Legitimate Voices in Fat Acceptance: Regina Benjamin

Even for those of us who believe in the system, political discourse about fat is pretty disappointing.  I mean, there is almost no discourse.  Fat acceptance is not a mainstream issue, even in the progressive world.  We only really hear about "the obesity epidemic".

I'm not sure what fat acceptance legislation would look like.  Cracking down on weight-related discrimination in the workplace?  Regulating the diet industry?  (Weight is not a protected class.  I did not realize that.)

These are serious problems, although I know government spending has other priorities right now.  Fat acceptance does not necessarily ask for laws to change, but it asks people to change their very firmly-held world views.  And in order to ask people, largely women, of all shapes and sizes, to reexamine their societally-imposed self-hatred and constant feeling of competition with one another, we're going to need public figures with strong voices, a lot of influence, and a respectable knowledge base to add their voices to the cause.

Look, I may be an ally, and I may be Phat as hell, but my influence is quite limited.  (A brief shout-out to my 5 followers, you guys are the best.)  My knowledge is limited by my own non-fat/non-professional experience and my reading.

So there's some one I want you to meet.

Regina Benjamin, MD, MBA, the 18th Surgeon General of the United States.
Google her.  I mean, you don't have to.

First, let's take a look at her undeniable credentials.  First of all, she is our first Surgeon General appointed from a private practice (non-military appointee).  What did she do at her private practice?  She campaigned for health access for the poor in Alabama, her home state, and is a strong, ongoing advocate for women's reproductive rights, encouraging all medical schools to encourage abortion training.  Her awards include a Nelson Mandela Award for Health and Human Rights, the honor of being the first person under 40 (and first black woman) to be appointed to the board of the AMA, and, oh, a MacArthur Genius Grant. 

(For a great post on this, check out Unapologetically Fat.)

Of course, many major mainstream news outlets did not lose a chance to celebrate this historic nomination.  Oh, who am I kidding: I mean the very important news story that a fat woman had been nominated for Surgeon  General. 

There's this gem from ABC: Critics Slam Overweight Surgeon General Pick, Regina Benjamin. 

Bloggers on Salon.com speculated that Benjamin is 40 pounds overweight, perhaps a size 18. The nominee didn't return calls from ABCNews.com, so there is no information about how much she weighs or her eating and exercise habits.

Well, isn't that surprising.  And the always-classy Michael Karolchyk, featured on Fox News:

Would you want Michael Jackson's doctors to be in charge of drug control at the DEA? The bottom line is it's a symbolic position and obesity is the number one issue facing our country in terms of the health and wellness and she has shown not that she was born this way, not that she woke up one day and was obese, she has show through being lazy, and making poor food choices, that she's obese.

And of course, a bunch of stupid concern-troll stuff all over the Internet.  This one is from Washington Post Voices:

Some even say that her weight may help her better understand other people's struggles to maintain a healthy body size and in turn may help the general public relate to her better. Think Oprah.

To me, this epitomizes our society's obsession with obesity as *the* most important health concern of our generation, and the obesity narrative as one of loss of control and willpower.  

But may they be right?  Just listen to her radical ideas on health, hatched from her evil plot to keep America obese.