You go, girl!
“I’m not interested in people accepting my fat, but in fat people’s rights.” so says Marilyn Wann. Check out the article; it’s so worth it! Feature Story > Living Large” href=”http://www.stanfordalumni.org/news/magazine/2003/julaug/features/wann.html” target=”here”>Living Large
Wann says her work builds upon the legacy of civil rights movements challenging racism, sexism and homophobia. She worked to pass a landmark antidiscrimination ordinance regarding height and weight in San Francisco, and she regularly speaks to high school and college students about body image.
“The closet for a fat person is an unlived life, full of self-hatred,” says Wann. She goes on to list the stereotypes associated with fatness: stupid, lazy, smelly, undisciplined, gluttonous, sexually voracious, sexually ineligible, freakishly nonhuman. “These sound familiar. They are the negative attributes that every oppressed people has been labeled with,” she says. “They make it okay to mistreat people, and fat people are the last acceptable targets of discrimination.”
And she’s working on a fat-power book for teens; how cool is that???
I love Marilynn Wann. I just now finally got a chance to read FAT!SO? which was a terrific book.
I’m going to go check out that article now, thanks!