SUMMARY

FAT AND HAPPY-MARY RAY WORLEY

INTRODUCTION
The article FAT AND HAPPY is written by Mary Ray Worley in which she has written how the
society treats the fat people, on the other hand she has stated her experience of being fat but then,
how witnessing some things she realized that being fat isn’t a problem. The transition of her hate
for her fat body, to loving her body and happily motivating herself to an active and healthy life.
SUMMARY
In this article, Mary firstly states how being fat in the twentieth-century American society is not
acceptable and is nearly considered a sin or liability which gives others an excuse to bully fat
people such as making rude comments about their body size. Moving on, Mary then elaborates
how there are people in world who accept their bodies as it is, she has shared her experience at
the annual convention of the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance (NAAFA) in San
Diego to support her point. She explains how the scenario in san Diego was totally different to
normal as there were fat people wearing swimsuits made of beautiful fabric along with such
outfits which are normally not even available in sizes that large, she has referred to this as a
“different planet”. Furthermore, she mentions the fat old belly dancers as well as their graceful
dressing and smooth dancing which sounded like a joke to her before after which she quotes Dr.
Diane Budd who spoke at NAAFA, that losing weight is not good for health as believed by many
people, also that those who loose weight, gain it back later and that there is no such research
about large body size being harmful. (Worley n.d.)
Moreover, the article holds the reality that how fat people are forced by their families and even
strangers, through their hurtful remarks which causes them to want to lose weight but on the
other hand, it causes anxiety in people resulting them not wanting to leave their houses or to go
in public at all. Similarly, these people even feel uncomfortable to go for medical help as doctors
first suggest them to diet before any treatment which makes them demotivated towards life.
Summing up, being fat is hated in the society due to which people spend loads of money on
losing weight but end up gaining the lost weight again later.
Being affected by all these things, Mary then tells how she realized that dieting became a
problem for her, so she stopped, she realized that dieting was a form of starvation that she didn’t
want her body to through instead she accepted her body and started eating healthy and soon
become a vegetarian. Rather than forcing herself to become slim by exercising or skipping
meals, she started to enjoy being active. When she noticed that she didn’t have enough stamina
to reach the vernal fall when they went on a trip to Yosemite, she set a goal for herself, worked
hard and finally gained enough energy to complete her goal. She has started to not only love her
body but is also thankful for it.
In the end, Mary has written that after years of hating our body, spending money on it to get the
ideal shape, being taunted because of its large size, being embarrassed and ashamed of it finally
people including herself are now starting to realize that being fat is not a sin, that having bulky
bodies do not mean they are damaged or not pretty, but it’s rather a opinion or more like mindset
of people that only slim people are pretty and ideal which no longer should be thought of.
Likewise, people should build a healthy relation with their bodies as it is a blessing, none should
feel self-conscious due to its weight or size but should embrace it like Mary does.
CONCLUSION
This article written by Mary Ray Worley is very important for those who are fat, as they can
relate to it, like I did but more importantly the article can affect some people such as make them
realize how being fat does not mean a bad thing. I liked this article a lot, and totally agree with
the writer on how this cruel world makes a fat persons life miserable and that should be stopped.