I'm not sure if I can concisely put into words the things this made me think about...but...
I agree that it is not healthy to think obsessively about one's weight, whatever that may be. And also that "social stigma" is not necessarily a good motivator for people to change--or that people should change to fit someone else's standards.
However, I also believe that the deeper problem has nothing to do with what someone weighs, it's more a problem of living in a culture and an economy that thrives off of telling people there is something wrong with them.
I totally believe that we are more lazy, unhealthy and sedentary than maybe we've ever been. I believe that most of the food we eat contributes to mental and physical health problems, and that Americans put a lot of shit in their body that is really, really bad for them.
But I think thin women worry about their bodies just as much as fat women, or women anywhere in between. I have always been thin, and people bigger than me have always made the assumption that I was thrilled with it, that I must have it so much easier, am so much less oppressed because of it, etc. I was also teased and called names in school because I appeared to some to be underweight and "anorexic," when in fact I was constantly trying to gain weight. I see thin women being demonized just as much as fat women, though it's seems more acceptable (at least among the more "liberal" and "body positive" groups I tend to be around) to hate thin women. There's something wrong with that, too.
The media, peers, and just life in this culture will always point out something about ourselves that we could "fix." I don't think it's so much about fat or thin being a better place to be--but the article was not off in suggesting that sitting in front of the TV three hours a day, eating McDonalds or candy is an unhealthy and disempowering habit for anyone to have, regardless of body size. It seemed like some of the response posts went so far as to praise genuinely unhealthy behavior patterns, like eating whatever we want.
Is it wrong to say that it's not ok to eat whatever we want? How is it different from making some other choice to take care of oneself? I might really enjoy eating a whopper, but I know that it's horrible for me and that it will actually cause me to feel more moody than I already am--so should I do it anyway just because I want to? That's not empowering, it's just defiant. There are lots of things I might like the immediate effects of, and that doesn't mean I should do them. Also, food and hunger affect the same part of the brain that becomes affected when drug addiction and alcoholism are present--so I realize that to some extent a person's control over what they put into their bodies may be impaired (and lots of people with eating disorders also have substance abuse problems)--but that doesn't mean they should do it just to prove they don't care what others think about it.
...my thoughts are not entirely organized around this, but it made me think a lot.
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I agree that it is not healthy to think obsessively about one's weight, whatever that may be. And also that
"social stigma" is not necessarily a good motivator for people to change--or that people should change to fit someone else's standards.
However, I also believe that the deeper problem has nothing to do with what someone weighs, it's more a problem of living in a culture and an economy that thrives off of telling people there is something wrong with them.
I totally believe that we are more lazy, unhealthy and sedentary than maybe we've ever been. I believe that most of the food we eat contributes to mental and physical health problems, and that Americans put a lot of shit in their body that is really, really bad for them.
But I think thin women worry about their bodies just as much as fat women, or women anywhere in between. I have always been thin, and people bigger than me have always made the assumption that I was thrilled with it, that I must have it so much easier, am so much less oppressed because of it, etc. I was also teased and called names in school because I appeared to some to be underweight and "anorexic," when in fact I was constantly trying to gain weight. I see thin women being demonized just as much as fat women, though it's seems more acceptable (at least among the more "liberal" and "body positive" groups I tend to be around) to hate thin women. There's something wrong with that, too.
The media, peers, and just life in this culture will always point out something about ourselves that we could "fix." I don't think it's so much about fat or thin being a better place to be--but the article was not off in suggesting that sitting in front of the TV three hours a day, eating McDonalds or candy is an unhealthy and disempowering habit for anyone to have, regardless of body size. It seemed like some of the response posts went so far as to praise genuinely unhealthy behavior patterns, like eating whatever we want.
Is it wrong to say that it's not ok to eat whatever we want? How is it different from making some other choice to take care of oneself? I might really enjoy eating a whopper, but I know that it's horrible for me and that it will actually cause me to feel more moody than I already am--so should I do it anyway just because I want to? That's not empowering, it's just defiant. There are lots of things I might like the immediate effects of, and that doesn't mean I should do them. Also, food and hunger affect the same part of the brain that becomes affected when drug addiction and alcoholism are present--so I realize that to some extent a person's control over what they put into their bodies may be impaired (and lots of people with eating disorders also have substance abuse problems)--but that doesn't mean they should do it just to prove they don't care what others think about it.
...my thoughts are not entirely organized around this, but it made me think a lot.