Show Fat Activist dispel Is lies at Leslie Conder a Contributing Writer Give me an F. F Give me an A. A Give me a T. T What does that spell Fat It may seem a little awkward to cheer such a word unless you are Marilyn Wann Fat activist and author of the book FatSo Marilyn Wann gave the skinny on being fat to a diverse audience It made sense that the audience would be made up lP of all different different differ differ- ent shapes and sizes because Wann Warm is trying to get people tobe tobe to tobe be okay with who they are From the beginning Wann drew in the audience with her humor and blunt honesty I used to be afraid of the F word but now I am not I came out as a fat person she said Wann made the audience into anthropologists and asked them to give her words that society uses in correlation with the words fat and thin It was interesting that everyone agreed with everyone else about how we view people All of the words on the fat side were negative for the most part and in return all of the words describing thinness were tive Wann stated it be great if we could erase the line between thin and fat and just be Wann gave haunting statistics statistics statistics statis statis- tics about how society has instilled in us fear of fat people that we dont don't even realize we have One statistic is that a landlord is 50 percent less likely likely likely like like- ly to give a fat person housing Wann also discussed the three fat lies that we are fed everyday The first being that people choose what they w weigh The second weight equals health The third lie is aesthetics fat is ugly thin is beautiful With these lies Wann then gave truths to dispel them along with new ways to think about them A lot of what we weigh is genetics so instead of choosing choosing choosing choos choos- ing what we weigh how about about we celebrate what we weigh Celebrate weight diversity she said She also talked about health at every size Thin does not equal healthy as well as fat does not equal unhealthy she said Wann talked about a time where she went to 24 Hour Fitness health club and saw a picture of an under under- neath there was a line that stated stated stated stat stat- ed When they come they will eat the fat ones first In response to this Wann gathered gathered gath gath- gathered ered a couple of her friends and together they worked out outside of that gym while holding holding hold hold- holding ing I signs that said eat me This was the beginning of Wann helping to pass the ordinance regarding height and weight in San Francisco Wann discussed how we need to get rid of the cookie cutter mold that we need to love who we are If you cant can't be at home in your own skin where are you supposed to go she mused Wann also talked about how Americans are fed so much hate through the media that her book counts as counter ganda Wann made the night fly by with her wit facts and willingness willing willing- ness to say what everyone knows but is too afraid to say Her openness was refreshing along with her private handshakes handshakes hand hand- handshakes shakes bumping bellies with audience members Fat people are not by definition definition definition lazy or stupid People who believe in such stereotypes stereotypes stereotypes stereo stereo- types however are I |