obesity

Obesity?

In our culture there are powerful stereotypes associated with obesity the main one being that if you are obese it is because of your own poor eating habits and overeating. There have been studies that have given contradictory evidence suggesting that obese people often eat the same amount or less as thin people and are often making healthy food choices as well (Maine, 2000: 34). Finding a study such as this is a bit of a anomaly. There is a great deal more evidence to reinforce the general stereotypes but Laura Fraser in her book Losing It says that:

      Many physicians and obesity researchers are influenced by
    cultural ideals about weight as the rest of us. More disturbingly,
    many of them are as interesting in making money off diets and
    weight loss plans as the commercial programs they disdain (12).

Also what is actually considered obese has changed over the years. In 1998 the government decided to change the cut off point for obesity in relation to the body mass index chart saying that the previous standars were "too lenient" (Maine, 2000: 35). These set points are given supposed to warn people when they should begin to watch their weight in fear of major health complications. Though in truth one would have to be five times what the government considers obese, or twice the average weight for your height, before you would be at risk (38).
**Test your knowledge of what is fact and what is fiction with the Obesity Quiz**

Weight Prejudice

This is not just from the media or men, some of the worst offenders are actually women. Mimi Nichter takes an in depth looks at teens and their views on weight in her book Fat Talk. She says that young girls can be quite mean to each other, possibly more destructive than any Calvin Klein adverstising campaign. Girls often dismember their "competition" to simple body parts like thighs, looking for flaws (21). As for being overweight, a girl who would have absolutely no respect for being overweight unless she looked like she was attempting to diet (41). There was a great deal of contempt for fat girls, they were not allowed to complain about their size unless they were doing something about it, though this attitude changed dramatically once a thin girl put on a little weight (41-42).

A definate read to educate yourself on weigh prejudice is W. Charisse Goodmans The Invisable Woman. It's a real in for your face look at confronting weight prejudice in America. Here's a quote from the first chapter of her book which really sums up the anger she portrays throughout the book at how weight prejudice is considered to be ok.

"...Weight prejudice is a true form of bigotry in every sense of the word. Like racism, it is based on visual clues ... Like anti-Semitism, it defines an entire group of people numbering in the millions within a narrow range of negative characteristics and behaviors. Like sexism, it elevates the status of one group of people at the expense of another. And like homophobia, it serves as a vehicle of projection for the bigot's own anxieties, frustrations, and resentments."
(Goodman, 1995:7)

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