What Body Acceptance is All About

[Anonymous]

Everyone is talking about it. Everyone has varying opinions on this. Here are my two cents on this topic.

I used to be fat. I still am, but more of overweight. I have lost weight and still going on.

Being fat sucks. You are always the butt of jokes, people stare at you and sometimes throw nasty comments. You are treated worse than normal and bone skinny people. Super skinny or normal people can never understand what fat people go through.

Being fat/obese is not healthy. Neither is being skinny. Skinny does not mean healthy. I personally know many skinny people who have awful eating habits and are not the healthiest lot out there.

Still, the society shames fat people for being fat but doesn't shame skinny people for being skinny. I am specifically talking about unhealthy skinny people. There are skinny people who go out of their way (such as starving themselves) to stay unhealthily skinny- and they don't have any eating disorder, but no one bats an eye. But a fat person who overeats? He is treated as if he's the shittiest person on this earth. I think that both are equally condemnable.

It is all because according to our society, a skinny person is more aesthetically attractive (even if they are skeleton skinny) than an overweight or fat person.

I specifically remember this one incident where I had just started excercising to lose weight. I was walking/jogging in the park. Then I saw a group of guys pointing their fingers at me, talking with themselves and laughing. This wasn't the only incident. There were people who stared at me while I excercised and gave odd looks.

I mean what kind of society is it where you shame a fat person and still make fun of them when they try to change their lifestyle?

If there was some unhealthy skinny person in my place, I bet they wouldn't be shamed as much because apparently a fat person exercising is less appealing than the other way around.

According to me, body acceptance should mean that just because a person is fat, it doesn't mean that:

> You treat them as less of a human.

> You make them the butt of jokes

> Make fun of them when they work out

> Constantly make them feel guilty for being the way they are. Some may think that it would help them to make changes in their lifestyle, but everyone is different. It may scar someone's self esteem forever.

> Basically treat them as object of ridicule

I am not saying that you should call a fat person beautiful or should date them, all I am saying is that the way you treat someone should not depend on the amount of fat on their body.

I think it applies to both fat and unhealthy skinny people.

I think body acceptance is about admitting the flaws in your body and working to get over those.

Being fat is not cool. Same with being unhealthily skinny.

#EndBodyShaming

[spuitkaas]

I first want to say that it's great you're doing a lot of work to loose weight and I can't imagine how hard that must be. Keep up the good work.
Then I want to comment on your Mytake. I'm all about not bashing people to the ground for what they look like. It only makes them feel depressed and even more unmotivated to loose weight.
However a few things are not right in my opinion in your take.
1. Skinny people get shamed as well. I can't tell from personal experience, but I had friends who were naturally skinny without a lot of shape and they got mocked a lot by thicker people as in 'stick your finger in your throat some more' or saying that nobody would find them attractive because they had no boobs.
I agree, it's more accepted to be skinny than being fat, but it's not like skinny people never get bashed about their body.
2. It is true that skinny people don't have to be healthy either. However, there are few ways in being fat (I'm just going to talk about two) 1. Having excess of fat on your body and 2. Having fat on your organs. Having fat on your organs is way worse than having an excess of fat superficial on your body and this kind of fat will only go away by excercise. So you can be skinny and still be unhealthy, because you don't excercise enough and have fat on your organs. However it's more likely to have fat on your organs when you're overweight, because it's harder to excercise and get demotivated to do it. Besides the superficial fat causes extra weight and so can cause arthritis, knee problems, back problems, ankle problems etc. These problems don't occur as quickly with skinny people because they don't have that much weight to carry.
I personally think a critical, motivational, but postive approach is better to treat an overweight person. Don't make being overweight the standard or even a beauty ideal, but motivate people in a positive way to loose weight.

[AdamThomas]

"Being fat/obese is not healthy. Neither is being skinny."

Being skinny is healthier than being fat.

"I am specifically talking about unhealthy skinny people. There are skinny people who go out of their way (such as starving themselves) to stay unhealthily skinny- and they don't have any eating disorder, but no one bats an eye. "

That isn't true at all. When I was really skinny I was constantly told that I need to eat more, and plenty of skinny people will say the same.

