I navigate the concept of “fat acceptance” with reticence. It’s sure to incite emotional responses, sometimes even hostility. Weight has become intensely “politicized” and “emotionalized” in our society. How should we consider political and moral aspects of weight advocacy? Are there lines to be drawn? There are two primary issues to address, first of all …
Category: weight prejudice and bias
America’s Culture Wars: What Fat Shaming Shares with Poverty Shaming
I’ve just read a Facebook thread that has me feeling pretty down and rather sad. The question was posed, “Should welfare applicants be drug tested?” Overwhelmingly, the thread was filled with indignantly affirmative posts. One woman even asserted that welfare drug testing wasn’t about money or politics at all—it was about “safety,” protecting the public …
Bioethicist Quack Promotes “Fat Shaming” to End Obesity
It’s pretty shocking to believe the source of this proposal. The co-founder of a non-profit center dedicated to bioethics research and public policy is promoting “fat shaming” as a solution to the obesity problem. And yes, he actually calls his proposal “Stigmatization.” In his paper “Obesity: Chasing an Elusive Epidemic” Daniel Callahan PhD, co-founder of …
The Scourge that is “Biggest Loser”
Why mince words? “Biggest Loser” is one of the most offensive television shows of all time. It perpetuates truly hateful paradigms in the guise of a sickening insistence that the show “is changing lives.” I could say that the most disgusting scenes are when the trainers are humiliating the contestants and they do that in so many …
In the Grip of Obesity Fear
Many believe the answer to the obesity pandemic is education—Educate people about nutrition, physical activity, and health matters. But many of the messages being broadcast the most loudly are not just distorted and misleading, for some of us, they add to our increasing stress and worry. I believe that profit-driven changes in food processing and …