I’d like to respond to last week’s article titled “Obese modelling encourages unhealthy lifestyles,” which claimed that overweight bodies are more susceptible to disease and other health risks, and therefore shouldn’t be put in the media spotlight.
This article is fat-shaming at its most dangerous and disturbing, and it’s crucial to speak out about these types of discrimination. The crux of writer Anthony Bianco’s argument relies upon the stereotype that all fat bodies are inherently unhealthy. Not only is this not true, but it leads to the oppression of fat people and the impossible notion that there is one uniform “healthy body weight.”
Bianco stated the weight and height of Tess Holliday — a hugely successful model and body-positive activist — as if that is any indication of Holliday’s health. Let me be as clear as possible: a person’s size or shape provides absolutely no grounds for assumption about their health, personality, or human rights.
As Bianco wrote, “Her recent ascent to fame now makes her a role model for millions, and sends the message that having a weight labelled as obese is okay, or even cool.” First of all, it is never okay to diagnose someone with obesity unless you are a healthcare practitioner. In her book Health at Every Size, Dr. Linda Bacon wrote, “Fat isn’t the problem [. . .] A medical establishment that equates ‘thin’ with ‘healthy’ is the problem.”
It is never okay to diagnose someone with obesity unless you are a healthcare practitioner.
The article in The Peak also avoids using the word “fat,” which is the first sign of fat-shaming. The use of words like “grossly overweight” and “obese” are misinterpreted as value-neutral because they are used in a medical context — this is just as discriminatory as calling someone “fat” as an insult. As writer and activist Lindsay King-Miller wrote in an article for Bitch last year, “if you don’t need to be thin to be considered a worthwhile or complete person, then ‘fat’ isn’t an insult, just a descriptor.”
Finally, epidemiological studies on weight rarely account for factors like socioeconomic status, activity, and nutrient intake, which all are equally relevant is assessing risk for disease. The presumed public health crisis of obesity is actually more of a moral panic against the publicity of fat bodies.
But the weakest aspect of Bianco’s argument by far is the assumption that fat models hold ideological influence over the public. It’s laughable to presume that the success and fame of fat people could somehow force consumers to make choices that will leave them susceptible to disease and other health risks.
If we see any ideological consequence of a diverse presentation of bodies in mainstream media, it will most likely be the shocking realization that it’s acceptable to have a body that doesn’t resemble all the overwhelmingly white, able-bodied, thin, and cisgender models currently in the spotlight.