"It is all because according to our society, a skinny person is more aesthetically attractive (even if they are skeleton skinny) than an overweight or fat person."

Most men don't find skeleton skinny women attractive. Those are used in fashion, sure, but how many straight men are interested in fashion vs women and gay men? That doesn't really reflect what straight men find attractive, and surely straight men are the main people you need to ask about what kind of women are considered attractive.

"I specifically remember this one incident where I had just started excercising to lose weight. I was walking/jogging in the park. Then I saw a group of guys pointing their fingers at me, talking with themselves and laughing. This wasn't the only incident. There were people who stared at me while I excercised and gave odd looks"

Yeah, those people are assholes. It makes no sense to bash people who are actively doing something to improve their situation.

As for the Laci Green quote, you also don't encourage people to take care of their bodies by encouraging them to be okay with being at an unhealthy weight and continuing to live an unhealthy lifestyle.

[Anonymous]

I agree with the idea that healthiness really should be the desirable outcome here, but without so much negative pressure. People can be healthy at different weights, and just as telling an anorexic person to eat more will make them feel worse, making fun of someone obese has the same effect.

It seems like both under eating and over eating are the effect often of psychological problems as much as cultural ones which obviously won't be solved by shaming or guilt tripping someone.

On a similar note, you mention people staring and giving odd looks. As if you can read their mind, you assume they're making fun of you. I think these anecdotes tell more about your mental state than society in general. Most people are either too busy with their own problems or genuinely don't care about your weight. And if they are making fun of you, let them go fuck themselves and move on with your life. You will always encounter negativity from people, but as soon as you let it characterize your emotions, you're letting them win.

[SuperNovaRoyalty]

I just think that while we should accept ourselves, we should want to be the best version of ourselves; like an iPhone's iOS- constantly updating and upgrading.
However; although skinny people who can't put on weight are not insulted as much as over-weight people, skinny people (like me) shouldn't have their problems pushed under the rug as if it's not as important. Just because one issue gets more attention than the other, doesn't mean its not as important. For example: Beyonce just had a baby vs people are dying around the world every hour. Sure, both important (lmao) but one is getting more attention than the other.
Great myTake btw!

[MaiNameIsSunshine]

Hahaha.
When I was in grade 9 I was sent to the office because they were concerned I had an eating disorder when I am actually very healthy and have never struggled with such a disorder. I was underweight but I come from a family of sticks and my doctor has never said that I was un healthy because my BMI was not in the healthy range of the scale. Ever since I was a kid it would always be things like that but on a smaller scale like "you look like a skeleton" (well yippee kay ay, it's Halloween all year round), "do you even eat?" (I can eat an entire dozen of donuts or an entire large pizza by myself sooo).
I was shamed.
This whole thing could have done without the whole section about how it's not fair skinny people aren't shamed when they are. Been better off if you just stuck with the thing about not shaming anyone.

[TripleAce]

Great opinion

Unhealthy mostly has to do with your insides on a biological level. Even a molecular level depending how deep you really wanna go

Fat on women is mostly only harmful if it's fat around her waist. Fat anywhere else is generally ok. A women's waist should be no more than about 30 inches i believe it was considering your body type of course

Sometimes seeing a fat person exercising can be amusing cause you get to see all her chub just bouncing around. A little amusing but by no means do any of them mean stop running. Just a little giggle. I've done. Others will do it. Don't worry about. Keep running

Fashion has projected what we 'should' look like. Ken and barbie dolls. It's all bullshit

[Greek_God]

No. Just no. Calling fat fucks beautiful is simply retarded. Let's call things what they are. And you are talking like being fat is skin color or sex or whatever, like its something you are born with and can't change. You don't like people calling you a fat fuck? Go on and lose weight then. Everybody on this site is ready to write a billion words on any topic, but when it comes to getting up and doing something with their lives, thats a problem. Also being skinny is normal. Sure, there are unhealthy skinny people. But you also have muscular people who are unhealthy. There it becomes an individual thing. Because being skinny is really just the absence of fat, means its healthy and normal. While being fat is unhealthy and physically unattractive. So instead of lying and calling you beautiful, you guys should just lose weight if those comments bother you

[myTake Owner]

Read it completely , then comment. Otherwise don't.
Absence of excess body fat doesn't always equate to healthiness.
If only you had read this mytake properly, you'd see that I'm NOT telling you to call be beautiful or even date me.
It looks like people just go on BS ing whenever such controversial topic are mentioned, without even reading other person's argument. Which only further proves my point on this matter.

