Realism and Sacredness

I remember being still in grad school when a fellow student, the wonderful Anni Kirkland, wrote the dissertation that led to her book Fat Rights . It was the first time I was exposed to the context of litigation in particular, and rights discourse in general, regarding weight, and I found the ideas provocative and fascinating. The area of fat studies was still in its early days--a far cry from today's assortment of political, fashion, culinary, socio-cultural blogs devoted to fat pride and combating discrimination and disparagement of fat people. In most milieus, weight loss is still promoted as an ideal, and fat people are treated in shameful ways in doctors' offices, in the street, and even at gyms and yoga studios (I'm proud to teach and exercise at two places that welcome everyone at every size, but that is unfortunately not the norm.) That said, because of the progressive milieu I spend much of my time with, I read and hear a lot from the Health At Every Size (HAES) ...