by JoAnne Lehman
[From Feminist Collections v.24, nos.3-4 (Spring/Summer 2003). To find out how to purchase this entire issue in print or subscribe to the periodicals published by the Office of the Women's Studies Librarian, please click here.]
Susie Orbach’s Fat Is a Feminist Issue (1978) didn’t have the first, the last, or arguably the “most feminist” word on the subject. But the therapist’s popular book — even its title alone — may have widened awareness that there might be something specifically feminist to consider about body size, particularly for women.
An explicitly feminist “fat liberation” movement arose in the U.S. in the 1970s.1 Activists Judy Freespirit, Aldebaran (now Sara Fishman), Lynn Mabel-Lois (now Lynn McAfee), and Karen Jones (now Karen Stimson) emerged during this time. Freespirit and Aldebaran wrote the “Fat Liberation Manifesto” in 1973, naming fat oppression as sexist and taking “the so-called ‘reducing’ industries” to task for harming public health.2 The Fat Underground engaged in marches, protests, and other radical actions to raise consciousness about this oppression and warn about the dangers of dieting programs,3 and a group that formed to “develop an analysis of the oppression of fat women from the perspective of radical therapy” conducted women’s rap groups.4
Orbach’s book was criticized by some feminists5 for not going far enough — for not debunking the assumption that fat women should seek to lose weight (the first edition’s subtitle, after all, was “the anti-diet guide to permanent weight loss”).
Organizations formed and grew through the 1980s and 1990s, and many more publications appeared. Radiance: The Magazine for Large Women started a sixteen-year publishing run in 1984. Books ranged from the scholarly anthology titled Feminist Perspectives on Eating Disorders, with a number of contributions dealing explicitly with fat acceptance, to Marilyn Wann’s (“the Abbie Hoffman of fat power”6) in-your-face Fat!So? Because You Don’t Have To Apologize for Your Size — as well as new editions from Susie Orbach. Of course, as the World Wide Web developed, more and more resources appeared there, many existing only online.
Today the words are many, and they can be confusing. Size-acceptance movements are emerging in a number of countries, while headlines insist that an obesity epidemic in the U.S. is killing hundreds of thousands of people a year. There are scholarly journals specifically about weight, as well as fashion magazines targeting a plus-sized audience. Lawsuits have arisen against diet programs that make fraudulent claims and car manufacturers that won’t provide seatbelt extenders; sometimes these developments inspire hateful anti-fat diatribes by journalists. New diet drugs are introduced amid concerns about harmful side effects; a few size-acceptance advocates have surprised their movement allies by undergoing controversial weight-loss surgery. There are calls to end what is called “the last socially acceptable form of prejudice,”7 that against the so-called overweight, and people of all sizes are committed to doing so as a matter of social justice. There’s more and more obesity research, but even among the medical establishment there are suggestions that the research does not support promoting weight loss, and that most weight-loss attempts are unsuccessful in the long run. A “health at any size” approach is advocated by some health care providers.
There are feminists in 2003 who diet. And there are individuals and groups — not all of them professedly feminist — analyzing and critiquing the research and the trends, writing about connections between dieting and eating disorders, lobbying against discriminatory practices and regulations, pointing out the large profits made by diet industries, and engaging in both mainstream and subversive protest actions.
The Internet can be a good starting place for researching feminism and size acceptance as well as for finding personal support and resources for activism.8 This review introduces a dozen sites, each offering some unique resource or approach. They include webzines and blogs, the official pages of advocacy organizations, health-focused resources (one specifically for clinicians), educational and support pages aimed at young women, and sites with an easily distinguishable feminist face as well as some that less overtly embody feminist ideals. Many offer bibliographies and links to other websites. I present them here in alphabetical order.
