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Press Clippings and Media Coverage
Friday March 01 09:03 PM EST With billions spent on the diet industry each year, it would seem Americans are obsessed with weight. But the number of people who think it's possible to be happy with your body -- even if it's fat -- is growing almost as quickly as the nation's waistband. "It's about time that people say I'm not going to take it anymore," said Francis White, Secretary of the National Association to Advance of Fat Acceptance, or NAAFA. "I'm very angry. Ižm skilled. I'm competent. I can do the same job as anybody else. I just may need an armless chair to sit in." They're coming forward to say they're fat as hell, and they're not going to take it anymore. "This is a discrimination issue," White said. "It doesn't really matter why you're fat, how you got fat. There is discrimination here, and that's what NAAFA's here to fight." Case in point: Jennifer Portnick, the aerobics instructor who wanted to teach Jazzercise, but she was told at size 16, she's too fat. Portnick is now at the center of a complaint before San Francisco's Human Rights Commission. It's the seventh case since the city adopted a new law against weight discrimination. "I was devastated," Portnick said about the Jazzercise decision. "I just wanted to be judged by my skill, not by my measurements." Portnick's story brings the issue of fitness to the forefront. Is it really possible to be fat and fit? "Yes, it is," said obesity expert Dr. Robert Lustig. Lustig says the answer doesn't lie in the numbers on the scale, but in the level of activity, which ultimately determines how healthy you can be. "The idea that it's OK to be fat from a social standpoint I think is very acceptable," Lustig said. "The idea that it's medically acceptable to be obese and to not want to do anything about it in terms of weight loss either from diet or from exercise ... I think is being somewhat foolhardy." NAAFA supporters don't believe in dieting, but they do promote movement. From weekly laps and water aerobics at the "Making Waves" swim, to yoga classes designed just for large women, fat people are proving they are athletic, too. But finding a comfortable environment to do that is key. "The reaction is usually relief, that no one is looking at you funny," said Marilyn Wann. "It's really important for fat people to be active and enjoy that and not have to be unhappy about their bodies while they're doing it." So legions of big beautiful people say they're not giving up, but instead are forging new relationships with their bodies that don't involve self-loathing. "Life is not easy as a fat person," said Carole Squires. "But that's not going to stop me from having a life."
Read the response by our Media Literacy Director, Marcella Raimondo, MPH.
Read the original article from the San Francisco Chronicle.
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