I'm borderline overweight, and that's because there are decisions to make around leisure time, pleasure, finances etc - and of course they're mine to make.
So how come you are entitled to make such decisions but encouraging someone twice your size to make their own decisions based on their own values and limitations (rather than perceived pressure from others) is wrong?
Fat people die more.
No.
Unhealthy people die more. Some of them are fat. Some of them are also underweight or even 'normal' according to BMI and societal standards.
It is possible to be fat and generally have good health. It may not be the case in many people but it is possible, and being judged to have an unhealthy lifestyle based solely upon one's appearance is ridiculous.
In cases where obesity is a genuine health problem it can be a side-effect of metabolic illness than a direct cause, although in some cases (ie adult-onset diabetes) there is a nasty positive feedback effect.
Also I like your concept of dying 'more'. I personally only intend to do it once, but I am curious as to how fat people do it more often than that.
But the attempt to shoehorn science to fit a political objective (and we see plenty of it across all sorts of behaviours people don't want to change) is just like pro-anorexia sites.
I don't see a parallel here, to be honest. I'll grant that some people with serious obesity-related health problems may use the fat-acceptance banner to avoid taking action to reduce their size, but I think that's closer to anorexics using mainstream 'being thin is good' "science" to justify starving themselves. I don't think this means being thin or all dieting/exercise sites are necessarily bad, and I don't think this means being fat or fat acceptance sites are necessarily bad. Fat acceptance sites are not necessarily "stuff yourself until you cannot leave your house" sites, just as slimming sites are not necessarily pro-anorexia sites.
Encourage them to stay fat if they can stop being, and you're helping them die younger.
I don't think fat-acceptance is about encouraging people to stay fat, I think it's about awareness that one cannot always judge someone's health or worth or value to society by their appearance. Body size is only one aspect of this, of course.
no subject
So how come you are entitled to make such decisions but encouraging someone twice your size to make their own decisions based on their own values and limitations (rather than perceived pressure from others) is wrong?
Fat people die more.
No.
Unhealthy people die more. Some of them are fat. Some of them are also underweight or even 'normal' according to BMI and societal standards.
It is possible to be fat and generally have good health. It may not be the case in many people but it is possible, and being judged to have an unhealthy lifestyle based solely upon one's appearance is ridiculous.
In cases where obesity is a genuine health problem it can be a side-effect of metabolic illness than a direct cause, although in some cases (ie adult-onset diabetes) there is a nasty positive feedback effect.
Also I like your concept of dying 'more'. I personally only intend to do it once, but I am curious as to how fat people do it more often than that.
But the attempt to shoehorn science to fit a political objective (and we see plenty of it across all sorts of behaviours people don't want to change) is just like pro-anorexia sites.
I don't see a parallel here, to be honest. I'll grant that some people with serious obesity-related health problems may use the fat-acceptance banner to avoid taking action to reduce their size, but I think that's closer to anorexics using mainstream 'being thin is good' "science" to justify starving themselves. I don't think this means being thin or all dieting/exercise sites are necessarily bad, and I don't think this means being fat or fat acceptance sites are necessarily bad. Fat acceptance sites are not necessarily "stuff yourself until you cannot leave your house" sites, just as slimming sites are not necessarily pro-anorexia sites.
Encourage them to stay fat if they can stop being, and you're helping them die younger.
I don't think fat-acceptance is about encouraging people to stay fat, I think it's about awareness that one cannot always judge someone's health or worth or value to society by their appearance. Body size is only one aspect of this, of course.