Another post about fattism
I should actually be doing homework now, so this will be quick.
For the 96846th time, yes, I am a flaming liberal. I am a pinko and proud of it. I'm also willing to sacrifice my principles to reason.
There is "fat acceptance movement" and there is "telling people that they might do serious damage to themselves is fattist". Do I believe in health at any size? I don't necessarily support the movement - I don't know enough about it - but yes, I do believe it is possible to be overweight and healthy, just as it is possible to be unhealthy and have a normal BMI. I would aim for health first and looks later, having learnt unhappy lessons about what happens when you get your priorities wrong.
The above is my position on being fat. Below is some ranting.
I understand that obesity can have genetic causes. I understand that once weight is put on it can be very, very difficult to lose it without invasive surgery in the worst-case scenario. I still think that the fat acceptance movement is straddling a line between "you don't have to be thin to be healthy" and "I want to do something which might be linked to various horrible conditions and not be judged on it".
A lot of people are now going to protest that nobody actually thinks like that, to which I reply: that's the vibe I get from the articles, which is pretty sad because having thought my points through I actually agree with anti-fattists more than I disagree with them. You don't necessarily choose to be fat, so it's unfair to penalise people for it - although it's very fair to try and get them to be healthy if they aren't already. Why?
I'm not saying "force them to be healthy". I'm saying "give them the advice and if they want, they can take it, because heart disease and diabetes suck".
To those saying I'm being fattist: obesity and certain conditions correlate at the very least, if not more than that. I'm looking at the facts.
This also counts if you're feeding young kids crap and they don't get enough exercise. They can't yet choose to be healthy or not, so it's your responsibility to make sure they're healthy. And why healthy? Well...why would you want to live your life risking anything from clogged-up arteries to neuropathy to blindness to cancer to coma to death? None of these are particularly fun to live with. (At the risk of ableism: not being able to see doesn't exactly sound like a bed of roses.)
For the 96846th time, yes, I am a flaming liberal. I am a pinko and proud of it. I'm also willing to sacrifice my principles to reason.
There is "fat acceptance movement" and there is "telling people that they might do serious damage to themselves is fattist". Do I believe in health at any size? I don't necessarily support the movement - I don't know enough about it - but yes, I do believe it is possible to be overweight and healthy, just as it is possible to be unhealthy and have a normal BMI. I would aim for health first and looks later, having learnt unhappy lessons about what happens when you get your priorities wrong.
The above is my position on being fat. Below is some ranting.
I understand that obesity can have genetic causes. I understand that once weight is put on it can be very, very difficult to lose it without invasive surgery in the worst-case scenario. I still think that the fat acceptance movement is straddling a line between "you don't have to be thin to be healthy" and "I want to do something which might be linked to various horrible conditions and not be judged on it".
A lot of people are now going to protest that nobody actually thinks like that, to which I reply: that's the vibe I get from the articles, which is pretty sad because having thought my points through I actually agree with anti-fattists more than I disagree with them. You don't necessarily choose to be fat, so it's unfair to penalise people for it - although it's very fair to try and get them to be healthy if they aren't already. Why?
I'm not saying "force them to be healthy". I'm saying "give them the advice and if they want, they can take it, because heart disease and diabetes suck".
To those saying I'm being fattist: obesity and certain conditions correlate at the very least, if not more than that. I'm looking at the facts.
This also counts if you're feeding young kids crap and they don't get enough exercise. They can't yet choose to be healthy or not, so it's your responsibility to make sure they're healthy. And why healthy? Well...why would you want to live your life risking anything from clogged-up arteries to neuropathy to blindness to cancer to coma to death? None of these are particularly fun to live with. (At the risk of ableism: not being able to see doesn't exactly sound like a bed of roses.)
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