I think it’s been pretty well demonstrated that people often react negatively to obesity. I have a feeling it’s because it falls under the superheading of “ugliness”. Now I know there’s a select few fetishists out there who think gross obesity is a major turn-on, and lots of folks who don’t mind a zaftig figure; but, realistically, the average Joe or Jane is at least mildly repulsed by the sight of rolls of flab.
It’s not secret that to the pretty go the spoils. The uglier you are, the more you have to work just to get people to be nice to you. This isn’t fair or just in any way. But if we get to the point as a society when we must legislate against appearancism, we’re probably all doomed; we will have reached the point where our most innate drives and preferences could be the subject of litigation. It would be an Orwellian-nightmare scenerio.
Sorry fatties. But take heart: Tomorrow some of you may be thin, while some thin people will still be ugly.
"Marilyn Wann, a co-director of the association, symbolises its attitude of be healthy and happy with the body you have. Her T-shirt asks loudly: ‘Fat!So?’. She says figures blaming obesity for hundreds of thousands of premature deaths in America are wrong: ‘Where are all the fat dead bodies?’ "
Stop by our hospital morgue, Marilyn. We’ve ordered a special lift so that pathologists and their assistants can get the over-400 pound bodies on the autopsy table without major back trauma.
Look, am not bothered if people are born who are naturally inclined to be a lil’ overweight, but people who just pile on the pounds and do nothing about it and even say their proud to be overweight, and have a drastically reduced lifespan and the prospect of diabetes, or the idea that you could die of a heart attack isn’t normal and shouldn’t be held as a positive ‘image’ thing at all. All this does is promote the idea that its a-ok to be lazy and not be bothered about self-image and the affects it has on their self esteem and health, what person who is over 300-400 pounds likes the idea of being that weight forever? Who are they kidding?
I agree that no individual obese person should be targeted with debasement. However, we do need to recognize that from a health perspective, it is not “okay” to be overweight or obese. Further, the epidemic America is facing with obesity is not just a problem for the obese people themselves. It places a great strain on our health resources to have to cope with the myriad ailments that are associated with obesity. Thus, obesity does impact us all in a negative way.
So, let me get this straight…I was diagnosed type 2 diabetes at 19. I was skinny [5’7", 110 - 120 lbs, depending on if i was menstruating and retaining excess fluids] until I was 33, when I gained about 200 lbs in a course of just over 2 years [but no, my thyroid is cranking out THS just fine, so the navy refused to go any further towards figuring out what the problem was…but that is an issue all of its ugly own.]
If I dropped dead from my diabetes at 35, with the weight gain…from say my pancreas deciding to crap out the rest of the way and a coma ensued] it would be a death due to obesity? I can pretty much guarentee that that is what it would have been put down as…
I don’t have a problem with fat people wanting to feel good about themselves. I am fat. Someday I’ll be thin, but until then I certainly am not going to put my life on hold or walk around berating myself.
What bugs me is NAAFA’s insistence that fat can be healthy.
I used to weigh over 350 pounds. I had perfect blood pressure, blood sugar, etc. On paper, I looked great (besides the weight, I mean). My cholesterol readings put me in the “low risk” category for heart disease, too. (Was I the norm? No. All of this was DESPITE my weight, not because of it.)
I couldn’t walk up the stairs without getting out of breath, though. That is not healthy, I don’t care how much, or little, you weigh. (And we all know skinny people who can’t walk up a flight of stairs, either.) I think some NAAFA’ers are going “ooh, I’m not diabetic, so I’m in the ‘fat but healthy’ category” while they ignore the fact that they have to sit down while shopping in the mall several times because they can’t walk everywhere they need to go without resting.
Can you be fat and in shape? I think so, if you work out. But don’t sit there and tell me that you are healthy if you weigh 600 pounds and CAN’T FUCKING WALK.
I don’t know what this has to do with my post (about lifts being needed in the morgue for extra-heavy patients at autopsy), but “obesity” is not typically listed as an “official” cause of death, even for patients whose fatal illnesses were linked to morbid obesity.
Get over it, people. If this, wacky as it may seem, is the first step towards these people empowering themselves, then good for them.
Again and again we hear about how many weight issues are tied in with self-esteem. If an overweight person can give herself a healthier self-esteem, that might spur her to put down the donut and put on some jogging shorts. Who can honestly say that’s a bad thing?
What I can’t understand is why people give a good goddamn about somebody else being overweight.
If somebody is fat, guess what? It’s THEIR BODY. It’s not like said person is leaning on you, insulting you or otherwise invading your space. So where’s the need to say anything?
I can guarantee there would not have been a need to start this pro-obesity group if the rest of society just kept their fucking mouths shut and worried about their own bodies instead of some stranger’s.
I agree. However, if the message is “you don’t need to put down the donut or put on the joggin shorts because you’re fine the way you are”, I’m not sure if that’s the one we ought to send.
I mean, from a public health standpoint, how many sane people have tried to push the message “Light up that Camel! It’s sexy! And it’s your body, after all.” Any advocate of rational public health policy, I think, would be obliged by minimal ethics standards, to tell people, most emphatically “Obesity can kill.” Is that going to help the self-esteem of an obese person? I highly doubt it. If I were obese, hearing that would make me feel like shit. Maybe I’d feel so shitty I’d be too depressed to do anything about it; I don’t know. But slapping on the rose-colored glasses as a coping mechanism in the face of a growing epidemic of obesity is, in my estimation, a patently idiotic approach.
Sometimes they are leaning on me and invading my space. Have you ever been on a six hour flight flight with the 400 lb. specimen next to you overflowing into your seat and leaning and sweating on you? I have. I swear to God that guy cut off the circulation in my left leg. If I hadn’t been on the aisle and had some open space to my right I would have been crushed or driven insane.
Yes, his obesity was his problem in general, but for those six hours he made it my problem. I don’t see why I should have to put up with that.
Bullshit. Do you really think convincing fat people that they are “okay just the way they are” is going to get even a single one of them to do anything about thier obesity?
These folk need to recognize that if you weigh 500 pounds you are not healthy and need to do something about it.
I’ll buy that. I’d also like to submit that the best message to send is “You’re just fine the way you are. You have a great body. Consider the harm that a donut might do to it. You deserve better.”
Fat adults, I couldn’t care less. But fat kids…and you see their parents indulging all their ice cream, fast food and candy fantasies. Now that is unacceptable.
Yes, I do. Self-acceptance is often the first step to self-improvement.
Let’s have a quick review on the definition of self-esteem: It is not “You are thin despite what the mirror tells you.” Nor is it “You will be worth something once you shed that fat ass, but not before.” It is “You are, right now, worth making the commitment to yourself to treat yourself well.” See the difference? You can feel good about yourself right now, but there is no denial involved at all.
Take me. I accept myself for who I am. I realize that I am just as smart, loveable, and worthwhile as anyone else. I accept that my size has nothing to do with that. I also accept that I can stand to lose a good deal of weight. I accept responsibility for doing so. I accept that I’m only human, so I will occasionally fail, but when that happens, I accept that I can correct the problem and do better next time. Because I’m worth it.
See how that works?
Does NAAFA engender this attitude? From the linked article, it looks like they’re about halfway there. They’re on the right track, and that’s not a bad start.