[Greek_God]

I think you should look up what "body acceptance" really is. Its calling fat and ugky women beautiful. Thats it. As I said, if you are bothered by people calling you fat - lose weight, instead if whining about it on GaG

[cipher42]

No, what body acceptance is is encouraging people to make peace with how their body is. That doesn't mean telling them they shouldn't change it, or shouldn't make an effort to be healthy, it's just about counteracting the unhealthy psychological effects hating your own body can have. It's about health, actually. Mental, not physical health, but health nonetheless.

[Greek_God]

@cipher42 no, people who are fat and therefore look ugly, deserve that. there are a few exceptions, but the majority of them are fat because they are lazy fucks. and you don't become fat over night. it means when you started putting on weight you allowed yourself to not give a fuck and become more and more fat. and now you are too lazy to actually work on it. fuck you, your own stupid ass allowed itself to get fat, so now you have no right to complain when somebody calls you a fat fuck, because you are one. (I don't mean you as in YOU, I don't know what you look like). If any fat fuck is offended when somebody calls them a fat fuck, they should lose weight. They can change it. Imagine if I dressed and behaved as a fag, and then get offended when people call me a fag. Its kinda like that

[cipher42]

God damn you're stupid. First of all, your view of why people are actually fat is incredibly innacurate, but I guess I should just expect that from you. But secondly, you're literally suggesting that because people are fat they should become even more unhealthy. Like, that's what you're saying.

[Greek_God]

@cipher42 its not inaccurate, I am aware that some people have health conditions, but majority of fat people are lazy fucks who refuse to change that. And Im not saying they should become more unhealthy, I am saying they should either get off their asses and work on themselves, or accept that others WILL call them fat fucks. As I said, its something you can easily change, so you don't have the right to be offended if people insult you because of it

[cipher42]

It reeaaally is. Consider people who live in food deserts and don't have access to healthy food. Consider those who are so poor they have neither the time nor the money to spare to be healthy. Consider just generally minding your own fucking business and not being a damn hypocrite. And if you've read really any study on the matter ever, or done any research at all, you'd know full well that it really is not that easy to just stop being fat. What you're suggesting here is on a level with people suggesting that poverty could be ended if people just stopped being poor.

[Greek_God]

@cipher42 poor people are usually not fat. Have you ever been in the real world? Average or rich people are. Also even if all you have is bad food, it still doesn't justify you being fat. If you don't overeat like a pig and if you have any kind of a physical activity in your life, chances are you won't be fat. So forget those retarded excuses you pulled out of your ass. And it really is that easy to lose weight. You just gotta burn more calories than you take in. I have been in different kinds of sports for over 10 years. So if your lazy ass thinks its hard, thats your problem. In reality, its not hard, it just takes some motivation, persistance and action. Thats all.

[cipher42]

So I guess you didn't even bother to do a two second Google fact check. Cool, go do that and then maybe come back.

[Greek_God]

@cipher42 yes because if its on the internet, it must be true. I am talking about real life, not some online bullshit some idiot made up and wrote in 2 secs for other idiots to believe

[cipher42]

Studies buddy, studies. Studies exist on the Internet. And are a whole lot more reliable than your biased personal observations.

[Greek_God]

@cipher42 gawker.com/study-white-people-think-black-people-literally-have-m-1659409960

Yes because studies are always true

[cipher42]

They generally have at least some degree of truth to them, and if the majority of studies on a topic come to one particular conclusion then that conclusion is probably true. Are you actually this anti-science?

[Greek_God]

@cipher42 no, I support science 100%. Its just that nowadays there are plenty of bullshit researches that have nothing to do with the truth, also those who are published because of propaganda etc, so I don't trust any shit I see.

[cipher42]

So what you're saying is you don't trust science. Because if the majority of scientific studies come to the same conclusion, that conclusion is pretty damn trustworthy. So if you still don't believe it just because it conflicts with your preconceived ideas, clearly you don't trust science.

