"Who Ate All The Pies?"
A great BBC article about fat prejudice. I love that there is an obesity-related organization out there called "Toast."
"Prejudice against the overweight is such that they are less likely to get a job and can earn less when they do. A Liverpool University study found preconceptions about the obese extended to their friends, who were judged less attractive than those with slim companions... Other potential pitfalls are being stared at by schoolchildren, being spoken to slowly and dealing with people's shock when you eat fruit or exercise."
I hope my "slim companions" don't break up with me now. Thanks to Juju for the link!
"Prejudice against the overweight is such that they are less likely to get a job and can earn less when they do. A Liverpool University study found preconceptions about the obese extended to their friends, who were judged less attractive than those with slim companions... Other potential pitfalls are being stared at by schoolchildren, being spoken to slowly and dealing with people's shock when you eat fruit or exercise."
I hope my "slim companions" don't break up with me now. Thanks to Juju for the link!
posted by mo pie at 1:59 PM
4 Comments:
"People's ambitions may well be to be slimmer and we would never disagree with that, but the great majority of us are never going to look like poster girls," says Ms Swinden.
Quote from the article- this is where I diverge with this whole issue. Why is it that people keep using this argument? There is a huge span of weight between "poster girls" and "obese". I don't think the majority of doctors and others who are battling the "obesity epidemic" are going for all of us to be models- just healthier, leaner people.
For myself, I will never feel "fat acceptance"- but I don't judge others for being overweight- hell, my whole family (parents and siblings) are overweight- and so am I. And schoolchildren stare if you are short or tall or black or handicap or white or anything else that might be different than they are- perhaps we are all just a tad defensive on this subject because we are unhappy being overweight? Just a thought.
Critics say that not only do overweight people know diets don't work, but dwelling on the idea that extra pounds are "bad" heightens the one remaining acceptable prejudice - fattism.
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Despite their anger at the blame heaped on the overweight, even those campaigning for greater acceptance recognise that it's unhealthy to be carrying extra pounds.And that's the real key, I think. There are some people - often those pushing for "acceptance" - who refuse to see that there are very real dangers of severe obesity. That doesn't mean that someone who's obese is any less of a person, but a lot of the arguments are the equivelent of saying that recommending breast cancer screenings for women is discrimatory.
Well intentioned as they may be, the healthy eating campaigns are simply adding to the problem...Encouraging mainstream folk to be more accepting of others is a good thing. Trying to disuade other people from becoming healthier so that you feel better about your own chosen lifestyle or physical difficulties? Not so good.
I don't think that's really an accurate description of the size acceptance movement - there are a few people in a few organizations who may somewhat fit that characterization, but as a whole the movement promotes "health at any size," which is intended to encourage us to obtain the greatest level of health we can, _regardless_ of our weight. It's hardly an endorsement of obesity.
I found the "we live in a blame culture" quote notable. With possibly a third of adults obese, it's time for the medical community, media, and general public to drop the moral posturing and spend energy on prevention and treatment, and to examine environmental and lifestyle causes without prejudice. There's such a desire to BLAME fat people for their condition that we may be overlooking important information about how best to prevent and treat it. And sometimes I wonder how serious anyone is about "curing" it - after all, the diet industry makes a LOT of money without even being effective. WLS is becoming more and more popular, and bringing in big bucks. And while everyone always talks of the medical costs associated with obesity, there is also the savings when people die young and receive less Medicare and other services. Ugly thought, but not necessarily untrue (http://www.reason.com/sullum/072304.shtml)
I'm all for RESPONSIBILITY for all parts of our lives, but I'm sure tired of hearing the BLAME talk.
My greatest concern about fattism has to do with just how insidious the prejudice is. And how acceptable.
Consider:
Passing for thin now, (thank you Frances Kuffel), it's become astonishing to me just how openly dirisive people are about, how they feel free to joke about or comment on overweight people. The two main emotions: disgust and pity. I'm flabbergasted by this. Sometimes it's the very same people I lived among when I was very overweight. Was I the subject of their disgust/pity? Well, of course.
Consider:
Research performed by the Rudd Institute showing that medical care, housing hunts, education, as well as social life are all very much affected by this disgust/pity prejudice.
I'm knocked backward by the force of these opinions some days. Forming and rehearsing come-back lines that will help people stop and think about what they are saying and doing when they make assumptions or lash out or somehow make someone else's weight their business.
And I suppose that's the very bottom of it for me always. Other people's weight is not my business. My weight is my business. Maybe it's also my business to try to help make an environment that encourages healthier behaviors. But making somebody else's weight my business? No. Not their weight, not what goes on in their uterus. Not what goes on in their bedroom. No. We have to have boundaries. We just have to.
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