Thanks so much for all the work you do, Bill! I know we’re always learning and growing and I feel honored to learn from people like Jessica.

I have enormous respect for what Jessica Wilson stands for, and my own thinking about the size acceptance and Health At Every Size® (HAES) movements has been affected by her work. We had a brief overlap in our service on the ASDAH board a few years ago, at which time my own attitude about the intersection of white supremacy, apartheid, and fatness, needed some work. (ASDAH is the Association for Size Diversity and Health.) Looking back, as an average-size white man, I did not have enough lived experience to consider myself enlightened on the subject.

I had done years of work (since 1969, the year I founded the NAAFA organization) trying to make life fairer for fat people, but somehow, racial issues played second fiddle. A number of authors, including Jessica, helped improve my attitude.

Her interview in the New York Times several years ago was very helpful.

Finally, I am in total opposition to the new AAP guidelines, as is Jessica. Actually, my late daughter was spoken to harshly by her pediatrician when she was age 7, about her slightly-chubby thighs. She developed an eating disorder that lasted 20 years. Most people would consider that the loss of my daughter should be motivation enough for me to be keenly interested in this topic!

These days, as an officer of the CSWD (Council on Size & Weight Discrimination), I am making sure that racial inclusivity is high on our project agenda. Much of that work is done on the social media, in particular LinkedIn.