Holy crap...the whole fat acceptance thing is not about saying fat is healthy, it's about not marginalizing fat people. When we see someone who is anorexic we want to help them, but when we see an obese person we want to hurt them. We are called lazy, disgusting, gross, we should be ashamed of ourselves. We have our picture taken at the gym, we are laughed at if we buy a salad at the store, we are mocked if we try to run around the block or ride a bicycle.
But everyone is so worried about our health that they find it necessary to remind us of just how unwelcome we are in your society.
While I agree it should be about not bullying fat people, there are honestly obese people who say theyre healthy and theyre the ones often given the most attention as the fat acceptance movement. Kind of how misandry is becoming synonymous with feminism. Its wrong but its what the masses see.
True, but there are anorexic people who believe the same thing and they won't get the hate we get. They will be looked at as having a deeper mental issue that needs addressing where the fat person will be told they are just disgusting or lazy.
My point is that both are unhealthy, the whole world knows that. Obesity and anorexia and bulemia are signs of mental issues that I feel should be addressed with professional help. The problem I find is that an anorexic person is encouraged to seek help. They are told things like "I want to help", "you're not alone", "I'm here for you" where the overweight person is told to "put the ho-ho's down fatty" or "stop being lazy and walk around the block"
Can you see the difference? Virtually no one asks why the person over eats or is reluctant to go to a gym.
It’s true that there are unhealthy obese people who believe that they are perfectly healthy and deny the potential health risks of obesity. First that is an important distinction. One can be overweight and be as healthy or healthier than a smaller person. They can have blood pressure and cholesterol within limits, and not have the arterial blockages of a smaller person who eats terrible food. This “healthy” overweight person isn’t going to be as healthy as a someone within weight guidelines and living for their health- but few people really are as healthy as we could be. There is a difference between being unhealthy and being at risk for health issues. More weight usually means more risks- and even those who are “overweight” on BMI because of weightlifting or athletics put more stress on their bodies and face risks yet don’t get the flack. The primary goal of the movement is to gain social acceptance, reduce bullying and stereotyping that weight is a sign of poor character or that it..
... makes a person undesirable or “bad” by nature. To seek kinder ways to help people who want to change to do, and yes. To accept those who do not wish to. In the end, being “healthy” doesn’t involve slot of junk foods, heavy cooking oils, lots of salt and red meat or being sedentary. But the “average” person is not a paragon of health regardless of their weight. It’s easier to hide a weak heart, bad circulation, plaque on arteries, black lungs, atrophied muscles, a taxed liver- than extra pounds. We can tell people what “healthy” is but we can’t show them what it should look like or make them live it. We can help but can’t force and it’s a struggle when you’re already overweight to get back, and some won’t make it. They still deserve to live and have peace.
Anorexia is where a person sees a false perception of themselves, refusing to believe they are thin enough and continue to strive for an impossible goal - regardless how tiny and unwell they become. It is a mental health issue, the person needing support to alter their view of themselves. The impression I get from the comments written seem to be that this overweight person wants everyone else to alter their perceptions on how they see overweight people. People with anorexia suffer from how they see themselves. Overweight people suffer from how others see them. Either way it’s none of my business what you weigh.
This is ignorant and fundamentally flawed. Diseases shouldn’t be applauded... I guess... but.. what about cancer? Obviously we don’t want to encourage people to get cancer- but like, if they have it... do we support them and or respect their wishes or do we stigmatize them and exclude them? Do to tell someone bald from chemo they look like shit? Obesity and cancer aren’t the same. But on the principal of “we shouldn’t applaud diseases...” one disease is the same as another right? This IS comparing two different things so it makes clear the disease ain’t the issue right? But on to that... Anorexia... we are talking about an eating disorder. Liking popcorn chicken isn’t an eating disorder. You CAN be overweight from having an eating disorder- but being overweight isn’t by default an eating disorder or have an underlying diagnosis. So it is less about applauding the condition and more about validating the person. Where actual “diseases” are concerned- to be that skinny or that large and..
... have an actual disease it is either a physical condition that may be beyond your control or under the best control it can be, or it is mental. If it’s physical- that’s not something you can sweat away at the gym necessarily. That might just be your life. So why should you be made to feel like crap because of something you literally can’t change if it’s a physical disease? If it’s a mental disease- there can be a lot of reasons you over/eat- but most cases involve people who the last thing they need is to be made to feel like shit. People who must get control of their emotions and reactions but who also are emotionally fragile. Now- remember- what I say here applies to a DISEASE. Not someone living a lifestyle by choice or who wants to look a certain way for the aesthetic without underlying body dismorphia or other factors. If you want to discuss those people- don’t come in waving a flag that says “disease,” while obesity has recently been classified as a disease- the...
.... classification was done for the shock value and politics of the thing- and the governing bodies have said as much. But it IS considered a disease- so why do I say “don’t come in here talking about diseases...” simple. Obesity is a diagnosis. Unless you have the information and the expertise to diagnose as person as obese (within reason obviously the guy who doesn’t fit through doors and is 5’ tall is 99.999% obese...) you don’t know they are obese. It doesn’t go “skinny, normal, obese.” There are classifications of being overweight which are not obese, and not a disease. The point being that “being fat” is one of the few diseases we feel very comfortable about openly socially shaming for. The guy who got aids barebaking strangers is just as culpable in his condition as an overweight person- but we don’t cry out to keep him locked away, to not include him in things because of his disease. The factory worker who got cancer made a choice too. Unless they were in some cutting edge...
... field where the risks weren’t known or where they were lied to... It’s only the obese though that we feel so compelled to go out of the way and attack. If people talked to other types of “disease self afflicted” the way we talk about the obese- we’d look at them like monsters. Don’t let that guy in the motorcycle accident who can’t use his legs be a main character- he engaged in a risky activity that he had every reason to suspect would eventually lead to his condition and we dont want to normalize it.” Better not let that football player, boxer, etc. be a spokesperson. They live an unhealthy lifestyle and are not to be role models in any way. These types of comparisons are asinine. A patient and their care is between them and their physician, and their close associations. It isn’t for us to judge.
But everyone is so worried about our health that they find it necessary to remind us of just how unwelcome we are in your society.
My point is that both are unhealthy, the whole world knows that. Obesity and anorexia and bulemia are signs of mental issues that I feel should be addressed with professional help. The problem I find is that an anorexic person is encouraged to seek help. They are told things like "I want to help", "you're not alone", "I'm here for you" where the overweight person is told to "put the ho-ho's down fatty" or "stop being lazy and walk around the block"
Can you see the difference? Virtually no one asks why the person over eats or is reluctant to go to a gym.