Fat and happy: in defense of fat acceptance by Mary Ray Worley - Essay Example

"Fat and happy: in defense of fat acceptance” by Mary Ray WorleyThe essay’s (Worley, n.d.) title reveals the theme that being fat is not a serious personal, social, and medical liability, and therefore should not cause unhappiness. The combination of the words “fat” and “happy” arouses interest in the reader and exposes, with the use of irony and cause and effect arguments, a glaring logical fallacy that the author goes on to demolish: fat people give the impression they are happy but they are not, because they believe the wrong notions people have about being fat.

Using “in defense” to imply the subject – the author’s reasons why and how “fatness” should and can gain acceptance – makes the essay relevant and provocative by challenging people on both sides of the issue.Objective and accurate summary of the essayThe essay begins by exaggerating common mistaken notions on how and why being fat is a personal, social, and medical liability, then provides evidences and examples for each to show why society developed the perception that the body defines and reflects who a person is.

Facts expose and dispel the logical fallacies underlying these notions to prove that fat people can be beautiful, gracious, elegant, strong, and healthy, just like you and me. Ignorance, incomplete knowledge, and personal biases being the roots of these mistakes, the essay proceeds to clarify, complete, and enhance our knowledge of “fatness” based on the author’s personal experiences. In correcting the mistakes, she leads to alternative solutions that cost less and are comfortable and enjoyable: to know and understand the body, to know why some are predisposed to being fat, and how to gain a deeper appreciation and acceptance of our bodies and who we really are.

Author’s presentationThe essay is serious but entertaining, lighthearted but credible, full of evidences familiar to both sides in the issue: fat people who feel miserable and the not fat who cause the misery. The essay is written to provoke a reaction from any reader with personal issues on the topic. She uses almost every technique of argumentation, filling the essay with analogies, assumptions, metaphors, and similes; using authority and common ground; appealing to emotions (pathos) and ethos (the author after all is fat); and stimulating the imagination with vivid descriptions of the inhabitants of the “planet” where fat is good and beautiful and not bad and ugly as they socialize in swimsuits and show their talents like belly-dancing.

A thoughtful response to the author’s views1Personally, I don’t have issues against fat people, although I have friends who do. I also have fat friends whom I have observed to be suffering the miserable consequences of non-acceptance. The author made me realize that there is an alternative way to help others see that being fat is good and beautiful, that fat people can be healthy and strong, and that being fat is neither a sign of weakness nor a disease. Understanding that these mistaken notions are the effect of faulty reasoning, a point driven home with the use of logical fallacies, I can avoid the same mistakes in the future and help others avoid them.

Logical fallaciesA logical fallacy is an error in argumentation due to faulty reasoning, where true premises may lead to false conclusions, therefore making the argument invalid. They look logical at first but are not. The essay shows that associating “fat” with “bad” is a logical fallacy, so people who think that way are guilty of believing the logical fallacy. Since logical fallacies are a sign of poor thinking, and having proven that wrong notions of fatness are due to logical fallacies, the hidden implication here is that people who think in the same mistaken way are stupid.

Knowing which of several types of logical fallacies to use in argumentation depends on the kind of reasoning to be proven faulty, defective, and a reflection of poor thinking. Works Cited ListWorley, Mary Ray. Fat and happy: in defense of fat acceptance. NAAFA Online. No date. 2 February 2006. .