Proud To Be Fat: The Big Beautiful Women

Proud To Be Fat: The Big Beautiful Women

In a society that is obsessed with loosing weight by any means, some fat women have decided to take the complete opposite approach and proudly accept their bodies.

They are joining a growing number of women under the pro-fat acceptance movement that promotes body-acceptance and fitness at any size. These women feel no shame in describing themselves as fat or big and participate in activities that would leave a lot of thinner ladies exhausted.

Some of these women are based in the San Francisco Bay Area and have taken the lead in the pro-fat or size acceptance movement and created various fitness and artistic groups that demonstrate their beliefs. Their activities range from fitness training to burlesque shows and from hip-hop dancing to synchronized swimming. Among these women, Marilyn Wann, Marina Wolf, Heather MacAllister, Shirley Sheffield et Jennifer Portnick are five Beautiful Big Women (BBW) who are leaders in this movement and try to change the way society perceives fat people.

Some women are just fat by nature, no matter how little they eat or how much they exercise. Some of them have tried all types of diets and exercise until they finally accepted the idea that they do not need to look like what society promotes in its media cultures.

While the majority of contemporary fashion magazines promotes sizes that are closer to anorexia than the average weight, these women see more sensuality and sexual appeal in their forms than the bones appearing through the skin of most fashion models.

Their goal is to promote the fact that you can be fat and beautiful, big and attractive, above the “average” weight and physically fit.

The movement is nation-wide but its core seems to be in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is represented by the NAAFA, the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance, a non-profit human rights organization founded in 1969 and dedicated to improving the quality of life for fat people, men and women. NAAFA is the only national membership organization that fights to eliminate discrimination based on body size. It provides fat people with the tools for self-empowerment through public education, advocacy, and member support. They have local chapters all over the USA as well as in Canada and Europe.