In an attempt to overcome the rising numbers of people affected by eating disorders perpetuated by the media, the body acceptance movement evolved into one that glamorized being overweight. From a healthy standpoint of encouraging girls to be proud of their bodies (even if it looks nothing like the models on the runway or the doll that they got for Christmas one year) and boys to stop comparing themselves to what they see in the movies or magazines, it has sparked a world wide web debate over its implications, especially now that it has gone on to promoting that fat is better.
Everybody knows that obesity is detrimental to physical health. It increases the risk of developing high blood sugar, high cholesterol and high blood pressure amongst other things. One of the many causes for sciatica surgery is being overweight to the point of affecting one’s sciatic nerve which may cause anything from mild annoyance to debilitating pain.
There is also the study that obesity is responsible for 112,000 deaths in 2015. However, oftentimes complications that arise from being overweight or obese are heart related and are therefore reported as such. Furthermore, the study is skewed by researchers not taking into account that heavier patients that passed from other illnesses might have been obese, instead of in a normal or healthy weight range at their time of passing.
In a more controlled study, it was discovered that being slightly overweight reduces life expectancy by one year and those who are moderately obese might lose more than three. From the University of Oxford, Professor Sir Richard Peto was quoted saying, “overweight and obesity now cause about one in seven of all premature deaths in Europe and one in five of all premature deaths in North America”, meaning that these deaths could be easily prevented if one were more wary about one’s health and not one’s appearance.
Many articles published in regards to loving your size regardless of what size, sends the wrong message that it is perfectly okay to be unhealthy as long as you love yourself. There might be those who try to defend it by saying that it is better than bullying, but is it really? Both are damaging to the intended party, in spite of the differing intentions.
For some reason, the fat movement has opened a whole new platform for people to criticize their slimmer counterparts or tease them for their lack of mass. While it is not as rampant as the jokes made at the expense of the overweight, it is a slippery slope that might graduate to a society of people who are unable to feel comfortable in their own skin or flesh without putting another person down.
Another downside to this movement has made “fat” become synonymous with the n-word – a derogatory term that many dare not speak for fear of being viewed as politically incorrect. What many fail to comprehend is that without the implications, a word is just a word. Meanwhile, the fact remains that being overweight will bring ill-effects to one’s health and that should be addressed rather than empowering a generation to be overweight and proud of it.