The National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance- Othering
As we’ve discussed othering and media representations of various communities this week, I was reminded of the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance (NAAFA). A while back, I read some NAAFA’s issues on their site and was unsurprised to find that larger individuals received mistreatment and discrimination in healthcare, the workplace, and in schools seeing as these individuals are negatively represented in the media. From The Nutty Professor to Shallow Hal to Tommy Boy, people who are overweight, obese or just bigger are portrayed as lazy, lacking in self control, weak-willed, poorly hygienic, and undesirable. This is parallel to the patterns found in a study of 400 doctors which are posted on NAAFA’s website. The negative attitudes toward large individuals also spills over into the workplace and in schools where the overweight and obese employees are perceived as “slovenly and unambitious” and teachers have “lower expectations for overweight students than thinner students.”
The strange thing about this type of sizeism is that it’s infiltrating into other cultures like Mozambican culture where bigger bodies are seen as healthier, wealthier and more desired. As a result, among the less developed and more traditional communities people shun the frail-looking bodies and favor larger bodies, and among the more developed and westernized communities (like the capitol) people are desperately trying not to get fat despite the increase in high-glycemic food in these communities.
It's interesting that the sizeism has spread to Mozambique. I also believe that persons who are too skinny here in the states face another type of discrimination. I had a friend in school who was just naturally thin, but very thin. Everyone believed she was sick, or had some sort of eating disorder. This caused her to not get many projects or opportunities since people believed she was ill. It is really too bad people can't just judge people by the work they produce, rather than the assumption that fat people are lazy, and super skinny people must be ill and fragile.
ReplyDeleteI have a friend in the same situation. In fact, she has tried over and over again to GAIN weight. Despite her attempts, her 5'4'' frame has never gotten over 100 lbs. She lives in an interesting dichotomy. On one side she is praised about how thin she is, and how clothes always look better on her, how she can eat whatever she wants... However, she also says she feels like she is judged when she goes places. If she orders a salad at a restaurant she feels like people assume its because she's anorexic. If she's trying on clothes at a store, people sometimes give her a distasteful look when she asks for a size "00". Instead of this constant obsession with weight-which will always 'other' someone if they are "too fat" or "too thin", the focus needs to be on good health. Otherwise, girls and boys, men and women, will question their self and their identity based on their weight.
ReplyDeleteI had no idea that the NAAFA existed. But, considering the 'plus-size' is the new norm, it doesn't surprise me. I tend to agree with LeeAnn, the emphasis of weight should shift to overall health, not just aesthetics. Because depending on one's heritage and stature, healthy can mean many things. Some people who have higher fat percentages are in better shape than their skinny counterparts. And some extra-skinny folks have better overall health than those who spend countless hours in the gym. Unfortunately, the super tall, uber thin look dominates media and society's perception of beauty, so I am unsure as to how this will change (anytime soon, anyway).
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