URL: http://www.adiosbarbie.com/
Developed/controlled by: Ophira Edut, Ihsan
Muhammad, Pia Guerrero, & Annie Tomlin
Last updated: Unknown
Reviewed: July 2003
Ophira Edut, editor of the book originally titled Adios, Barbie: Young Women Write About Body Image and Identity (reissued later as Body Outlaws), produces this positive-body-image site. Many websites promote body acceptance generally and/or work to fight eating disorders; I single this one out for the prominence of its explicit size acceptance message and clear linking of that message to feminism. Also laudable is the site’s diversity: there’s attention to African American, Latina, and Asian women, and a thoughtful body-image essay by a man. Inclusiveness extends to thin women: “The goal...is not to make girls who are naturally thin or blonde feel invisible...Whether you're fat and fabulous, naturally thin, or a thick chick somewhere in between, AdiosBarbie.com welcomes you!”
Page design is clean. The atmosphere is fun, with Barbie-doll history and a “feed the model” game. Interesting role models are featured — “outlaws” like Leslie Segar, a gymnast, hip-hop dancer, and big woman.
What’s lacking: Content, although solid, is thin; more links to books, articles, and other websites would be great. There’s nothing here about the health arguments around body size. Pages and articles are undated. The letters-from-readers section is buried in a subpage. Nevertheless, this is an appealing gateway into thinking about the issues, especially for young women.
URL: http://www.bigfatblog.com/
Developed/controlled by: Paul
McAleer
Last updated: Major
site overhaul on August 22, 2003; new postings almost daily
Reviewed: July/August
2003
Paul McAleer, who started researching sizism in college and ran the online Fat Acceptance Resource before turning it into a weblog, or “blog,”9 has a great thing going here. BFB fulfills its limited but clear purpose thoroughly: commenting from a size-accepting perspective on media depictions of and arguments about fatness. Paul controls the site, but it’s not restricted to his own articulate commentary on the linked articles; he also selects and posts responses from other readers, monitoring the discussion responsibly and enforcing firm guidelines (e.g., “no fat-bashing,”), but accepting different viewpoints and even allowing the “fat = unhealthy” debates to be rehashed now and then.
Discussions are spirited and mostly respectful. Men and women seem to contribute equally. Feminism comes up explicitly, and a feminist outlook seems to predominate. Last December saw discussion about Susie Orbach’s (of Fat Is a Feminist Issue fame) plan to sue Weight Watchers for fraudulent advertising. There’s also an interview with progressive feminist Anita Roddick. A currently “sidelined” search feature may be reinstated soon; in the meantime, archived posts are grouped both by category and by date; Paul himself replied quickly when I emailed for help in relocating a post I’d read. Regular columns by Tish Parmeley and Jennifer Portnick were introduced with the August 2003 site relaunch.
This thought-provoking blog, with its good examples of online discussion and media “watchdogging,” is a valuable resource for undergraduate women’s studies and communications courses as well as individual exploration.
URL: http://www.biggirlpride.com/
Developed/controlled by: Tigress
Osborn
Last updated:
Unknown
Reviewed: July
2003
Teacher and writer Osborn started this in November 2001, in reaction to some online “fat humor” that she found offensive. Big Girl Pride has an impressive (but not exclusive) women-of-color emphasis. Unique features include a page on breast cancer, with facts and statistics about issues for large women of color; a “get moving” page linking to a news article on the “fat and fit” debate; a book discussion group (“loving our shapes in life and literature”); “Big Girl Sistaz,” an online group “for plus-size African-American women”; and a section for original writing by the webmistress and others. A very worthy effort by an individual activist.
URL: http://www.bodypositive.com/
Developed/controlled by: Deborah Burgard,
Ph.D.
Last updated:
February 2001
Reviewed:
July 2003
Burgard, a psychologist specializing in women’s issues as well as a fitness instructor, co-wrote Great Shape: The First Fitness Guide for Large Women, as well as the essay “Alternatives in Obesity Treatment: Focusing on Health for Fat Women” in Feminist Perspectives on Eating Disorders. My only criticism is that her excellent website is not being updated (and the nonfunctional search feature is probably a casualty of that). Nevertheless, there’s a wealth of material here for both professionals and laypeople.
