A 'fat-in' was staged in New York's Central Park in 1967. Like other social movements from this period, the fat acceptance movement, initially known as 'Fat Pride', 'Fat Power', or 'Fat Liberation', often consisted of people acting in an impromptu fashion. This kind of political climate was the background of the fat acceptance movement, which originated in the late 1960s. First wave įirst wave activities consisted of isolated activists drawing attention to the dominant model of obesity and challenging it as only one of several possible models.ĭuring the early part of the 20th century, obesity was seen as detrimental to the community, via decreasing human efficiency, and that obese people interfere with labor productivity in the coastal areas of the United States. Cooper believes that fat activists have suffered similar waves of activism followed by burnout, with activists in the following wave often unaware of the history of the movement, resulting in a lack of continuity.
Sociologist Charlotte Cooper has argued that the history of the fat activist movement is best understood in waves, similar to the feminist movement, with which she believes it is closely tied. The history of the fat acceptance movement can be dated back to 1967 when 500 people met in New York's Central Park to protest against anti-fat bias.
