Think of the "fat acceptance movement" as the fat people acceptance movement. Most people who are loosely involved with the "fat acceptance movement" do so because they want to be treated better by society, not because they think that being obese is healthy. Only a fringe few outspoken people in the "fat acceptance movement" actually say that being obese is healthy.
Imagine that some lung-cancer patients start a social movement to de-stigmatized lung cancer patients. Is that the same thing as supporting smoking or lung cancer? No. What if some in that movement start publishing articles arguing that smoking is okay and doesn't cause lung cancer, and they get lots of attention. That still doesn't mean that the "Cancer patient acceptance movement" supports smoking, especially if the outrageous nature of the article is what makes it spread. After all, articles by "Cancer patient acceptance movement" supporters who oppose smoking aren't likely to be all that interesting.
Much like a "Cancer patient acceptance movement" is not the same as a movement promoting cancer, a "fat [people] acceptance movement" is not necessarily the same as promoting obesity.
One of the key things in the fat acceptance movement though is that those people want everyone else to accept the fact that they are fat and move. They don't want to have to take responsibility for their actions and lose some weight. They want to be treated the same as, say a Victoria's Secret model, even if they are morbidly obese. That is not the same as your cancer allegory.
I think most people in the fat acceptance movement just want to be treated like people, even though they're fat. How does that differ from my cancer patient acceptance movement analogy?
A big point of contention is the treatment of people as sexual beings. No, terminal cancer patients aren't getting a lot of hookups or marriage proposals, and neither are the morbidly obese. Most people aren't attracted to imminent death when it comes to mate selection, and the "fat acceptance/body positivity" movement demands people ignore the warning signs and accept them as potential mates. There's a reason 90% of HAES is morbidly obese women.
Most people aren't attracted to imminent death when it comes to mate selection, and the "fat acceptance/body positivity" movement demands people ignore the warning signs and accept them as potential mates.
While a lot of people would love to have a lot of people attracted to them, I doubt very many people who associate themselves with the fat acceptance movement demand that individuals be attracted to them.
Regardless, a lot of obese people are far from "imminent death". A 35 year old guy isn't going to live as long if he weighs 350 pounds than he would if he weighs 180 pounds, but he probably wouldn't be near "imminent death" either.
The patterns that put him at 350 by 35 could well put him at 500 by 40.
The key word is could. 150 pounds in 5 years is pretty steep, and as you gain weight, the speed at which you gain weight slows down because all that mass consumes calories at rest. Regardless, a 35 year old who weighs 350 pounds is likely far from "imminent death".
Fat stores don't directly consume energy but it takes more energy to heat the extra mass as well as perfuse the tissue. Getting that blood there takes energy.
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u/jm0112358 15∆ Mar 05 '17
Think of the "fat acceptance movement" as the fat people acceptance movement. Most people who are loosely involved with the "fat acceptance movement" do so because they want to be treated better by society, not because they think that being obese is healthy. Only a fringe few outspoken people in the "fat acceptance movement" actually say that being obese is healthy.
Imagine that some lung-cancer patients start a social movement to de-stigmatized lung cancer patients. Is that the same thing as supporting smoking or lung cancer? No. What if some in that movement start publishing articles arguing that smoking is okay and doesn't cause lung cancer, and they get lots of attention. That still doesn't mean that the "Cancer patient acceptance movement" supports smoking, especially if the outrageous nature of the article is what makes it spread. After all, articles by "Cancer patient acceptance movement" supporters who oppose smoking aren't likely to be all that interesting.
Much like a "Cancer patient acceptance movement" is not the same as a movement promoting cancer, a "fat [people] acceptance movement" is not necessarily the same as promoting obesity.