NAAFA: Creating Equality and Acceptance for Fat Americans

Bill Fabrey founded the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance (NAAFA), Oakland, CA, in 1969 as a way to promote the acceptance of overweight Americans in society and the media. With a team of volunteers, the association provides information to its members and the media on issues dealing with diet, social interaction and government legislation. NAAFA is on one side of the increasingly controversial debate on issues facing overweight people and their rights.

Peggy Howell, the passionate public relations chair for NAAFA, answered a few questions about the association and the uphill climb to further fat acceptance in America.

What is the purpose of NAAFA?

NAAFA is a nonprofit, all-volunteer organization composed of determined individuals seeking to increase the well-being of the fat American. Millions of fat Americans, as well as individuals from around the world, constitute a group that exists in a society geared toward slimness as an ideal. They constitute a minority group with many of the attributes of other minority groups, including poor self-image, guilt feelings, employment discrimination, exploitation by commercial interests and being the subject of ridicule.

This leads to extreme treatment by some members of the medical profession, inability to purchase most health and life insurance, difficulty in buying clothes and often a lack of understanding by one's own family. It is the aim of this organization to help people all sizes of large deal more effectively with these and other problems and to promote more tolerance and understanding from society.

What conditions does a person need to meet to become a member? What services does NAAFA offer to its members?

We welcome people of all sizes who are interested in and willing to be supportive of people of size. We have many advocates who are not people of size. NAAFA creates a safe haven for people of size to learn to accept themselves as they are and to celebrate life without fear of judgment or ridicule. Fat people learn that they really are valuable, productive citizens with civil rights that are being violated. Discrimination is wrong.

Fat people learn that they really are beautiful and attractive. Fat people learn that it is okay to put on swimsuits and play in the water. Fat people learn that it is okay to dance as if no one is watching. We learn that we can love and be loved in return. We learn that we are not second-class citizens and it is not okay to treat us as though we are diseased. We learn that we can live healthy lives at any size.

What are the most important issues on the table right now?

Although there are many social groups around the country for fat people, the fact remains that they are primarily social and only NAAFA is actively working to put an end to the bad treatment of fat people. Fat children are removed from loving parents based only on their size. Fat adults are denied the right to adopt. Fat adults are losing jobs or being turned down for jobs they are most qualified for because of their size. Fat adults are charged more for or denied medical insurance entirely based only on their size. Fat adults are facing insults and rude treatment during travel.

Our own government, fueled by the diet industry, the pharmaceutical industry, the insurance industry and the medical industry is discriminating against us and we remain the silent majority since over 65 percent of our country is now considered overweight.

NAAFA is still the voice of the fat people in the media's mind. Reporters and TV producers contact me almost daily whenever they want an opinion about current issues that affect us.

How would you respond to the argument that associations like NAAFA enable overweight people?

An August 2006 study from UCLA suggests our media and cultural obsession with achieving a certain weight may actually undermine motivation to adopt exercise and other healthy lifestyle habits.

A July 2006 study conducted by the federal government shows that four of every 10 patients who undergo weight-loss surgery develop complications within six months. This study shows how important it is for patients to consider the potential complications.

A June 2005 study indicates overweight people who diet to reach a healthier weight are more likely to die young than those who remain fat. The new study suggests that dieting causes physiological damage that in the long term can outweigh the benefits.

A May 2005 study indicates behavior change and self-acceptance trump dieting when it comes to achieving long-term health improvements in obese women, according to a two-year study by nutrition researchers at the University of California, Davis.

A January 2005 study indicates that with the exception of one trial of Weight Watchers, the evidence to support the use of the major commercial and self-help weight loss programs is suboptimal. Controlled trials are needed to assess the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of these interventions.

Prof. Peter Saunders, of the Institute of Science in Society, states, "There are many factors involved in regulating body weight and they combine in complicated ways. Heredity matters, but so does our entire life experience from the moment we were conceived - and even before that, because of the influence of our mother's state of health and what she ate. There is still a long way to go before we understand how our body weight is regulated. If obesity was caused by changes in life style, and the evidence is clear that it was, then the obvious way to tackle it is also by changes in life style. For example, they should ban advertisements for food during the times when children are most likely to be watching television. Schools should provide proper, healthy meals. They should not have vending machines selling soft drinks or snack foods, or get involved in schemes that promote the sale of such foods."

Paul Ernsberger, Ph.D. contends that the ill effects of obesity have been exaggerated, that its potential health benefits have been overlooked, and that much of the ill health in obese persons is caused by the adverse consequences of treatment, including strict weight loss diets. For example, he explains that losing and regaining weight can raise blood pressure, cause cardiovascular abnormalities, and increase the efficiency of fat storage. He also states that the blood pressure fall during dieting is a response to starvation rather than a result of weight loss."

I am not a medical expert and I believe that there are many contributing factors to people's weight (we do not use the word obese or obesity as they are medical terms and we oppose the medicalization of fat). I believe in the strong genetic link between parents and offspring with regard to size. I believe that the consumption of processed foods is bad for our bodies. I believe that wherever there is an abundance of food, people will tend to consume more and become larger. I believe that the minute a person begins to restrict their intake for the purpose of losing weight that they start themselves on the road to gaining weight. 95 percent of diets fail. 95 percent of people who have weight loss surgery never reach their goal or gain their weight back within 5 years. Why would anyone in their right minds mutilate their organs when they have only a 5 percent chance of success? The doctors are deceiving people by not telling them the truth. We come in all sizes. Wouldn't it be a boring world if we were the same? Why can't we celebrate our differences and get on with the work of making this a better world?

What is NAAFA planning for in the immediate future? Long-term?

We are presently working with Rep. Byron Rushing of Massachusetts to assist in the passing of a bill that would add height and weight to the protected classes in the law books in Massachusetts.

NAAFA's five-year plan includes the following six strategic initiatives:

(1) to streamline our organization to make it more nimble, more effective, and more responsive;

(2) to increase our membership by instituting a $15-a-year membership fee;

(3) to pursue universal healthcare;

(4) to promote our new legal aid program-FLARE, the Fat Legal Advocacy, Rights, and Education Project;

(5) to promote civil rights compliance and enhanced legislation ensuring the rights of people of size; and

(6) to establish a national grassroots action team for child advocacy.

I believe that we have set the groundwork and more people are realizing they have a right to a full life at a much younger age than I did. That gives me hope because young, empowered fat people will change the world.

The National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance Web site is available at www.naafa.org.