Mary Ray Worley's Article 'In Defense Of Fat Acceptance'

that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It 's when you know you 're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what.” As Harper Lee once wrote, courage is something that anybody can show, as long as you forget about if you are going to lose or win and your selfish reasons and just remember why you are doing it. In “Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes” most of the characters show courage at some point so it was difficult to pick just one person. I ended up picking Sarah Byrnes because she stayed with her dad just so that no one else would get hurt. She showed courage when she was only as little girl and she saved her

In Alice Randall’s “My soul to Keep, My Weight to Lose”, Alice discusses her developing insight into her large weight problem.

In the book, Staying Fat For Sarah Byrnes,Throughout the book Eric had shown tremendous amounts of moments where he shows that he was devoted to Sarah. He is devoted to Sarah Byrnes in many ways. One of the ways would be when Eric started swimming and started to lose weight, but he didn't want to lose weight because he thought Sarah was going to think that he was going to leave her. Since Sarah was ugly and got made fun of a lot he wanted people to have something to make fun of him for so Sarah wasn’t alone. When Eric did start to lose a little weight he notice right away and wanted to change just for Sarah. Strong example for when Eric showed his devotion for Sarah, “ You saved me, Eric . God, remember when you first tried out for the swim team and you started losing all that weight and got scared I’d think you were leaving me? (Crutcher 178)” Despite the fact that Eric had other things of his own he needed to focus on like how he wished his father was there, Eric still stuck to sarah and made her his priority.

Today in our abundance of filling grocery stores and fast food restaurants, most is comforted in knowing when and where their next meal will come from. Although, days in the past where food shortages ran rampant; sanitation was unheard of; and obesity was the last obstacle the American people thought to face have faded. Yet, in the beginning of this 21st century, we are nearing the 40% percent mark of obese adults, and the 13.4% percent back in 1962 has become a short, but a distant memory. The average adult today is heavier compared to the 1950 's, due to changes in our socioeconomic structure; sedentary lifestyle changes; and easy access to unhealthy food choices. Did we know that obesity in the early 1900 's would soon be the cause of

I will be analyzing the character Schmidt in a short clip of flashbacks from the show New Girl; Schmidt is actually one of my favorite characters , but I am now realizing some things about him that I haven 't thought of before. For instance, in "Bachelorette Party," they showed a flashback of "fat" Schmidt in college with his ex-girlfriend before he became a body-obsessed guy and changed completely. Schmidt has also confessed in another episode of being judgmental of others appearances because of his experience as an overweight child that has left him emotionally traumatized. Many of the flashback videos put emphasis on his stomach, showing him having trouble with the topic of girls and eating large amounts of food. The shows flashbacks

Every individual is different and unique in their own way, may it be their body size or the color of their skin. No individual is similar, which is precisely the point that Cheryl Peck makes in her essay “Fatso”. The essay portrays Peck’s view of the conflicts that she goes through in her life as an overweight person. She makes a point by point contrast to her imaginary life, repeating the phrase “I have never”, and her real life where she faces discrimination because of her weight. Peck’s use of tone and word choice highlights the purpose of her essay, which is to raise awareness about discrimination against overweight people to audiences who are thin and have not experienced any judgment from others.

In the new era we live in, the levels of obese and overweight individuals are highly growing across the globe. Overweight is defined as the identification of individuals and groups at increased risk of morbidity and mortality. Obesity is considered to be a disease of fat accumulating irregularly to an extent that it can harmfully disrupt an individual's health, it is also related to psychological problems and negative consequences. The situation of cumulative incidents of excess body fat is mostly due to industrialization, a mixture of little exercise, more abundance and availability of food, commonly in the industrialized nations of the Western Hemisphere. This situation comes along with a lot of controversy on the topic; overweight and obese individuals began to feel offended and discriminated by society, thus in reaction to this they created the Fat Acceptance Movement. The Fat Acceptance movement is a social act seeking to change the way society views overweight individuals in a negative way. This movement emerged from the fat acceptance ideology that health can exist at any size, that overweight and obese people should accept their body figures and challenge stereotypes. It direct the message that it is normal to be overweight. Although the Fat Acceptance Movement might have initiated for a good purpose, it has taken it to a negative extreme level. Being Overweight became the new normal through the acceptance of it. The fat Acceptance Movement leads to negative outcomes, encourages an unhealthy lifestyle, offends low weight individuals and affects the views of health in young

Eating disorders are becoming a rising problem in many individuals regardless of their age or gender. Eating disorders are problems that revolve around abnormal eating behaviors and distorted beliefs about eating, weight or shape. They can be classified as psychiatric problems, which are considered a general medical condition. Eating disorders happen when individuals are obsessed about controlling their weight by controlling what they eat. Often, they judge their self-worth by their ability to control their weight/shape (Grilo 6). It is no secret that eating disorders are alarmingly common. Especially now, in this culture, where large corporations are “investing” in this industry as a result of their market research which can then only mean one thing – eating

