Elephant In The Room By M. Patrick Doherty

Can someone explain to me how if two thirds of us are "overweight," then why are we virtually invisible in media representation? Well, not invisible. We can always be called upon for comic relief, the perky sidekick, the foil or the villain.

We know that what people watch on TV or read in their newspaper influences how they view and treat the people around them. Try to think of the last time you watched a plus-size character treated as an equal. Try to think of the last time a plus-sized person was represented with depth, intelligence and courage. If you are having a hard time, you are not alone.

When we started "Fat on Film," we wanted to talk about positive role models in cinema. Real people, perhaps flawed, but ultimately something more than the caricatures of a stereotype. We wanted to see the plus-size entrepreneur struggling with a start up venture. We want to see a plus-size news reporter or could you imagine an anchor? We wanted to see you and me, as we are - living, breathing, loving, and struggling. We wanted to see true and inclusive representation of the two thirds of adults who have somehow become invisible to Madison Avenue.

I can tell you, if you wait for "them" to come around - you won't live to see the day. It is up to us. We must demand it, we must not tolerate abuses, and we must back it up with our dollars. Imagine if instead of being silent, we joined together - all 129.6 million of us - and said, "Enough!"

When we go from invisible, to part of the everyday mainstream, we become real, we share the same common traits as everyone else, and our stories erase the stereotypical boundaries created by a media obsessed with beauty, youth and body fat. We are your brother, your mother, your aunt, your teacher, and your co-worker. We are real people with real feelings. We struggle like you do, we love like you do and we will not tolerate being treated unfairly by the media or by anyone else for that matter.

Yes, there is an elephant in the room. And, it's ready to charge. We will challenge value-laden words such as overweight, we will confront inaccurate, stereotypical portrayals of our community and we will be seen. We will not buy into a $46.0 billion diet industry making money off our insecurities. We will not tolerate government programs that ostracize our children - the very same government that has cut funding to athletics and after school programs. And that's just the beginning.

Yes, the Fat Lady is singing and she's not happy. But it's not over...