Comments

You must log in or register to comment.

sudo wrote

Does being obese have adverse effects on your health? Yep. Does that give other people the right to harass and bully you over your weight? Nope.

There, that's all that needs to be said. No need to go into science-denialism to combat fatphobia.

10

edmund_the_destroyer wrote

As I wrote down-thread, the graph of average longevity relative to BMI is a curve that peaks at BMI 28 (overweight) and drops off at about the same rate in both directions. So someone at BMI 21 has about the same lifespan, on average, as someone with BMI 35 which is plenty fat.

And further, as the article states correlation is not causation. Some ailments like thyroid disorders, sleep apnea and other forms of sleep disturbance, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and countless others increase the risks of being fat. In those cases the person's fatness isn't the cause of their health problems, but a byproduct.

I had undiagnosed, untreated severe sleep apnea for years. I don't know when it started, but it may have been in my early 20s and I got diagnosed at age 35, six years ago. I was always tired, which made it far harder to maintain a fitness routine than when I was a teenager or since my treatment started.

4

BunnyBop wrote (edited )

Being both trans and fat, I've noticed a similarity in one particular argument that is used by transphobes and fatphobes alike and appears in this very thread. It's the "biology" argument.

"It's not my personal opinion, it's just biology!"

Both use it to justify harassing trans and fat people and to deny them agency over their own bodies and/or identities. It's driven by disgust and, ironically, a complete apathy towards trans people's and fat people's wellbeing.

I've seen plenty enough of fatphobes to know their concern trolling about my health is disingenuous. They use the health argument, not because they want to support my health, but as a way to retroactively justify their disgust towards my body, a disgust that results in negative health outcomes for fat people: depression and anxiety which can lead to more weight gain, health concerns not being taken seriously by doctors, disordered eating.

And do you think fatphobes care about the negative health outcomes that fat-hate perpetuates? Hell no. You just watch. Every response will be some rendition of "b-b-but biology says this is unacceptable!"

Here's the thing, my dude. Health is different to each individual. My health as an able-bodied person is going to be different than the health of a disabled person, for example, and there's nothing wrong with either of those states of being unless the owners of those bodies say so. Biology says excess fat results in certain health outcomes. It doesn't say experiencing these health outcomes. is unacceptable or that not having disease is ideal. That was something society decided. The thing is, you don't have to go along with what society says. You can reject that narrative of fat-hate. You've decided not to.

So before you go spouting off about what biology says again, do me a favor and shove it up your ass.

3