In “The Globalization of Eating Disorders”, written by Susan Bordo in 2003, the author declares that eating and body disorders have increased rapidly throughout the entire globe. Susan Bordo, attended Carleton University as well as the State University of New York, is a modern feminist philosopher who is very well known for her contributions to the field of cultural studies, especially in ‘body studies’ which grants her the credibility to discuss this rising global issue (www.wikipedia.org, 2015). She was correspondingly a professor of English and Women Studies at the University of Kentucky which gives her the authority to write this article. “The Globalization of Eating Disorders” is written as a preface to her Pulitzer Price-nominated book “Unbearable Weight: Feminism, Western Culture, and the Body” which was similarly written in 2003. Through the use of many logical arguments and evidence, Bordo successfully manages to convince her audience that the media, body images and culture have severely influenced the ‘so-called’ trending standard of beauty and how it leads to eating disorders across the world. However, certain flaws such as hasty generalization appeared during the text. Even though, Bordo had certain errors in reasoning, she successfully manages to convey her opinions on how media has had a severe impact on people’s vision of beauty through her structure, presentation, main ideas, objectivity and her appealing tone.

The short story by Andre Dubus follows Louise from age nine up until the time she becomes a mother. It gives insight to the damage that can be done when loved ones force negative body images on young children. Louise’s mother starts her on a self-destructive path, which Louise will never overcome and continually affects her life. This is reinforced by the similar opinions of her relatives and friends who make her feel that she will only be truly loved if she is thin. The prevalent theme of Dubus’ “The Fat Girl” is the destructive way society views food addiction and how it adversely affects women.

“In the past, eating disorders were generally considered to be confined to young white females from middle-to-upper class families living in Western societies” (Caradas 112). Both studies exploit the false stereotypes associated with eating disorders and culture. Both parties believe that non Western cultures are being influenced by the “slim is beautiful” idea. Each view points out the false misconception that non Western cultures traditional ideas of being thick is related to health is protecting them from eating disorders. Studies prove all ethnicities have shown concern towards body shape and eating attitudes in recent years around the

When women are uncomfortable with their body, they get taken advantage of by companies trying to sell their products varying from protein shakes, “magic pills”, to surgical procedures (Lin). But all of this can be prevented with six simple themes to address. First, with family, friends, and other relationships, we can further educate each other and work together to come up with alternatives to these linked issues with body image. Secondly, we can put an end to teasing and bullying. No one has the right to or entitlement to emotionally, mentally, or physically harm another person for the way they look. Thirdly, we can discuss the healthy and suitable way to achieve your own personal appearance goals. Fourth, we can change up the media and celebrity culture. By allowing a wider variety of figures into this industry it will allow women around the world to feel comfortable in their own skin. Fifth, we can eliminate the comparison and competition we have with one another to “look the best” and “be the sexier women.” Lastly, and this goes to all women, we must learn to have respect in ourselves and look after ourselves and one another to be beautiful individuals in our own, unique way (Ramsey). “Society indirectly limits many individuals freedom to enjoy life by promoting physical expectations they fail to meet” (Solomon, et al). But we can terminate this expectation, so that no woman would ever have to second guess her body

Society demands a perfect image. In certain societies, people must have the perfect body image. Men and women will do anything to fit this certain body image. Individuals believe they can not have a trace of body fat on their body. In Judith Lorber’s article, “Believing is Seeing: Biology as Ideology,” she explains the influence society has on individuals body images. In Sharlene Nagy Hesse-Biber’s article, “The Spread of the Cult of Thinness: Preteen Girls, Adolescents, Straight Men, Gays, Lesbians, and Ethnic Women,” she explains the extremes people go to achieve the high standards set by the society in Lorber’s article. With such high standards set by society, men and women will have the urge to join the Cult of Thinness. Society demands

Fat acceptance is a radical concept that most Americans shy away from discussing. This is not the case with Hillel Schwartz’s essay “Fat and Happy?” from his book Never Satisfied. Schwartz discusses the way fat people are treated by society and what he believes life would be like if we lived in a Fat Society rather than the current Skinny World we live in. In his article it seems that Schwartz’s goal is to capture the attention of as many different audiences as possible by using sarcasm and many different sides to his argument that fat acceptance should be an important value in society. While Schwartz tries to connect to as many different audience members as possible with a dry and popular sense of humor by implementing a sarcastic tone, his

Men and women nowadays are starting to lose self-confidence in themselves and their body shape, which is negatively impacting the definition of how beauty and body shape are portrayed. “...97% of all women who had participated in a recent poll by Glamour magazine were self-deprecating about their body image at least once during their lives”(Lin 102). Studies have shown that women who occupy most of their time worrying about body image tend to have an eating disorder and distress which impairs the quality of life. Body image issues have recently started to become a problem in today’s society because of social media, magazines, and television.