Acceptance is a beautiful concept, “Fat Acceptance” not so much.

This is because its seemingly positive message can have devastating outcomes when applied to real life.

How?

Food Education vs Fat Culture

Our generation is constantly exposed to an overabundance of food, especially of white sugar.

In fact, if modern feminists realized they are oppressed by white sugar as much as they think they are oppressed by white males, it would be a big step towards solving the obesity epidemic.

Sugar (unlike males) is addictive, and our society doesn’t encourage moderation.

A better food education would allow people to make informed and responsible choices when it comes to their diet, but food education is not as available as we may think.

It is rarely discussed in schools, and since most American families do not sit together for meals kids are not likely to learn it from their parents.

The Fat Acceptance movement could take advantage of its popularity to talk about better food choices, but what happened so far is the exact opposite.

Feminist website Hellogiggles.com (co-funded by actress and singer Zooey Deschanel) is one of the main online platforms to promote Fat Acceptance.

Its fourteen million readers (mostly teenage girls) are systematically brainwashed into thinking that you are born fat and nothing can fix it.

At the same time they are bombarded with fast food commercials disguised as articles.

Why would any of these girls bother with food education when a hot Hollywood actress tells them they can be fat, beautiful, and get free McMuffins for eating at Taco Bell?

Who are the people who promote fat acceptance?

Plenty of bloggers and Youtube stars promote the “Body Positive movement,” but are their lifestyles really that positive?

Let’s take two examples:

Tess Holliday

A size 22 model recently featured in Vogue Italia.

While so busy trying to redefine female beauty standards, she seems to have forgotten all about the “fat can be healthy” side of Fat Acceptance.

She doesn’t even pretend to worry about her health, and probably doesn’t understand that her diet (documented on her Instagram @tessholliday) reaches fat girls all over the world who consider her a role model.

If underweight models have a bad influence on young people, though we don’t know what they eat or whether they are clinically anorexic or just naturally thin, is Tess Holliday really any better?

Sarah Rae Vargas

A Youtuber with hundreds of thousands of subscribers.

Her vlog “Dear Fat Girl…” is entirely dedicated to body image.

In one of her videos she explains how when she was eight years old she stopped eating breakfast and lunch, and wouldn’t eat anything until after 5pm. She is now twenty five and continues with this eating habit.

She started skipping meals because, according to her, fat people are judged when they eat in public.

Maybe, if they eat enough to feed a small army.

It is hard not to judge people for eating in one sitting what we couldn’t finish in a few days.

What I’ve never heard though is someone saying “Look at that fattie with the salad” or “Is she really gonna eat those carrots?” You can’t call it fat shaming if it’s only in your head, Sarah.

Now I wonder, is it fat acceptance that she needs, or a better food education?

It spreads false information

-You can be fat without any of the side effects of being fat.-

I mean, I’m sure that would be great, but it doesn’t sound very realistic.

Some people are fat despite a healthy diet due to hormonal problems or medications, but that doesn’t mean they won’t suffer from other problems related to obesity.

According to many “body positive” activists, one of the best ways to start accepting your body is to appreciate its capabilities: your arms are strong, your legs carry you all day, everyday.

This may be true for some people when they are still teenagers, but growing older they will have to face a whole new reality.

Their arms will increasingly lose strength, and the effort their legs endured carrying them everyday for years will eventually cause them joint problems.

I wonder if they will still think cute plus-size underwear is empowering when shortness of breath will be part of their everyday life.

When in doubt, get offended

Did you know that you can not even say plus size anymore without being accused of fat shaming?

Today, truly politically correct people say “her size” because we would not want people to “feel stigmatized or uncomfortable.”

A girl walks into a store and says “excuse me, do you have skirts her size?”

“Whose size?”

“Her size!”

“Miss, you’re here alone, whose size are you talking about?”

“Do you have size 22 skirts?”

“Oh, you mean plus size”

“You can’t say plus size! You’re supposed to make me feel comfortable in my own body instead of promoting unhealthy beauty standards.”

Imagine the confusion.

So what?

Loving your body and accepting it are two different things.

Loving your body means wanting to improve it, not passively accepting it as it is.

We are supposed to feel uncomfortable if we think our weight is unhealthy, and training ourselves to ignore these feelings may cure the symptoms but it will not solve the problem.

We need to become realistically self aware, and stop living in denial: love comes with its fair share of responsibilities.

Your nutritionist and your doctor are the people who should tell you to stop worrying about losing weight, not tumblr.