This is a repost from the blog Fierce Fatties. I'm posting it here so that you'd have a clearer understanding on what fat acceptance or body appreciation believes and stands for.
Back in the day, Paul over at Big Fat Blog started working on this list of Absolutes for the Fat Acceptance movement. The idea of some sort of Fat Acceptance tenets has always been attractive to me. If a person isn’t going to lead our little grass roots movement, I think it would be useful to have some sort of guiding principals.
Jumping off from that post on BFB, I’ve drafted a list of eight ideas that I think are pretty consistent throughout FA, while still leaving some wiggle room for personal interpretation.
————————
The Tenets of Fat Acceptance
Body Positive — We affirm that all people deserve self-esteem regardless of shape or size.
Body Diversity — We affirm that humans come naturally in a range of shapes and sizes and they all deserve visibility (particularly in the media, pop culture, and fashion.)
Bodily Autonomy — We affirm that we don’t need to justify our size and we refuse to give up our right to make choices for our own bodies.
Cultural Prejudices — We fight the stigma of fat because you can’t tell anything about a person simply by looking at them and the negative traits associated with being fat certainly aren’t restricted to fatties.
Health at Every Size — We affirm that fatties can be fit and healthy behavior can benefit any shape or size.
Equal Opportunity — We demand equal pay, equal treatment, and equal opportunity in the workplace regardless of size or shape.
Equal Healthcare — We demand decent, preventive, and comprehensive health care without the condition that weight is lost before we’re offered fair treatment.
Fat Rights — We demand legal protection against discrimination for all shapes and sizes.
I sincerely hope that all the lobbying of so many people all around the world will not be ignored. I hope that through FA/body appreciation blogs, more and more people open their minds and abolish their biases and assumptions when it comes to weight. I hope that they get to really see what FA is all about--self love, health, and equality above anything else.
Give ♥ to your body and your self,
Stacy