NAAFA Community Voices Blog
Sharing thoughts and ideas from fat community.
Image shows a young black woman with blonde hair and wearing glasses, a pink sweater and a laptop on the desk in front of her.
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Report from the International Weight Stigma Conference
The annual Weight Stigma Conference (WSC) is an international interdisciplinary gathering of scholars, advocates, community leaders, and others whose work addresses weight stigma (bias against people who are considered “overweight” in their cultures). Founded by British scholar and activist Dr. Angela Meadows in 2013, the conference has been held in Birmingham (UK), Canterbury (UK), Reykjavik (Iceland), Vancouver (Canada), Prague (Czchek Republic), Leeds (UK), and London (UK). Although the conference was founded in 2013, COVID-related delays made this year the 8th offering of the in-person conference, with a commitment to adding more virtual elements in 2023 and a fully hybrid conference in 2024. 2023 and 2024 locations are yet to be announced.
NAAFA has supported the conference as a sponsor for many years. This year, for the first time, we sent an official delegation. Board Chair Tigress Osborn and Board Member-at-Large Elaine Lee traveled to Berlin in July to represent NAAFA at the conference and learn from fat community leaders from sixteen countries.
#isupportnaafa - Angela Livingston
I love all the programs aimed at rounder bodies, directed toward the needs of fat people, and created for the various identities of the fat community (we are a diverse community!). Also, people who are fat allies, those who have an attraction to fat people, and those who simply want to understand fat issues are able to learn about the fat community through NAAFA’s literature and online resources. That is the reason that I think NAAFA is truly needed for anyone who is able to see wonderful fat bodies of various sizes of fatness as worthy of respect and love.
Meet Bats Langley, NAAFA's 2022 Fat Liberation Month Logo Designer and Artist
Bats Langley is a popular artist and illustrator, best known for his adorable children’s books about a very friendly monster called Groggle, his fine art work, his work for kids’ publications like Cricket and Scholastic magazines, and of course, his character Gus. Gus is a whimsical guy, a character who is “an exploration in bigness,” and whose adventures “reveal a freedom of being big, without the societal constraints or expectations of being a bigger person.”
When Bats set about creating the 2022 Fat Liberation Month logo, he first reflected on how the word “fat” is empowering to so many but is also loaded and challenging for people, especially those new to fat liberation concepts. Bats admitted that, even for him as someone who embraces his own body and creates art representing bodies of all shapes and sizes, it was hard to hear “fat” without remembering all of its negative connotations. So he wanted to make sure the word “fat” looked friendly and inviting in his logo design, with the word “liberation” looking strong and supportive. Bats started with a focus on the a, which could represent both acceptance and activism. “Fat Liberation Month is about both being accepting of your body and yourself and who you are, but also about this activism, making a movement to change the world.”
NAAFA Statement of Support and Accountability
We at NAAFA have been closely monitoring the situation Mikey Mercedes has brought to the community’s attention involving the harm that Lindo Bacon has caused to members of the Health at Every Size (HAES) and fat activist communities. We strongly oppose any institution or person that discriminates, causes harm, or impedes any fat person from the respect, equal opportunity, dignity, or rights we deserve.
We share this post as an offer of transparency around our own relationship with Lindo and HAES, and we encourage anyone who has still not done so, to read Mikey’s statement, as well as her follow-up tweets outlining accountability steps.
Driven to End Weight Stigma
In this piece for Women’s History Month 2022, Barbara Altman Bruno PhD gives us a glimpse into why she felt “driven” in working to end fat stigma and toward fat liberation. Dr. Bruno conveys some of the history of the fat acceptance/fat liberation movement from her perspective, the beginnings of Health At Every Size and her work in preserving our history for the future.
Black History Month And Black History Always
A personal reflection on Black History Month and a look at today’s questions surrounding Black leadership in NAAFA and fat liberation spaces from NAAFA’s Board Chair, Tigress Osborn.
“We see fat Black leadership in other social justice movements at the time of NAAFA’s founding. What does whiteness have to do with why we don’t see Black leadership, or even much Black participation, in early NAAFA? What does anti-Blackness have to do with it? Is there simply more urgency of other issues for Black folx (then? now?), or is there discomfort in these spaces for Black people (then? now?), or are Black people simply not interested in NAAFA (then? now?). The questions feel rhetorical, but they’re not.
If you’re wondering how we got from my first grade memory of Black History Month to the difficult questions NAAFA and other fat lib spaces have to answer about lack of intersectionality in the history of fat community, here’s how…”
The NAAFA Community Voices Blog has a new Editor!
We're excited to introduce you to Janet Conroy-Quirk, who is taking on the role of Blog Editor of the NAAFA Community Voices Blog. Janet will work with our communications team to grow readership and build relationships with new writers. Welcome Janet!
Meet NAAFA’s New Board Members
NAAFA wrapped up 2021 with a very successful board search. We are thrilled to welcome the six new fat community leaders to our Board of Directors! Join us in welcoming them to the NAAFA Board of Directors.
Their bios and pics were provided by each new board member and featured in this posting.
NAAFA 2021 Year in Review
As I reflect on this year, I’m so proud of folx on the NAAFA team at every level, not only of our accomplishments, but also of the ways we have challenged each other, worked through difficult issues, grown and created opportunities for others to grow. We got soooooo much done this year. I’ve outlined some highlights here, but they are really only a fraction of all we achieved. We hope that our work is evident to our community, and more than that, we hope each of you finds it meaningful in one way or another.
YOUR FEEDBACK NEEDED ON FAT LIBERATION MONTH 2021
Thank you to everyone who made our first Fat Liberation Month such a success!
We're already thinking about next year! What did we do well? What needs improvement? We would love your input! To share your thoughts about Fat Liberation Month 2021, please fill out our FLM Evaluation Form.
The History of Health at Every Size®: Chapter 7: The Early 21st Century
HAES® and the war against obesity responded increasingly to each other by the 21st century. The war against obesity ramped up to what sociologist Abigail Saguy referred to as a moral panic, from the late 1990s on. This post discusses the history of Health at Every Size in the early 21st century.
#NAAFAGivingTuesday
#NAAFAGivingTuesday is your opportunity to support the work of NAAFA and specific programs that work to support you. This year, our #NAAFAGivingTuesday campaign focuses on the NAAFA Webinar Series program. Help us help fat community and others who want to learn by supporting this essential program!
NAAFA Adds Four New Board Members
The Board of Directors of the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance (NAAFA) is excited to announce the addition of four new members to its national Board of Directors. The variety of skills and experience of the new members will help propel NAAFA forward as we develop programs and resources to end the discrimination against fat people and realize Equality at Every Size.