Not Fat with a "PH"

No Respect

I came across a truly disturbing site. I gave considerable thought to the idea of linking to this page. After struggling with my own desire to not give undue attention to this kind of hateful material, I realize that it is a perfect example of bigotry but I will not link to it.

Please note: one does not have to be obese to find that this man's site is extremely offensive; however, I do think it is important to show the non-obese / non-overweight among us just what kind of bigotry exists.

This man, evidently a soldier, would like to know what he is fighting for. He posts a picture of an obese woman taken from the back and uses this as a basis for his hateful rant. (I do hope that the photographer had her permission to take this photo). Not only does he rave on about obesity: he discusses what he considers to be the general state of degradation in society. Frankly, there are some good psychiatric medications that could help this person.

Diversity has been such an important theme for "Generation X" and "Generation Y". Was this person lining up for boot camp on the days that such sensitivity was taught in school?

As I mentioned, he wants to know what he is fighting for and I want to know why he has so much time to worry about what other people look like. In my opinion, a person whose anger is fueled by appearance is not the kind of person that should possess a gun. I also wonder why he has the idea that someone else's body is any of his business?

Thankfully, he is not fighting for me. (Or standing across from me). Scary.

Respect

It occurs to me that some may wonder why I chose a blog to write about obesity and discrimination. Life can be difficult for everyone: working, balancing work and home, raising children, trying to keep pace with schedules. It is my belief that it just does not have to be -- nay, should not be -- difficult in some areas. The very last concern that anyone should have to bear is whether or not he/she will receive due respect because of his/her appearance.

Some people have stated that I am defending obesity. By bringing to light instances of discrimination, by exposing bigoted attitudes toward obesity, I am defending a person's right to not be discriminated against. That's it. That's all.

As a recovered Anorexic, I know the consequences of obesity on the body. I am well-aware that some would like to impose a "fat tax" to compensate for the amount spent in health care due to obesity and complications thereof. I am, obviously, aware of the effects of one person's obesity on another person.

I want somebody to give a voice to those who swallow their feelings about their body, to people who find it impossible to reply to someone's insensitive remarks. I know that the reader will believe me when I say that I am not one of these people. I want to encourage the benefits of a positive self-image.

The Problem of "Fat Acceptance"

I am not surprised by my recent discovery of websites used to discuss the problem of "fat acceptance" in our culture. In an article by Dawn Debeli entitled, "Obese America: Buldging [sic] Through History", she states:

"...the use of the obese nude in contemporary art is becoming more commonplace. Unlike the nudes of Rubens and Renoir, the obese contemporary nudes are not presented as large, healthy beauties, but are used symbolically. For example, an obese figure in a Slowinski or Turner painting, is not a lone figure, but a symbol for cultural obesity and bloated social conditions. As symbolic representations of these conditions, these figures have a kinship to prehistoric and ancient classical models in that they are not used to portray individuals, but are a symbolic of the society in general. Today dieting and obesity are reflected in the art, just as fertility and religious mythology were in the past."

On the consequences of "fat acceptance", Ms. Debeli writes:

"Keeping the obese public focused on the unattainable goal of the super model supports a billion-dollar industry in diet drugs, diet herbs, diet plans, diet books and diet doctors. The resulting frustration and despair also keeps the public eating more to attain some level of self pleasure and satisfaction. This conflict between the real obese body image and the ideal super model body image, has resulted in a body phobia that pervades the culture. The condition and preservation of the body has become a mass cultural obsession. Inherently hopeless, this obsession results in mass depression and the proliferation of Prozac-like drugs, for the decaying power of time on our fragile mortal forms can not [sic] be arrested."

I do not wish to be misconstrued. Ms. Debeli's commentary is quite thought-provoking and rings true in many respects. I do, however, take issue with her attitude towards obesity.

If my body is a mirror of an ungainly social state described as bloating, to what degree is Ms. Debeli's resistance to obesity hinting at a social state? Perhaps such resistance in general shields a blindspot: perhaps we are starved intellectually because everything we acquire -- including beliefs -- is handed to us without benefit of explanation. Perhaps the starved body of a thin woman like my former anorexic self does, in fact, represent a social state: a body of beliefs without a solid foundation and a dogged determination to hold onto them. Perhaps.

In my case, it was not the"unattainable goal of the supermodel" that compelled me to take to the gym. (Just as it was not this goal that caused my eating disorder.) It was always, among other things, the desire to have more energy and to feel better. Naturally, the pressure to be thin has always been present in my thoughts and last year, unfortunately, I purchased the belief that my body should look a certain way. I was tired of the disparity that I noticed in the way that I was treated by people when thin and the way that I was treated when fat. Maybe I was tired but maybe I was just giving in to external pressures.

I shudder to think of the damage that my eating disorder has done to my body. I shudder more to think what "getting better" has done sometimes. Recently, I was diagnosed with "tennis elbow" (lateral epicondylitis) in both arms. It usually occurs in one's dominant arm but I am ambidextrous. At any rate, I mention this because it is most likely that this injury occurred last year while working out daily at the gym. I was trying diligently to lose the weight that I had gained while recovering from Anorexia Nervosa without actually descending to the disordered state again. I lost 25 pounds and apparently gained tendon damage in both arms.