First laudable feature: the Contents page operates like a site map, an essential navigation tool in my opinion. Too bad more websites don’t provide these.
Of use to anyone: “Forums” that pose issues, ask questions, and post reader responses. The feature is inactive now, but the archive of seventeen topics (from “Body Appreciation” to “Challenge to the Weight Loss Industry”) is valuable reading. Some reader comments are heartbreaking: “My husband thinks I am a size 4. I am actually a 6-8 but I can’t tell him that, he’ll think I’m fat.”
Resources for individuals include “Exercise as a Foreign Language,” “Why Weight Neutrality?,” and “Obtaining Respectful Medical Care,” as well as bibliographies and size-acceptance links.
Especially for health care professionals are sixteen citations (on “non-diet approaches to obesity treatment”) to such scholarly publications as the International Journal of Obesity, the Journal of Social Issues, and Medicine, Exercise, Nutrition and Health; and a bibliography of twenty-five books, including Mimi Nichter’s Fat Talk: What Girls and Their Parents Say About Dieting (Harvard University Press) and Katherine Phillips’s The Broken Mirror: Understanding and Treating Body Dysmorphic Disorder (Oxford University Press).
URL: http://www.cswd.org/
Developed/controlled by: CSWD (Miriam Berg,
President)
Last updated:
Uncertain, but most pages are copyrighted: many 2000, some 2003
Reviewed: July 2003
Note some famous names here: Lynn McAfee, Director of Medical Advocacy, is the former Lynn Mabel-Lois of the 1970s Fat Underground. William J. Fabrey founded NAAFA and was a regular Radiance columnist.
Site design is clean and simple, and statements are clear. CSWD is “a not-for-profit group which works to change people's attitudes about weight. We act as consumer advocates for larger people, especially in the areas of medical treatment, job discrimination, and media images.” The organization’s first two belief statements are that “all people, no matter what their weight, deserve equal treatment in the job market and on the job” and “deserve competent and respectful treatment by health care professionals.”
Notable features:
C Report and commentary on a longterm diet study reported in JAMA.
C Indepth information on discrimination in employment and medical care, with practical suggestions both for physicians who want to more adequately serve their fat patients and for fat employees who feel they have been unfairly treated at work and want to consider steps short of legal action as well as formal procedures.
C Eleven bibliographies: Body Image; Children and Teenagers; Eating Disorders; Feminism (with forty-plus titles); Food, Exercise, and Health; Health and Weight; Media Images; Medical Discrimination; Men and Weight; Non-Diet Approaches; and Weight Discrimination.
Criticism: Perhaps the design is too simple — it would help, for instance, to have complete contents (or at least all the major categories) linked from every page instead of having retrace steps to the main page to change categories.
URL:
http://www.fatgirlbreakdown.com/ [Note, October 2003: Site owner has
apparently lost this domain name; site as reviewed below has
disappeared.]
Developed/controlled by: Courtney &
others listed as “staff” by first name only
Last updated: June 2003
Reviewed: July 2003
This “collaborative web zine” was started in May 2002. Courtney welcomes visitors with, “This is a safe place for people of any size, color, gender, class, or sexual orientation to talk about body image, fat oppression, size acceptance, body issues, self esteem, sexuality, feminism, mass media, and anything else that remotely correlates to those issues. YES, that means that we are boy-inclusive and trans-inclusive.”
FGBD functions much like a blog, but with original writings by different contributors as well as postings by the web owner. “Diary of a Fat Bulimic” should be read by anyone who thinks a person can’t be fat and starving at the same time. As in a blog, there are reader comments following the main articles and essays.
The site is third-wave-feminist-oriented and includes links to DIY (do-it-yourself) resources and “human rights and politics” sites. There are also message boards, photo galleries, creative suggestions for fat activism, thirteen links for “fat positivity” and four for “fat-positive artists, musicians, and rad people”: photographer and model Heather Corinna, artist and art teacher Jodee Rose, self-described “badass fatass jew dyke amputee, performance artist, writer and activist” Nomy Lamm, and writer and educator Hanne Blank.
