Editing Fat acceptance movement (section)

===Gender===

====Fat women====
{{Main|Big Beautiful Woman|Fat feminism}}
[[File:Kira Nerusskaya 2 by David Shankbone.jpg|left|thumb|Documentary filmmaker Kira Nerusskaya released her film ''The [[Big Beautiful Woman|BBW]] World: Under the Fat!'' In 2008.]]

The issues faced by fat women in society have been a central theme of the fat acceptance movement since its inception. Although the first organization, National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance, and the first book, ''Fat Power'' (1970), were both created by men, in each case they were responses to weight discrimination experienced by their wives. Women soon started campaigning on their behalf with the first feminist group, 'The Fat Underground', being formed in 1973. Issues addressed regarding women have included [[body image]], and in particular the [[thin ideal]] and its effect on women. Critics say NAAFA, which opposes dieting and weight-loss surgery, is an apologist for an unhealthy lifestyle. But NAAFA says it does no such thing, that some people are just bigger and no less deserving of the same rights as everyone else.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Fletcher |first=Dan |title=A Brief History of the Fat-Acceptance Movement |url=http://content.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1913858,00.html |date=2009-07-31 |magazine=Time |access-date=2020-03-20 |language=en-US |issn=0040-781X}}</ref>

====Fat men====
The fat acceptance movement has primarily focused on a [[feminist]] model of [[patriarchal]] oppression of fat women, most clearly represented by the encouragement of women to diet. However, Sander L. Gilman argues that, until the 20th century, dieting has historically been a man's activity. He continues, "[[Obesity]] eats away at the idealized image of the [[masculine]] just as surely as it does the idealized image of the [[feminine]]."<ref>{{cite book |last=Gilman |first=Sander L. |title=Fat Boys: A Slim Book |year=2004 |publisher=University of Nebraska |isbn=978-0803221833 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/fatboysslimbook00gilm/page/1 1]–10 |url=https://archive.org/details/fatboysslimbook00gilm |url-access=registration |quote=fat men.}}</ref> [[William Banting]] was the author of an 1863 booklet called ''Letter On Corpulence'',<ref>{{Cite book |title=Letter on Corpulance |last=Banting |first=William |publisher=Cosimo, Inc. |year=2005 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=72Vzw7S4f2MC |isbn=9781596050853}}</ref> which modern diets have used as a model. Men respond to being [[overweight]] differently, (i.e., having a [[Body Mass Index]] of 25 or more), being half as likely as women to [[dieting|diet]], a quarter as likely to undergo [[bariatric|weightloss]] surgery and only a fifth as likely to report feeling [[shame]] about their weight.<ref>{{cite book |last=Oliver |first=J. Eric |title=Fat Politics: The Real Story Behind America's Obesity Epidemic |year=2005 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0195347029 |page=80 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DtQ0olwnQ4AC&q=fat+men}}</ref> Irmgard Tischner identifies this behavior as rooted in notions of masculinity that require disregard for healthcare: "Men do not have to care about their size or health, as they have women to care about those things for them".<ref>{{cite book |last=Tischner |first=Irmgard |title=Fat Lives: A Feminist Psychological Exploration |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0415680943 |pages=105–6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Oyz6VaOi7kQC&q=Men+sexualise+fat |year=2013}}</ref>

Some [[gay men]] have moved beyond disregard for size to fat acceptance and fat activism with movements like [[Chub (gay slang)|chub culture]], which started as [[Girth & Mirth]] clubs in San Francisco in 1976<ref>{{cite web |last=Suresha |first=Ron |title=The Birth of Girth and Mirth: an interview with Reed Wilgoren |url=http://ronsuresha.com/?p=4093 |date=2016-02-07 |access-date=2017-04-08 |archive-date=2017-04-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170409112331/http://ronsuresha.com/?p=4093 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and the [[Bear (gay culture)|bear culture]] which [[Sexual fetishism|fetishizes]] big, hairy men. Ganapati Durgadas argues that fat bisexual and gay men "are reminders of the feminine [[social stigma|stigma]] with which [[heterosexism]] still tars queer men". In a comparison of queer fat positive [[zine]]s, the lesbian-produced ''Fat Girl'' was found to have political debate content absent from gay male orientated zines such as ''Bulk Male'' and ''Big Ad''. Joel Barraquiel Tan comments: "If fat is a feminist issue, then fat or heft is a fetishized one for gay men. Gay men tend to sexualize difference, where lesbians have historically politicized it."<ref>{{cite book |last=LeBesco |first=Kathleen |title=Revolting Bodies? The Struggle To Redefine Fat Identity |year=2004 |publisher=University of Massachusetts Press |isbn=978-1558494299 |page=90 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W7Wz4EKksUcC&q=men+sexualize+their+fat}}</ref>

A fat heterosexual man is known as a "Big Handsome Man" (BHM), in counterpart to a Big Beautiful Woman. Like some fat and gay men, BHMs have sexualized their difference and receive validation of this identity from BBWs or straight women known as "Female Fat Admirers".<ref>{{cite book |last=Monaghan |first=Lee F. |title=Men and the War on Obesity: A Sociological Study |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0415407120 |page=53 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fP14YLpzR_kC&q=big+Handsome+Men |year=2008}}</ref>