On Fatness & Stigma

The inimitable Kate Harding over at Shapely Prose (a leading blog in the Fatosphere, and one which I have finally added to our blogroll) has some excellent commentary on the results of a study on discrimination against obese people.  Excerpts:

I’m kind of stunned that a bunch of researchers not only noticed that discrimination against fat people exists, they correctly identified a major cause of it. (Did hell freeze over while I was neglecting the blog last week?) I am so fucking sick of the phrase “personal responsibility,” which always seems to be used by people who want to justify their prejudices, so I LOVE that they identify that phrase–and the thinking behind it–as the hate-fueling horseshit it is.

And that, I might add, is why this blog continues to work toward busting the myth that all fat people eat non-stop and never exercise. Sure, some fat people do, and they deserve the same respect as any other human beings, but as long as the culture keeps insisting that fatness is a failure of “personal responsibility,” I’m going to keep screaming that there are fat people who live “healthy lifestyles,” and thin people who live “unhealthy lifestyles” (see below for more on that odious framing) and you just can’t know how much “personal responsibility” any given person is taking by looking at them.

Well said.  In addition, as we have noted on this blog before, the problem with the lifestyle model of disease is that it often permits interlocutors to ignore the tremendous effects social and economic conditions have in shaping lifestyles.  It should be obvious that it is harder to eat right and exercise when unacceptable levels of violence in a community discourage persons from exercising outside, when supermarkets and fresh foods are either entirely absent or located far away from certain neighborhoods, and when 2 hours of commuting time is required to enable someone to get to work.

This is not to deny the effect of human agency, but to note instead that social and economic conditions are powerful determinants in shaping individual choices.  Thus, telling obese persons that they "just" need to exercise and eat less is not only deeply stigmatizing and often erroneous -- because, as Kate points out, many fat people do in fact exercise and watch what they eat -- but also obscures the importance of social and economic conditions in shaping the range of options available to us, and our ability to exercise those options.

Thoughts?

Comments

[Annie]

Recent research has demonstrated many metabolic factors regulating set points, fat storage, caloric conversion to energy and to fat ratios and metabolic rates. The production of leptin, the types of microflora in the GI tract, the basal temperature, sleep/wake patterns, shift work, exposure to pollutants all factor into weight management and maintenance.

Moreover, there is a growing body of research which demonstrates that the body is not able to process high fructose corn syrup, and that it may be contributing to metabolic syndrome development and risk. (Anecdotally, people who eat rice-based diets instead of corn-based diets have lower rates of heart disease, diabetes and cancer.)

To perpetuate this myth of total personal control as a weight and obesity determinant is spurious and malicious.

Pragmatically, employers are seeking reasons to legally turn away applicants who may be user os health care and then affect the cost of employer-based health insurance contracts. obesity is a visual sign which employers may well use to discriminate without the victim being able to self-advocate.

Kate Harding is an excellent writer, and I appreciate your quoting her.

[Vein Doc]

It has become increasingly difficult to eat in healthy way with the rigors of modern life. Supermarkets are stocked with unhealthy foods, for the most part they are aisle after aisle of junk. The produce section and meat counters are the only place a person can unprocessed foods. Fruits, vegetables and lean meats in the natural form are the only sure way to maintain a healthy diet. For the most part it is not that obese people eat too much food, its that they eat the wrong foods. For the most part everybody eats the same amount of food its a matter of how many and what kind of calories are in that given amount of food. A pound of vegetables is going to contain a lot less calories than a pound of french fries but either way your stomach is going to be just as full. To compound this problem the vast majority of the workforce has a very limited selection to choose from when lunchtime rolls around. Even if a person wants to grab a healthy bite to eat, there is no place around to eat a quick and healthy meal. Not to say that its impossible to get a decent meal at lunch but the healthier choices are not marketed by fast food joints because it is more costly to provide those choices.