URL: http://www.jonrobison.net/FDNH/
Developed by: Angie Berg, R.N., C.S.,
& Joyce Burke, R.N., C.S.
Maintained/controlled by: Jon Robison,
Ph.D., M.S.
Last updated:
Spring 2003
Reviewed: July 2003
Jon Robison has a Ph.D. in health education and human performance and an M.S. in human nutrition; he’s adjunct assistant professor in Michigan State University’s Department of Kinesiology, executive co-director of the Michigan Center for Preventive Medicine, and a writer/lecturer on holistic health. Robison is an advocate of “health at any size.”
Actually posted as a section on Robison’s personal website, FDNH was developed in 1998 by two former Michigan State graduate students — family nurse practitioners — who worked with Robison, and it’s based on his course “New Paradigm Approaches to Issues of Weight and Eating.” Essentially a set of learning modules for health care practitioners, with lots of citations to scholarly references, the course would be accessible to anyone seeking solid background on the health issues surrounding body weight. The health debates are hot and heavy these days, and the issues of discrimination, acceptance, justice, and equality can get murky. Robison’s work does an important service.
The site uses Frames. Lessons include “the historical evolution of the thin ideal,” “the relationship between weight and health,” “pleasurable physical activity,” “size-friendly health care,” and case studies about treating patients within the “new paradigm.”
Each page is copyright-dated, many as Fall 2001, but at least one as Spring 2003, indicating that the site continues to be updated.
Well worth the extra clicks is this thought-provoking scholarly article on Robison’s personal website, http://www.jonrobison.net/ (under “Articles to Download”): “Weight, Health & Culture: Shifting The Paradigm For Alternative Health Care,” published in Alternative Health Practitioner, Vol. 5, No. 1, Spring 1999.
URL: http://www.healthyweightnetwork.com/
Developed/controlled by: Francis
M. Berg, M.S.
Last updated: Uncertain, but some
parts appear recent (e.g., the 2004 dates for “Healthy Weight Week” are
posted)
Reviewed: July 2003
“Francie” Berg is a nutritionist, adjunct professor at the University of North Dakota School of Medicine, founder and former editor of Healthy Weight Journal, and author of numerous books, notably Women Afraid To Eat: Breaking Free in Today’s Weight-Obsessed World. Her site promises “weight and eating books and information by recognized scientific experts. Authoritative, scientific research on dieting, the failure of weight loss programs, eating disorders, obesity, overweight, size acceptance, diet quackery, and moving ahead with the nondiet health at any size paradigm.”
Berg’s site is especially valuable for its introduction to the reputable Healthy Weight Journal (subtitled Research, News, and Commentary across the Weight Spectrum), with links to contents and a number of full-text editorials. (Unfortunately, recent issues are not listed here, and the links to features are broken, but these drawbacks probably have to do with the journal publisher’s restrictions). Article titles include “Is Weight Loss Effective in Diabetes Treatment?” by Donna Ciliska, R.N., Ph.D., in vol.12, no.2 (March/April 1998); and “Rapid Weight Loss Involves Risk,” by Sheri Albert, M.P.H., R.D., in vol.14, no.4 (July/August 2000). The journal itself costs a hefty $95.00 a year from Decker Publications, but university libraries may have subscriptions or access through databases such as Ebsco Host. One of the latest issues has an essay by fat-feminist activist and writer Marilyn Wann (of Fat! So? fame).
Negatives: the confusing, hard-to-follow home page; the probability that much of the site is outdated; and the difficulty of finding the Network’s mission statement, which is a good one (scroll to the very bottom of the screen at http://www.healthyweightnetwork.com/assoc.htm to read it).