Ms. Debeli writes: "There are moments in history, such as we see in the works of Rubens, or Renoir, when a bloated figure was seen as desirable. Yet unlike today such mass was not seen as a sign of ill health. To the contrary, in these times before the discovery of saturated fats, trans-fatty acids and heart disease, such plumpness was seen as a sign of wealth and good health. "

Yes, a wealth of literature about the health consequences of obesity exists; such information does not, however, justify bigotry or discrimination. I have to wonder about the constant bombardment of obesity-related issues to which the media consumer is subjected.

Since most people feel comfortable with their "fat=not good" attitude, would it not be more useful to the public to publish more literature about the consequences of weight obsession? For example, Anorexia Nervosa and the relatively high rate of mortality among psychiatric disorders; incidence of weight obsession among normal eaters; the long-term health consequences of starvation or purging. We could start there. We might even concentrate on the benefits of positive self image. Maybe if the public were to become as afraid of eating disorders as it is of obesity, the diet-industry would fail to thrive and "fat acceptance" would not be seen as a problem.

Television

I cannot be the only person to have noticed this: it is still permissible to laugh at fat jokes. If not, prime-time or once-prime-time sitcoms, even early evening and late shows, would not use the "fat joke" as a laugh grab.

Almost two weeks ago, I watched Saturday Night Live and obesity was the theme du jour. It was, of course, inspired by the recent buzz about a certain actress having gained weight for the sequel to a movie.

The other night, I happened to catch an episode of Everybody Loves Raymond. There was a comic-book store scene in which the clerk describes a comic character: "she manages to find happiness despite being morbidly obese." The very last line of the episode was: "Look how fat she is!"

A sketch on MadTV about Anna Nicole Smith and her television show (reached for and grabbed) laughs simply by tacking on the word "fat" at the end of criticisms.

Those are simply a few examples that I have come across. It seems that it is still permissible to laugh at "fat jokes" because it is still permissible to tell them.

Recent Study

What an interesting coincidence! I found an article concerning a study conducted in England on obesity. It demonstrates the "depths of stigmatisation endured by heavy people: It even rubs off on their friends. " (see my entry dated October 4, 2003). The article, found at News24.com is called "Image Problems" and is dated 15/10/2003. Fighting discrimination against obesity was a topic of a meeting of the North American Association for the Study of Obesity.

Apparently, "just standing next to a large person can be bad for one's image" as the following explains:

The study at University of Liverpool tested 144 female students' reactions to two prom photos. One showed a dapper, thin young man standing next to a svelte ringlet-haired woman. The other was the same photo altered to show the guy arm-in-arm with a very large, nicely dressed woman. The volunteers took a quick look at one or the other of the pictures and then were asked their opinion of the man. They rated him from one to five on 50 negative adjectives - called the "fat phobia scale" - that people often use to describe obese people. The man with the big woman was rated 22% more negatively than the same man with the thin companion. When seen with the large woman, he was more likely to be described as miserable, self-indulgent, passive, shapeless, depressed, weak, insignificant and insecure.

An Implicit Association Test, used to measure bias, indicated that: "students who were themselves overweight were more likely than usual to rate the man harshly when pictured with the obese partner."

The test was also administered, a couple of years ago, to about 200 obesity professionals. The test requires that people "quickly link up words like "lazy," "stupid" and "worthless" on command with obese or thin people". The results "showed that obesity professionals were more apt to link the negative words with overweight people, even when trying not to."

Culturally-Defined Attitudes

In her book, A New Psychology of Women: Gender, Ethnicity and Culture (McGraw-Hill), Dr. Hilary Lips discusses examples of barriers faced by women of many backgrounds and how a psychology of women would address the differences and commonalities in experience. In her lecture,"Peering into the Kaleidoscope" Cross-cultural Perspecives in the Psycholog [sic] of Women & Gender, Dr. Lips cites an example of an obstacle that does not necessarily cross cultures: obesity. For example, she says:

"Hima women being fattened up for marriage:
Among the Hima people of western Uganda, fat is beautiful -- at least for women. Men measure a woman's attractiveness by her obesity, and a young woman is prepared for marriage in ways guaranteed to "fatten her up": the least possible activity and the most possible food. By the time of her marriage, the young woman may be so fat that she cannot walk, only waddle. At the wedding, onlookers then will comment on how beautiful she is, noting with approval the cracks in her skin caused by the fatness and the difficulty with which she walks. Once married, a wife is kept fat by consuming surplus milk from the herd -- often coerced to do so by her husband when she has long past the point of satiation. The wife leads a life of "leisure." She is assigned no heavy physical work, rarely leaves home, spends her days in sexual liaisons with a variety of men approved by her husband. These sexual relationships cement economic ones: the obese, conspicuously consuming wife is both a symbol and an instrument of her husband's economic prosperity (Tiffany, 1982)."

This is what I would like the reader to do, if only for a brief time: step outside culturally-defined attitudes (to the extent that anyone is capable of doing so) about obesity. One means of achieving this perspective is to examine attitudes found within other cultures. One objective, for me, is clear: assist in providing to the reader a cross-cultural perspective about obesity in order that he/she perceives his beliefs about obesity as potentially mutable.

The "Links" listed on my sidebar are, I believe, helpful to the reader insofar as they provide the opportunity for research on the female human form across cultures and throughout history.