11 Reasons Your ‘Concern’ for Fat People’s Health Isn’t Helping Anyone
http://everydayfeminism.com/2016/01/...g-is-bull$#@!/
1. Because Stereotyped Assumptions About Someone’s Weight Are Oppressive
You claim to be worried about a fat person, and the first thing you think about is diabetes.
Okay.
What about the negative judgment that they’re subjected to from people – both from individuals and society as a whole – and the impact that has on their lives?
Think about what it must be like for larger people – that is, most people living in the United States – to confront daily in the papers, magazines, television shows, and commercials that their bodies are unattractive and constitute a horrifying public health crisis.
To hear assumptions from dietitians and other healthcare practitioners that because of a physical characteristic, their weight, they must be unhealthy and engaging in poor self-care.
To then have people on the Internet dedicating entire comment threads to berating them.
Everyone – fat or thin – is severely harmed by this message. And as social justice activists, it’s first and foremost your job to show empathy to marginalized folks – and then look inward to examine your unchallenged assumptions.
As Marilyn Wann famously says in her weight diversity talks, “The only thing anyone can accurately diagnose when looking at a fat person is their own level of weight prejudice.”
2. Because Fat Doesn’t Kill
There is a commonly quoted statistic that people allow to fuel the fat-shaming fire, and that is this: that “obesity” is the second leading cause of preventable death in the US.
Let’s burst that bubble right here: It’s not true.
And yes, of course if you Google it, a bunch of health organizations will come up, quoting it as fact. But here’s why: because a 2004 CDC-sponsored study stated that approximately 350,000 deaths per year are related to being “overweight” or “obese,” second only to smoking.
But in 2005, the same journal published a re-analysis with more scientifically accurate results, putting the number closer to 25,000 – a 94% difference.
But because it’s much easier to fear-monger by telling people they’re likely to die, the fact that it was a mistake and that you have more or less equal chances of dying in a car accident and dying from disease related to “obesity” isn’t widely publicized to the American people.
So if you used to think that fat was deadly and that’s what you were using to help “motivate” people to thinness, you can stop doing that now.
In reality, if you want to use the oft-quoted BMI scale (more on that later), scientific evidence actually indicates that people categorized as “overweight” live longer than those categorized as “normal,” and most “obese” people live similarly long lives as their “normal” counterparts.
3. Because Fat Doesn’t Cause Disease Either
Right. So if fat itself isn’t the problem, then what about diabetes and heart disease, which we’ve been socialized to believe are “obesity-related” illnesses? Don’t those lead to death?
Well, yes.
And it makes sense that people think that fat, then, is the problem. After all, there are, indeed, diseases (like diabetes and heart disease) that are more common in heavier people.
But there are also higher incidences of death by drowning in places where there are more ice cream sales.
So, let’s have a quick lesson in stats, shall we?
Correlation does not equal causation.
Just because some factors, on the surface, seem related doesn’t mean that they have a causal relationship. It’s not an easy cause-and-effect equation, where situation A results in situation B.
Take the drowning-and-ice-cream scenario. People aren’t drowning because of ice cream, although it might seem that way on the surface. Rather, both drowning and the sale of ice cream are more likely to happen at the beach. The beach, in this case, is what we might call a confounding factor.
Similarly, there are confounding factors that complicate the relationship between fat and disease.
For example, one hugely important factor is that of dieting. And not that those who diet are more likely to be healthy – quite the opposite, actually.
Both dieting and weight cycling – that is, the process of going on a diet, losing weight, regaining the weight (and sometimes more), then going on another diet, losing weight, regaining the weight, and on and on and on – increase inflammation.
And inflammation itself is actually a risk factor for many diseases that are typically blamed on “obesity,” like diabetes and heart disease.
And who do you think is more likely to have lived a life of constant dieting and weight cycling? People of size.
Correlation. But no causation.
That is to say, it’s not as simple as it seems on the surface. And just because both fat and disease are present does not mean that the former caused the latter.
4. Because, If Anything, Fatphobia Causes Adverse Health Effects
Continue reading: http://everydayfeminism.com/2016/01/...g-is-bull$#@!/
Site Information
About Us
- RonPaulForums.com is an independent grassroots outfit not officially connected to Ron Paul but dedicated to his mission. For more information see our Mission Statement.
Connect With Us