Fat Is Not the Problem – Fat Stigma Is

Edit: On second thought, society has utterly failed us. We've curated a diet of processed foods full fats, sugars, and poisons that stack the cards against anyone who is not genetically or socioeconomically favored. They compare trying to stop obesity to getting rid of yellow teeth to rid yourself of lung cancer. Trying to get people to stop fat shaming while ignoring our diets is exactly that.

> Even a quick glance at the weight research shows that, despite decades of trying, there is no evidence that efforts to prevent or reverse “obesity” are successful. In fact, there’s much evidence to suggest that the prescription for weight loss is more likely to result in physical harm and weight gain. The data also refute other longstanding, widespread—and incorrect—notions about health and weight. Like the “fact” that fat is a primary driver in metabolic disease. Or that weight loss prolongs life or improves health. None of this is true. Dogma, myths, and prejudices about fatness have trumped actual evidence in our view of weight and health.

> It is true that many diseases are more commonly found in heavier people. However, that doesn’t mean that weight itself causes disease. Blaming fatness for heart disease is similar to blaming yellow teeth for lung cancer, rather than considering that smoking might play a role in both. And telling people they need to lose weight is a lot like telling someone with a cold to stop sneezing so much—it may not be possible and won’t make the cold go away.

>Focusing on weight—or health behaviors—puts the burden on the individual, deflecting attention from the more pernicious problem: systemic injustice.

Basically, correlation does not equal causation. Also, you are a bigot.

My 2 cents as someone who struggles with being overweight: these guys can take their self-righteous patronizing and shove it. I don't want to be overweight. It's been a huge failure of society to find a scalable solution for obesity. And worse than doing absolutely nothing, or even denying the problem exists, people are trying to attack anyone for admitting there's even a problem.

I wholeheartedly disagree. Anytime that a behavior X is considered undesirable by society, the people who engage in behavior X feel ashamed about it and there is a stigma surrounding people who do X. Any culture that is not completely neutral on all matters shames people. Such a culture could never exist in the real world because it would be very inhuman.

Whether or not fat people are shamed by others is really a question of how people collectively feel about fatness. I say that it's a good thing that people collectively assign negative value to fatness since it is a sign of general unfitness and ill health.

I'm not saying that we all should go out and bully fat people, but I do think that this "normalize fatness" movement is very misguided.

If what you believe is that positive reinforcement (Giving the dog a treat when they do a trick) is good and negative reinforcement (Beating the dog when they do something wrong) is bad, then why not support "normalizing fitness" rather than "normalizing fatness?"