Fat and Happy: A Defense of Fat Acceptance

In her essay, “Fat and Happy: A Defense of Fat Acceptance”, Mary Ray Worley argues that there is an alternative to society’s current view on fat people and fatness – one that places the blame for fatness on self preservation and genetic predisposition rather than self will or discipline, and one that allows a fat person self acceptance despite society’s views and the consequences of those views. Worley does an admirable job relating how a supportive environment, positive experiences, and lifestyle changes altered her views and nurtured her own self-acceptance and happiness.
Worley found her experiences at the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance (NAAFA) convention empowering. The “fat people in stylish swimsuits...enjoying being in their bodies without a shred of self-consciousness” made her feel as though she...