What’s wrong about ‘being fat?’

Let’s just stop with the fat jokes and fat shaming already. This past week was the 27th annual National Eating Disorder Awareness Week, and while not everyone struggles with an eating disorder and not all of us know of someone who does … we can all take steps to stop contributing to a culture that helps create these struggles for so many women and men. 

Around 70 million people worldwide are affected by eating disorders. Of those, over one-third — 24 million — reside in the U.S., according to the Renfrew Center Foundation for Eating Disorders. That says something about our social environment.

In writing this, I couldn’t even find a word to use that doesn’t have negative connotations associated with it.  “Obese,” is a cold, medical word that takes away the humanity of real people. “Overweight” assumes there is a standard normal weight, and anything outside that is unacceptable. “Plus size” again assumes a standard size.  “Fat,” while being reclaimed by many individuals in the fat activist movement, is so often used as a derogatory put-down.  In an effort to be sensitive to all my potential readers, I’m electing to use the phrase person of size.

We live in a society where being thin has privilege associated with it. People who fall outside of the normal weight range are seen as inherently lazy, unhealthy, dirty and gross.  Where studies — according to a review of the scientific literature published in the journal  Obesity Research  — show employers being less likely to hire a person of size than a thin person — even with identical qualifications. Studies that show people of size are reluctant to seek health care for fear of being scolded or humiliated.

There is media all around us that praise thin people and degrade people of size. We see this everyday in virtually all forms of media, with thin-framed people being represented as the norm.

It’s no wonder that so many young women — and a vast number of young men, too — struggle with body image. And while eating disorders are a complicated interconnection of emotional, psychological and bodily struggles, I think given the high numbers of young people in our country — especially in comparison to other countries — our culture is a significant factor.

And while it’s handy to blame this nebulous society and culture for our problems, we need to realize our society is us. Our social attitudes are ours. And until we change ourselves, we cannot change our culture.

So for today and every day, stop shaming people for their size. Don’t make fat jokes. Don’t make skinny jokes. Don’t assume a person of size is lazy, unhealthy or lacking in self-discipline. Begin to examine your own prejudices and presumptions when it comes to the standardized ideal of beauty and appropriateness. Recognize the privileges being skinny affords people.

Those 24 million people struggling with eating disorders? We are part of the problem. Every single one of us. And we will continue to be the problem until we start becoming the solution.

Kaitlin Moroney can be reached at [email protected]

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