Fat Liberation Month

Ruby — Thu, 01 Aug 2024 16:27:02 GMT

What is it?

August is Fat Liberation Month, started by NAAFA, the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance. NAAFA note that they were prompted to start the event by the blog written by Clark Beltran, discussing how he has dedicated months to celebrate his ethnic heritage, and his gay pride, but not his size. NAAFA notes that others have used #FatLiberationMonth and #FatAcceptanceMonth before.

It’s an annual, month-long celebration of fat positivity and an acknowledgement of the oppressive and discriminatory environment that fat bodies live under. The month gives us a chance to educate, highlight the activism that is going on, and create connections with others in the fat liberation community.

It is mainly an event in America, as an American organisation started it, but it gives us a chance to discuss this inequality globally.

What does ‘Fat Liberation’ mean?

There is a useful blog post here about what fat liberation means to Lindley Ashline (photographer & body liberation activist), who describes it as the deliberate work undertaken to destroy the systems which have created a society where fat bodies are oppressed and discriminated against. It also discusses the links between fat liberation and anti-racism work, and how fat oppression stems from racism and colonialism.

Why is Fat Liberation needed?

Worldwide, fat bodies are discriminated against in every sector of life; media, employment, family planning, education, and healthcare, to name a few. I have provided academic sources below if you’d like to read them, but I highly recommend learning from fat people themselves about their experiences.

Please note that many of the academic sources use stigmatising language against fat people, please read with care.