URL: http://www.size-acceptance.org/
Developed/controlled by: ISAA
(Allen Steadham, Director)
Last updated: July
2003
Reviewed: July 2003
This international, multiracial membership organization, which fights size-based discrimination, is relatively new (formed in July 1997) and headquartered in Austin, Texas. It has chapters in Russia, the Philippines, the Netherlands, Canada, the U.K., and “Arab Nations,” as well as various U.S. regions; there are also some virtual, non-geographic chapters specifically for women. The site includes an e-zine called “Without Measure,” with a section for teenagers. A new feature is talk radio, available in several formats from the website.
The organization is officially opposed to weight loss surgery and active in campaigns against it. Interestingly, the Resources page includes a link to the site of a dance and horseback riding instructor who now supports and has had the surgery.
Site design and navigation could be better. Flashing icons are distracting, as are the multiple colors and fonts. Some pages open in completely new windows and others don’t.
Developed/controlled by: Karen
Stimson and Richard Stimson, Co-Directors
Last updated: Unknown
Reviewed: July 2003
This site’s valuable resources include public service handouts (“14 Ways to Better Health Right Now,” “Fat Feminism: Politics and Perspective,” “The Politics of Dress”); information on International No-Diet Day (May 6); a section called “Deconstructing Media Misinformation,” which currently critiques a WebMD article about the so-called hazards of baby fat; and lots of links to fiction and other books — and to artists I didn’t see mentioned elsewhere, like James Stanley Daugherty, who photographs large female nudes, and the Fat Chance Belly Dance troupe from San Francisco.
But the best feature by far is the page for the Fat Liberation Archives, which are maintained physically by Largesse and being converted over time into electronic format. Here you can read the text of the original Fat Liberation Manifesto (from the Fat Underground in 1973) as well as other primary documents and explore a time line of “Fat Feminist Herstory” from 1969 to 1993. This is a great repository of information about the roots of the movement, maintained by one who was there — Karen Stimson, formerly Karen Jones, was one of the 1970s activists.
Developed/controlled by: NAAFA
(Conrad H. Blickenstorfer, Chairman; Kathleen Noon, President)
Last updated: Appears to be
continuous (e.g., newsletter dated June 30, 2003 is posted)
Reviewed: July 2003
Another membership organization, NAAFA is the oldest one around, founded in 1969 as “a non-profit human rights organization dedicated to improving the quality of life for fat people.” Not always known for supporting feminism, NAAFA today incorporates a feminist caucus (led by Fat Underground pioneer Judy Freespirit), a lesbian fat activist task force, and a lesbian/gay/bisexual group among its special interest groups (SIGs) with discussion boards.
The site states the organization’s policies on issues from adoption discrimination to physical fitness, and offers information brochures such as “Airline Tips for Large Passengers,” “Facts About Hypertension,” and “Declaration of Health Rights for Fat People.” NAAFA’s newsletters can also be read online.
The site’s book service is a treasure: not merely a unique list of books, tapes, and videos, but also a storefront. You can even purchase the out-of-print 1970 classic Fat Power by Llewellyn Louderback. On a separate page is a bibliography of scholarly publications about weight by Paul Ernsberger, Ph.D., chair of NAAFA’s Advisory Board.
Criticisms: distracting, busy layout with flashing and scrolling banners; hard-to-find staff/board rosters.
URL: http://www.radiancemagazine.com/
Developed/controlled by: Alice
Ansfield, Radiance Founder, Publisher, Editor
Last updated: August
2003
Reviewed: July 2003
It was a sad day when publication of this quarterly was put on hold (in December 2000). Founder Ansfield says she is “open to finding a new publisher or group to take on the magazine”; meanwhile, the site is extremely valuable for its searchable archive of numerous (not all) articles from the sixteen-year print run. Back issues can be purchased here as well, although more and more are going out of print.
Radiance is not primarily a fashion magazine, although it certainly has included fashion features and advertising and had swimsuit editions. All of its features — compelling and intelligent personal stories, fiction and poetry, interviews, reviews, news, and professional reflections — are substantive, strong, and feminist.
