and lasted through the early 1990s....
took place. During the late 60s and 1970s, activists such as Sara Fishman, Dr. Franklin Igway, Judy Freespirit, and Karen Jones, now known as Karen Stimson, emerged. In 1973, Fishman and Freespirit released Fat Liberation Manifesto in which they opposed size discrimination as sexism. Their movement was met with mixed reactions during the 1960s, the same decade when Twiggy
Twiggy
Lesley Lawson née Hornby known as Twiggy is an English model, actress, and singer. In the early-1960s she became a prominent British teenage model of swinging sixties London with others such as Penelope Tree....
-esque figures became fashionable. Some of the feminists, such as Gloria Steinem
Gloria Steinem
Gloria Marie Steinem is an American feminist, journalist, and social and political activist who became nationally recognized as a leader of, and media spokeswoman for, the women's liberation movement in the late 1960s and 1970s...
and Jane Fonda
Jane Fonda
Jane Fonda is an American actress, writer, political activist, former fashion model, and fitness guru. She rose to fame in the 1960s with films such as Barbarella and Cat Ballou. She has won two Academy Awards and received several other movie awards and nominations during more than 50 years as an...
active during the decade believed that removing traits of "femaleness" was necessary to gain entrance to a male-dominated society. Activists continued to hold demonstrations and continued their course of action. When the fat feminists did not get support from National Organization for Women
National Organization for Women
The National Organization for Women is the largest feminist organization in the United States. It was founded in 1966 and has a membership of 500,000 contributing members. The organization consists of 550 chapters in all 50 U.S...
, they founded organizations to advocate size acceptance, such as NAAFA, Fat Underground, The Body Image Task Force (Santa Cruz) and The Body Positive.
1980s-2000
During the 80s, the movement had mixed success. More organizations and publications against size discrimination were founded. The first fat feminist book, Shadow on a Tightrope: Writings by Women on Fat Oppression, by Lisa Schoenfielder and Barb Wieser was published in 1983. The first issue of Radiance: The Magazine for Large Women was published in 1984. Clothing brands and fashion magazines were founded during this time that targeted a plus-size audience. Fat feminists continued to sue diet programs for fraudulent claims. However, the popularity of the diet industry did not wane as it was boosted by the fitness boom during the 1980s. Americans continue to spend over $33 billion on diet products and programs.In the 1990s, fat feminism was officially supported by National Organization for Women
National Organization for Women
The National Organization for Women is the largest feminist organization in the United States. It was founded in 1966 and has a membership of 500,000 contributing members. The organization consists of 550 chapters in all 50 U.S...
when the organization adopted an anti-size discrimination stance with no dissenting vote, and started a body image task force. In 1992, Mary Evans Young, a fat activist in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, launched No Diet Day, which was planned as a picnic. Due to the rain, her plan failed, although 25 states participated in its second annual celebration. International No Diet Day
International No Diet Day
The International No Diet Day is an annual celebration of body acceptance and body shape diversity.This day is also dedicated to promoting a healthy life style and raise awareness of the dangers and futility of dieting....
continues to be observed on May 6 each year.
In 1993, the California Supreme Court ruled in favor of Toni Cassista who filed a lawsuit against Community Foods, a store in Santa Cruz, California
Santa Cruz, California
Santa Cruz is the county seat and largest city of Santa Cruz County, California in the US. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, Santa Cruz had a total population of 59,946...
when she was not hired because of her size. This put an end to work discrimination based on weight in the state of California.
