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Fat Acceptance is essentially just the belief that people do not deserve to be treated differently or discriminated against because of their weight. Fat Acceptance advocates seek to change societal attitudes and prejudices about fat, preventing discrimination by doctors or workplaces and helping fat people realize that they do not need to lose weight to accomplish their goals or to be beautiful.

One goal of Fat Acceptance advocates is political activism. The National Association to Advocate Fat Acceptance, or NAAFA, lobbies for adding weight as a protected class in state and federal anti-discrimination laws. So far Michigan is the only state which, with its Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act of 1976, legally protects people from weight-based discrimination.

An important issue for political activists is the right to health insurance. In Alabama, for example, state employees may be legally be charged extra for their health insurance based on weight. Fat Acceptance advocates content that this is discrimination, not something motivated by a concern for health, as measurements of health such as blood pressure are not considered, only weight.

Fat Acceptance advocates believe that the idea of losing weight for one's health is incompatible with studies showing that fat people are at a lower risk for heart attacks and are more likely to survive them, and that most dieters are unable to permanently lose weight.

Many Fat Acceptance advocates promote the philosophies of Health at Every Size and Intuitive Eating. Proponents of Health at Every Size, or HAES, believe that people of all sizes should focus on increasing their physical activity and eating healthily without trying to lose weight, and that one can be healthy at any weight. Proponents of Intuitive Eating believe that instead of dieting and calorie restriction, people should listen to their bodies' hunger signals, eating when they are hungry and stopping when they are full.

These philosophies really do work: a study at the University of California found that people who practice HAES and Intuitive Eating and work on building their self-esteem are much more successful than dieters at lowering cholesterol levels and blood pressure than dieters, even if they do not lose weight.

Prejudice against fat people is a real and present problem. A study conducted by the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity found that the prevalence of weight discrimination has increased tremendously in the United States and that it is as common as racial discrimination. Many health issues commonly associated with fatness may actually be caused by prejudice that fat people face, especially from medical professionals. Fat Acceptance is about changing people's attitudes towards fat people, ensuring that no one is treated differently because of their weight and that people base their self-esteem on important things like talents and personal accomplishments instead of just their weight.

Learn more about this author, Amelia Hill.
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