Also worth noting is that BMI is actually an atrocious indicator of the general health of individuals, and that whether or not someone is clinically obese isn't necessarily a good indicator of their health, any more than someone being thin means that they're not going to die of "weight-related" illnesses (adult-onset diabetes, heart disease etc). Um, feminist and kissmyass_cosmo frequently have good discussions about this kind of thing (the latter particularly, because it's dedicated to discussion of beauty standards from a feminist viewpoint), and sources are linked to from there, but I should go and do some more work now. Erm, you've said all this.

Basically the issue with fat people *where there is not genuine cause for concern about an individual's health* seems to be that "they're not pretty", from my reading. So.