[Greek_God]

@cipher42 I trust science, its just that any shit nowadays is called "science". So it would be pretty stupid to trust anything, right? I already explained in the previous comment.

[cipher42]

So you don't trust science. Again, this is the consensus of the scientific community. If you don't believe it, then you don't trust science. Stop making shitty excuses.

[Greek_God]

@cipher42 its not excuses. There is a lot of bullshit scientific researches. There was a research that claimed a child can grow up to be normal even if its raised by two gay people. Anybody who knows anything about kids, knows this is 100% bullshit. There was a study that says playing tetris for few minutes can stop your craving for alcohol, sex and food. There is that study I posted above, about black people being magical. There is a lot of dumb shit out there. I mean, of course, science is amazing and 90% of the things we use nowadays in our everyday lives we have thanks to science. But believing everything that is considered science nowadays, is just stupid.

[cipher42]

Maybe you're just too stupid to understand that you're wrong. Pretty sure that's what the issue is actually, because anyone who thinks their personal common sense is more valid than the consensus of the scientific community is either stupid or narcissistic or both.

[Greek_God]

@cipher42 so you believe black people have magical powers?

[cipher42]

No, but I do believe that people who are already superstitious would be more likely to view black people as having magic powers. If you actually know anything about the world and about history, that does in fact make sense.

[Greek_God]

@cipher42 Im sorry but anybody who thinks black people are magical is an idiot. And thats also kinda racist.

[cipher42]

Sooo, white people are idiots then? But getting at your actual meaning, you clearly don't understand how implicit biases work. It's not that people consciously think that black people are magic, it's that they unconsciously associate black people with magic more than they associate white people with magic. Makes sense if you have a brain ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Greek_God]

@cipher42 the thing is white people do NOT think this. In any way. The "study" is 100% bullshit. That was the reason I posted it but you are obviously retarded enough to believe it.

[cipher42]

Again, unconscious biases. You may think people don't think this way, and even the people who think this way wouldn't think they do, but the actual evidence says they do. Not my problem you don't understand or believe science buddy.

[Greek_God]

@cipher42 your problem is, as I said, you believe any bullshit as long as its called a "study" or something like that. Even though the articles I mentioned above are an insult to real science. But go on, believe what you want. Im done here.

[ProjectBaby1K]

I read this entire take and I can't recall ONE thing you stated that you backed with medical research. Your post is useless.

Fat acceptance is is encouraging people to make peace with the health problems and deteriorating longevity their corpulent bodies have. That is perpetuating the obesity epidemic America faces, not positive. Stop.

[Anonymous]

Before people kill me with reply's im not saying this speaks for everyone but just me

Long story i was fat in primary school hated it and eventually figured out that that was why i was bullied at the time and i then learnt how to lose weight and get stronger so i did that because of hating being fat and realizing that it wasent healthy, acceptable (in my opinion of myself) and i could do something about it

[XuR_CXV_115]

tldr

Sure don't make fun of fat people
But don't tell them it's okay, it could kill them :( Sure some people can't get pencil thin but they CAN make a significant difference

[John_Doesnt]

I still think that chicks should stop complaining about body shamming.

[Anonymous]

Didn't read all that shit but simply put, fat pride is the reason we have obesity crisis. Feminism has destroyed society.

[myTake Owner]

Then read it. Don't comment without reading or else don't comment at all. Period.

[Opinion Owner]

Why are you being so rude... you need free tempon?

[myTake Owner]

Not rude. Just hate it when people comment on something without reading it properly.
For your information, you suck at humor.

[Opinion Owner]

I'm not trying to make you laugh, I wanna calm you down. Take a deep breath... breathe... and relax. I think you need sum dick.

[cipher42]

Buddy, either actually try to have a conversation or fuck off. If anything, you're the one who's being rude here, not her, so maybe shut the fuck up until you learn to not be a shitty person. As for calming down, that's simply not relevant, and pretty clearly an idiotic distraction/frustration tactic on your part.

[Opinion Owner]

@cipher42 shut the fuck up hoe! You Want some attention! Don't get me started bitch

[Anonymous]

Europe doesn't do this awful fat shaming.

Because fat people don't exist in Europe...

[Anonymous]

good