Just a few of the many articles available online: “Jodie’s Body: South African Actress Aviva Jane Carlin Reveals All on Body Image, Apartheid, and Art,” by Elaine Hesse; “Beauty: My Thoughts as a Teenage Artist,” by Elizabeth Grunsky; “Health at Every Size: A Size-Acceptance Approach to Health Promotion,” by Joanne P. Ikeda, M.A., R.D.; “Red Line: The Tragedy of Weight Loss Surgery,” by B. Shanewood; “Digesting Gilbert Grape: An Interview with Novelist-Screenwriter Peter Hedges,” by Gloria Cahill; and “Freedom: A Mother’s Reflections on her Relationship with her Fat Daughter,” by Helen Bigelow.
Exploring feminist size acceptance using the Internet will definitely not be a one-stop- or even a twelve-stop-shopping experience. But visiting this group of sites might jump-start, fuel, or expand your feminist thinking about fatness. One benefit of starting here is that these sites lead to bibliographies of non-Web resources as well as lots of other Internet links. It will be helpful, though, to supplement this approach with literature searches in online journal databases and library book catalogs.
1. Karen W. Stimson, “Fat Feminist Herstory, 1969-1993: A Personal Memoir,” in the Fat Liberation Archives maintained by Largesse, the Network for Size Esteem; see http://largesse.net/Archives/herstory.html
2. See http://www.largesse.net/Archives/FU/manifesto.html in the Fat Liberation Archives.
3. B. Shanewood, “Discovering the Truth: An Interview with Medical Rights Champion Lynn McAfee,” in Radiance: The Magazine for Large Women, Winter 1999; http://radiancemagazine.com/truth.html; linked from the Fat Liberation Archives; see http://www.largesse.net/Archives/FU/index.html
4. Stimson, “Fat Feminist Herstory,” http://largesse.net/Archives/herstory.html
5. See, e.g., Nicky Diamond, “Thin Is the Feminist Issue,” Feminist Review no.19, March 1985, pp.45–64.
6. Michelle Goldberg, book review on Salon.com, January 5, 1999, http://www.salon.com/books/sneaks/1999/01/05sneaks.html
7. Albert J. Stunkard, M.D., and Jeffrey Sobal, Ph.D., quoted in “Wellness in Wyoming Proposal,” http://www.uwyo.edu/winwyoming/propdrft.htm
8. There’s a lot out there to sift through, though, and it helps to have a handle on terminology. For instance, don’t bother searching on “women” + “obesity” except for shock value — that strategy with Google will produce a staggering half-million hits (with five of the first ten offering prescription diet drugs); even “obesity” + “feminism” nets about 4,000. “Size acceptance” + “feminist OR feminism” brings up about 360 “most relevant” hits; add “obesity” and get just under a hundred. I tried several different strategies using Google, including searches for “fat oppression,” “weight discrimination,” and “fat liberation,” and got significantly overlapping results. I also ran a couple of these searches on Yahoo, getting virtually the same hits.
9. For an introduction to this phenomenon, see “What Is a Blog?”, Globe and Mail Update, March 2, 2002, http://www.globeandmail.com/series/dot-com/blog02.html
[JoAnne Lehman is co-editor of Feminist Collections and has been healthy at various weights in her adult life. She may have unwittingly performed her first anti-diet action when, at age ten or so, she unwrapped and ate a Hershey bar in the middle of her mother’s Weight Watchers meeting. She is grateful that although she is the daughter of a dieter, (1) she was never pushed to participate and (2) she never had the willpower to starve herself.]
FEMINIST COLLECTIONS' copyright is held by the Regents of the University
of Wisconsin System.
Single issues of FEMINIST COLLECTIONS may be purchased for $3.50 (plus
postal charges for non-U.S. requests--inquire about rates). Please send a check
made payable to University of Wisconsin-Madison to Women's Studies Librarian's
Office, 430 Memorial Library, 728 State Street, Madison, WI 53706
For subscription rates or further information, questions, or comments, contact the Women's Studies Librarian
Return to FEMINIST COLLECTIONS Homepage
Return to Wisconsin Women's Studies Librarian's Homepage
Mounted October 22, 2003.