During the 90's the zine
Zine
A zine is most commonly a small circulation publication of original or appropriated texts and images. More broadly, the term encompasses any self-published work of minority interest usually reproduced via photocopier....
movement, the riot grrrl
Riot grrrl
Riot grrrl was an underground feminist punk movement based in Washington, DC, Olympia, Washington, Portland, Oregon, and the greater Pacific Northwest which existed in the early to mid-1990s, and it is often associated with third-wave feminism...
movement, and the Fat Liberation movement converged for many young activists, resulting in the publication of numerous fat feminist zines. Among these publications were Fat!So?: for people who don't apologize for their size, by Marilyn Wann
Marilyn Wann
Marilyn Wann is an American author and an activist in the Fat acceptance movement. She lives in San Francisco, California, and identifies herself as a member of the "fat pride" community. “Basically,” she says, “we want to be treated with respect, the same as everyone else.”At 5'4" and about 285...
, I'm So Fucking Beautiful by Nomy Lamm
Nomy Lamm
Naomi Elizabeth "Nomy" Lamm is an American singer/songwriter and political activist. Lamm has described herself as a "bad ass, fat ass, Jew, dyke amputee."-Biography:Lamm was involved with musical theater during her youth...
, and Fat Girl: a zine for fat dykes and the women who want them, produced by a collective in San Francisco from 1994-1997. Nomy Lamm was named by Ms. Magazine
Ms. magazine
Ms. is an American feminist magazine co-founded by American feminist and activist Gloria Steinem and founding editor Letty Cottin Pogrebin together with founding editors Patricia Carbine, Joanne Edgar, Nina Finkelstein, and Mary Peacock, that first appeared in 1971 as an insert in New York magazine...
as a "Woman of the Year" in 1997, "For inspiring a new generation of feminists to fight back against fat oppression.". In 1999 Marilyn Wann
Marilyn Wann
Marilyn Wann is an American author and an activist in the Fat acceptance movement. She lives in San Francisco, California, and identifies herself as a member of the "fat pride" community. “Basically,” she says, “we want to be treated with respect, the same as everyone else.”At 5'4" and about 285...
expanded her zine into the book Fat!So?: Because You Don't Have to Apologize for Your Size. In 2005, former Fat Girl collective members Max Airborne and Cherry Midnight published Size Queen: for Queen-Sized Queers and our Loyal Subjects.
See also
- Body imageBody imageBody image refers to a person's perception of the aesthetics and sexual attractiveness of their own body. The phrase body image was first coined by the Austrian neurologist and psychoanalyst Paul Schilder in his masterpiece The Image and Appearance of the Human Body...
- Fat acceptance movementFat acceptance movementThe fat acceptance movement is an effort to change societal attitudes towards fat, obese, and overweight people.- Background :...
- Physical attractivenessPhysical attractivenessPhysical attractiveness refers to a person's physical traits which are perceived to be aesthetically pleasing or beautiful. The term often implies sexual attractiveness or desirability, but can also be distinct from the two; for example, humans may regard the young as attractive for various...
- Physical fitnessPhysical fitnessPhysical fitness comprises two related concepts: general fitness , and specific fitness...
- Pro-anaPro-anaPro-ana refers to the promotion of the eating disorder anorexia nervosa. It is often referred to simply as "ana" and is sometimes personified by anorexics as a girl named Ana. The lesser-used term pro-mia refers likewise to bulimia nervosa and is sometimes used interchangeably with...
- ObesityObesityObesity is a medical condition in which excess body fat has accumulated to the extent that it may have an adverse effect on health, leading to reduced life expectancy and/or increased health problems...
- Self-image
External links
- UK size acceptance site
- Fat Feminist Herstory, 1969-1993: A Personal Memoir by Karen W. Stimson
- Fat and Feminist Large Women's Health Experiences
- The Web of Size Acceptance: Internet Resources for Exploring a Feminist Issue
- Love Your Body
- Recent Lawsuits about Fat Discrimination
- Laurie Toby Edison'sLaurie Toby EdisonLaurie Toby Edison is an internationally exhibited portrait photographer. Her three suites of photographs include a series of nudes of fat women, a series of nudes of a very diverse cross-section of men, and a series of clothed portraits of women living in Japan...
& Debbie Notkin's body image blog Body Impolitic