The New York Times On Fat Acceptance
A couple of people have sent me this link this morning, and thank you very much to all of you! The New York Times has written an article about de-stigmatizing fat, the fat acceptance movement, and the genetics of obesity. An absolute must-read.
But some activists and academics, part of a growing social movement known as fat acceptance, suggest that we rethink this war — as well as our definition of health itself. Fat-acceptance activists insist you can’t assume someone is unhealthy just because he’s fat, any more than you can assume someone is healthy just because he’s slim. (They deliberately use the word “fat” as a way to reclaim it, much the way some gay rights activists use the word “queer.”)
Rather, they say, we should focus on health measurements that are more meaningful than numbers on a scale… This is a core argument of fat acceptance: that it’s possible to be healthy no matter how fat you are and that weight loss as a goal is futile, unnecessary and counterproductive — and that fatness is nobody’s business but your own…
Scientists who study obesity at the cellular level say genetics determines people’s natural weight range, right down to the type and amount of food they crave, how much they move and where they accumulate fat. Asking how someone got to be so fat is as meaningless as asking how he got to be so tall.
Thank you New York Times! It’s great to see this common sense point of view gaining wider legitimacy in the media.
Posted by mo pie
Filed under: Advocacy, Fat Positive, Health, Media, Science, Tidbit
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Something to remember is that many people simply use “health” as a proxy for attractiveness.
For instance, some husband might say that he wants his wife to be healthier, even though he is not even sure if she is particularly unhealthy. What he does know is that he wishes that she was thinner, but it sounds better if he says that she should improve her health.
Same goes for many parents, they simply wish that their son or daughter was not so fat, so, they worry about there health.
If “health” were about actual health, we’d have a lot more discussion of numbers other than weight and BMI. Like, say, cholesterol and blood pressures, blood glucose levels and thyroid ranges. That all the talk about health still revolves around weight leads me to think that the emphasis isn’t on health at all, but rather the appearance of health.
As Usually Lurking points out above, there’s a growing movement to couch familiar aesthetic revulsion to fat as instead a concern for one’s “health.” “Honey, I’m concerned about your health” sounds a lot less harsh and self-absorbed than “Honey, I can’t stand that you’re fat.”
Anyway, I’m also glad to see HAES make the news. I just wish publications other than the NY Times would take notice of it.
Rachel, from the second paragraph:
I agree with Usually Lurking that a lot of people use “health” as a proxy for “attractive”. Of course, I’ve also had people pull the “but you’re not fat” and “but you’re healthy” cards with me (Jesus fucking Christ, I am NOT a little pudgy, I am FAT) because I “look good” and “carry it well” – which I guess means I have boobs and good posture and know how to dress?
I cannot agree more with the two comments above. I went for a routine physical years ago, carrying about 20 pounds of extra weight.
I was subjected to a half-hour long lecture from the doctor about the detrimental effects of my weight on my health, and sent packing with orders to eat no more than 1,000 calories a day. I protested that I worked out multiple times a week and would pass out from lack of calories, but he persisted.
When my bloodwork, etc. came back, it showed that I was perfectly healthy. Low cholesterol, low blood pressure, everything where it should be. Despite deeming it an “excellent” health profile, the notes section read, “continue to follow low calorie diet, as discussed.”
Because I couldn’t possibly be healthy while I was fat.
About ten years ago, I had the same experience as Cat above. The crazy thing was that I was 135 pounds at 5’8 at the time. I went in for routine physical and was told that all my tests came out perfectly, but that I should lose at least ten pounds!!!!! I’m still shaken by that experience
I hate Doctors and avoid them like the plague… Because of that, I never ever go unless I need a prescription for something. When I do, I go to a clinic type place, I don’t have a “my doctor” that gets repeat business or anything.
