Breaking the "Fat Stigma" in America

By: Amy Hutton

          There are two ways people choose to view health. One being the weight centered approach – which is defined as, the idea being that we can judge ones health based upon weight and that health problems can be solved with weight loss.  The other is the health-centered approach – this is where health becomes separate from weight. Which means weight is not a diagnosis.  Our society has become obsessed with weight, whether it be weight loss, weight gain or weight maintenance. It appears that a persons overall health has fallen wayside during this obsession. The way people view fat and its correlation to poor health has been completely exaggerated. There are living, breathing, healthy fat people, and in the same respect, unhealthy thin people. This alone proves that weight does not equal health. Health is defined by Wikipedia as the general condition of a persons mind, body and spirit also, to be free from illness, injury and pain. So why do we as a society correlate ones weight to ones overall health?

         

          Society is quick to write off a person of size’s health problems. As an example, a woman of size can appear to her doctor with complaints of knee joint pain and the doctor writes her off with a prescription for weight loss. When a thin woman appears to the same doctor with the same complaint, is the doctor going to write her a script for weight loss? Chances are, no. She will most likely get thoroughly examined, be given a medication prescription and possibly have x-rays done. Overweight and thin people get all the same diseases’, being thin is not a cure nor should it be a preventative. The most common health indicators are blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar. All of these can be improved simply by lifestyle changes and that does not mean weight loss.

          Women, more so than men, are taught at a very young age to hate their bodies. Studies show girls as young as 8 years old dieting. They are taught to restrict their calorie intake or keep a food journal because they are not “good enough” or they are not “normal.” Whose standards are we basing this “normal” concept from? Is it your standards, mine, teachers, doctors, parents, health insurance companies? Shouldn’t it be your own personal standards? As stated before, dieting often includes a food journal, restricting calories and having food restrictions, ruining your relationship with food and discrediting your own body. This is an eating disorder. Society pushes down our throats that we need to conform to a certain size in order to be healthy, happy and beautiful. There are people who think of food negatively and view their own bodies in disgust; I don’t know about you, but that does not sound healthy to me. Humans are diverse in nature, there are different colors, shapes, heights, hair colors, nose sizes that are all considered normal. Why then do we scream ‘abnormal’ or ‘unhealthy’ if one does not conform to a narrow height-weight ratio?

Who is Healthier???

(surprisingly the female to the right)

          In our society, everyone is judged by their outward appearance. Opinions and judgments are made simply by viewing a person’s height, weight, size, shape, clothing, haircut, etc. A common misconception is that you can tell how healthy a person is by the way they look on the outside. This may be the furthest thing from truth. There is a fat stigma in our society, labeling them to be bad. As surprising as it may be, there are some fat people among us who are healthier than you. There are three definite things that you can not tell about a fat person simply by viewing them; How much and what they eat, how many times a week they exercise, and how healthy they are. The only thing you can tell about a fat person is that they are fat. 

          The obsession with weight in our society has become out of control. Focusing on someone’s health has been misconstrued and turned into controlling someone’s weight. People have been brainwashed to believe that weight and health are the same thing, when in fact, they are not. Thin and fat people alike have the same ailments in life and weight loss is not the cure. Our children are being taught to hate their bodies because they do not look like everyone else. Society writes off anyone who does not conform to what they were taught ‘healthy’ is. None of these things sound good for a person’s mind, body or spirit. It sounds as though society needs a health checkup and a reevaluation of what healthy really is.