Jay and I were excited to enter the 6th Grade classroom in an Atlanta middle school to give our presentation. We had plans to speak with three classes of children about learning to love themselves and their bodies in the diversity of shapes and sizes they came in.
The Presentation
Recognizing the responsibility of speaking to children about such an important issue, I was admittedly a little nervous to speak publicly about it, but with Jay by my side there was nothing to fear. We were curious how girls would react to our presentation compared to boys. At this particular school, we had completely homogeneous sets of kids: only girls in two classes and only boys in one. We gave our presentation in about 45 minutes. We talked about the stereotypes about fat people in society, why these are wrong and how they hurt people. We talked about the positive aspects of diversity with a focus on weight diversity. We briefly touched on how misconceptions are formed about people’s health based on their weight and how biases may guide these misconceptions.
Student Response
The kids were extremely engaged and active in the conversations we facilitated. They had a surprising number of smart and challenging questions, some of which reflected a rather refined understanding of discrimination based on size in our society. We hope that we were able to catch them at the right age (the kids in the group were ages 10-11), before they developed too many insecurities about their bodies. The kids who spoke up did not appear self-conscious about their size at all; they seemed to relate this issue more to their mothers and older siblings.
What the Students Took Away
Despite their attention and enthusiastic participation during the presentation, Jay and I wondered whether they would take away some of the basic messages we had discussed with them. Based on an evaluation form we were delighted to learn that the vast majority of the children thought they benefited from the presentation in an important way. In fact, the teacher told us that the students continue bringing videos and stories to class relating to the pressures on all of us to be conventionally “beautiful.”
One of the cool projects we planned for the kids was the “dress up Venus” from Marilyn Wann’s FAT!SO? Kids took home the little Willendorf Venus drawings and their many outfits and brought back colorful dressed cutouts. Some even designed their own clothes. There is now a dedicated area on the wall of their English classroom full of curvy Venus drawings, and the kids are loving it!
The teacher has since told us that others walk into the classroom and ask, “What’s with all the fat people on the wall.” She begins with, “Aren’t they beautiful!?” and then uses it as a teachable moment.
What I Got Out of These Presentations
Leaving the school after our presentations, I felt empowered and full of hope. I realized that children at a young age, when they are struggling with developing their identities, are so thankful for a message that tells them they are beautiful exactly the way they are. Elementary, middle and high school are tough, and we hope that we can continue making a difference by spreading the message that we are all beautiful and weight diversity is just one of the things that makes us unique.