The last time I went it was due to a sinus infection that I needed antibiotics for. The Dr. insisted on doing a physical, and I had insurance at the time, so I figured I may as well. When it came around the time to do my blood pressure he looked confused… paused, and did it again. He said he got the same result, but it couldn’t be right, so he called in a nurse to do it a 3rd time… Same result. He told me what it was, and I forget the actual numbers, but really don’t know what’s good or bad, so I was really nervous. I thought maybe my bp was so bad that I would drop dead that day, judging by his “OMG IT CAN’T BE” reaction. So I asked “is that really that bad?” And he said “no, it’s quite good”. I said “Is there a reason that surprised you so much that you had to re-run the test 3 times?”
He sorta muttered something about my weight and moved on to whatever the next test was. Looking back, I wish I had said more, but I really didn’t know what to say, and I was so relieved about NOT being on the brink of death that I just let it slide.
Whereas it is not necessary that an overweight person is unhealthy, weight often leads to lots of problems if not controlled in time. It is all very good, feeling good about being overweight but you can do a lot more if you can get rid of the excessive fat that encumbers your body. Although I totally agree that focus should always be on being healthy rather than “looking attractive” because the definition of looking attractive differs from person to person. The problem arises when people become too obsessive about how they should look rather than how they should feel from within.
~~ Sarah ~~
It is all very good, feeling good about being overweight but you can do a lot more if you can get rid of the excessive fat that encumbers your body.
*Rolls eyes* Obviously, someone didn’t bother reading the linked article. At all.
You can do a hell of a lot more for your health — physical and mental — if you eat adopt healthy and mindful eating habits, move your body in activities that you enjoy and stop obsessing over weight and weight loss.
The jury is utterly out as to whether obesity is a guarantee for health problems later in life. There just isn’t conclusive evidence. For every headline that screams “fat kills!” there is another to indicate that cancer, diabetes and heart disease are age-related.
I work in the main stream media, and my inbox is plied with press releases that amount to handwringing about childhood obesity.
This frightens me. If 95 percent of people gain more weight than they’ve lost with each cycle of dieting and exercise, making weight loss a priority of educators and pediatric care pretty much promises that these children will be fatter than they would if we adopted a national health policy that aligns with Health At Every Size philosophies.
One thing I think about this article tho, is, what about the fat people that *aren’t* healthy (as according to those numerical standards)? I mean, it’s great for those of us fat people who exercise and try to eat healthfully and somehow between those things and a some good genes thrown in, our numbers are in the “normal” ranges.
But according to that article, 1/2 of people classified as “overweight” and 2/3 of people classified as “obese” do not have numbers in the healthy ranges. And I guess what I’d like to say is that even for those people (and the many thin people who also have high blood pressure, etc.) they still deserve to be treated with kindness by doctors and don’t need to be riddled with shame and guilt.
Even though right now I am in good health, and fat, who knows if this will always be the case. High blood pressure runs in my family and that might be something I have to deal with as I get older (right now I’m in my early 30s). And I guess I don’t want us to just say, “Hey, let’s stop stigmatizing and judging fat people. Let’s instead stigmatize and judge people who have high blood pressure or cholesterol or whatever.” I don’t think people should be treated poorly or judged as sub-human or otherwise stigmatized because of poor health, and sometimes in these “Hooray for us fat people with perfect numbers in our blood tests!” I wonder how it makes people feel who are fat (or not) and *don’t* have awesome blood test results.
While there certainly seems to be a genetic predisposition towards weight gain for some people, the attitude that its all predestined is just so much hooey. If that was the case, then a) we’d be approximately the same weight as a nation that we were 50 years ago (genetics don’t change that fast), and b) people couldn’t dramatically change their own weight.
This in no way excuses people who use weight as a way to make judgements on health, whether someone is a “good person”, et cetera. Its not saying that someone should necessarily choose to be thinner or fatter. But saying that we have no control over our own bodies is, by and large, just as bad an incorrect generalization.
All of the above comments are provable. I hereby justify and commemorate on each and every post. that is all.