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(originally published in the NAAFA’s February 2010 newsletter)

Despite reports of an impending snow storm and the early afternoon call time, pro-fat supporters from all over the New York City area showed up and participated in the taping of Nightline’s Face Off: “Is It Okay To Be Fat?” It felt like a mini-NAAFA convention as NAAFA folks greeted each other warmly in the lobby.

The crowd at the event was small but lively, and at least fifty percent were there to support the pro-fat side of the debate.  That side was ably and eloquently represented by Marianne Kirby, co-author of Lessons from the Fat-O-Sphere and blogger for The Rotund, and Crystal Renn, model and author of Hungry: A Young Model’s Story of Appetite, Ambition, and the Ultimate Embrace of Curves.  MeMe Roth, President of the National Action Against Obesity and Kim Bensen, author of Finally Thin were on the anti-fat side.  Juju Chang of Nightline was the moderator.  Happily, she seemed to be relatively unbiased toward either side.  Also present was Nightline regular, Dr. Richard Besser.

As the debate got started, Ms. Chang requested civility from the debaters and the crowd.  Things remained relatively polite, until Ms. Roth quoted a statistic that, allegedly, obese people have 4% smaller brains than non-obese people.  A member of the audience began to argue with her while Ms. Kirby was speaking, and Ms. Roth had to partly take back her statement.  A number of groans and guffaws followed from members of the audience, particularly when Ms. Bensen made a heartfelt statement about “calories in, calories out” and Ms. Roth argued that it was good to “harness the power of stigmatization to fight obesity.”

Once the debate was opened up to questions from the audience, there was an incredible mix of thoughtful questions and obvious posturing.  Ms. Roth had been arguing throughout the debate that fat people should pay more for health insurance, and one woman thoughtfully asked her if she also thought that minorities and poorer people should pay more for insurance, because, like fat people, as a category they allegedly cost the system more.  Ms. Kirby also made the great point that because of well-documented discrimination against fat people, they often do not receive quality healthcare or end up waiting to go to the doctor because of ill-treatment.

One of the most poignant questions came from NAAFA member Ivan Greene, who asked Ms. Roth why she pushes dieting when diets don’t work for 95% of people.  Surprisingly, Ms. Roth didn’t dispute that statistic.  Her only response was that people shouldn’t stop trying to lose weight, despite that fact.

Throughout the debate, Ms. Kirby kept noting where both sides had common ground, namely, that they all agree that everyone should have access to diverse and healthy fresh food.  But when asked to give their closing statements, it became especially clear how far apart the two sides were.  Ms. Kirby noted, that “[her] body and [her] health doesn’t look like everyone else’s” and that “it’s dangerous to judge everyone and their health levels on this one factor.”  Ms. Renn, who had earlier called out Ms. Roth on being both “fat-phobic” and probably “pro-anorexic” made the argument that our dieting culture keeps people down, especially women, and creates a society where we “have difficulty with acceptance and self-confidence.”

On the other side, Ms. Benson’s final statement was that we shouldn’t give up on dieting.  I expected Ms. Roth to say something similar, but instead she made a new argument, stating that we need to deal with obesity by nipping it in the bud in children while in utero through age five.  I wonder if they’ll edit out the collective gasp.

Nightline’s “Face Off: Is It Okay To Be Fat?” airs on February 22nd at 11:30PM on ABC.