another day dealing with fatphobia, body shaming, and heathism
Last week, that disgusting, fat shaming video that Strong4Life has released was posted to a local parents' FB group I belong to. I am not linking to it. It shows a fat man having a heart attack and then goes backwards through his life to show all the "bad" foods he ate ending with his mother giving him french fries when he is a baby. Oh, that is after the doctor is an asshole because the dude is fat. Ugh. Fat-shaming, mother-blaming, and shitty docs all in one video. Anyhow, I was just too cranky to let it stand and here is what I posted in response.
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That is a really dehumanizing video and I am not sure what the point of it is expect to shame fat people. Yes, ostensibly the point is to encourage healthy eating by kids, but its focus is on shaming the fat person in the video. Oh, and shaming the man's mother for feeding him french fries as a baby--I assume we are supposed to feel good about ourselves if we don't give our kids french fries, which I think is also the point of the video, to encourage disgust towards parents of fat children for what they are supposedly feeding them.
Throughout the majority of the video we don't see the man's face, we only see his stomach, hear him breathing hard, see the food in front of him. His face is removed from the picture, the most common way fat people are dehumanized by media outlets. He is supposed to be having a heart attack but we are not supposed to have compassion for him, apparently because he is a fat person. The doctor in the video sets the tone by quipping "How does that happen?" in a disgusted tone when he learns the man's height and weight. At least the video got that detail correct---doctors treat fat people HORRIBLY on a regular basis, but apparently, according to this video that is cool and justified because, you know, us fat people don't deserve compassionate, respectful health care. Glad to know that if I am having a medical emergency the doctor will be more interested in fat-shaming me than actually trying to save my life. (Oh, but I am already painfully aware of that possibility).
Kids can eat a variety of foods including french fries and ::gasp: birthday cake and not end up having a heart attack at the age of 30. Many of those kids don't end up being fat. People of all sizes eat fast food. People of all sizes eat french fries. People of all sizes do, in fact, get heart disease and diabetes. People of all sizes get out of breath doing certain physical activities. And, yes, there are plenty of fat people walking around with no health issues. And those that do have health issues deserve compassionate, respectful health care. Nobody can tell what someone eats by the way they look, by the size they are. Nobody can tell what a particular person's health status is by looking at them either.
If you are interested in promoting healthful eating in kids one of the most important things is not demonizing certain foods, and not making it about their body size. Kids self-regulate pretty well and having a variety of foods available to them is really important. The goal of having kids eating a varied, nutrient-rich diet should be so that they get the nutrients they need, not to keep them a certain size. Some kids are bigger for part, or a lot of, their childhood. Some of those kids end up thin/average adults and some end up fat adults. Some thin children end up fat adults. And all those people, as children and adults, should be allowed to live freely in their bodies without shame. But this video didn't talk about any of that. It just acted out the same, tired stereotypes of the child-like fat person who can't be trusted to be make their own food choices and those choices alone (not genetic factors, not other environmental factors, not other health issues) caused them to have a heart attack.
I am really disgusted by this video and do not think it serves any purpose other than to shame fat people and engender a lack of compassion for fat people who have life threatening health issues. No thank you.
*************************************
That is a really dehumanizing video and I am not sure what the point of it is expect to shame fat people. Yes, ostensibly the point is to encourage healthy eating by kids, but its focus is on shaming the fat person in the video. Oh, and shaming the man's mother for feeding him french fries as a baby--I assume we are supposed to feel good about ourselves if we don't give our kids french fries, which I think is also the point of the video, to encourage disgust towards parents of fat children for what they are supposedly feeding them.
Throughout the majority of the video we don't see the man's face, we only see his stomach, hear him breathing hard, see the food in front of him. His face is removed from the picture, the most common way fat people are dehumanized by media outlets. He is supposed to be having a heart attack but we are not supposed to have compassion for him, apparently because he is a fat person. The doctor in the video sets the tone by quipping "How does that happen?" in a disgusted tone when he learns the man's height and weight. At least the video got that detail correct---doctors treat fat people HORRIBLY on a regular basis, but apparently, according to this video that is cool and justified because, you know, us fat people don't deserve compassionate, respectful health care. Glad to know that if I am having a medical emergency the doctor will be more interested in fat-shaming me than actually trying to save my life. (Oh, but I am already painfully aware of that possibility).
Kids can eat a variety of foods including french fries and ::gasp: birthday cake and not end up having a heart attack at the age of 30. Many of those kids don't end up being fat. People of all sizes eat fast food. People of all sizes eat french fries. People of all sizes do, in fact, get heart disease and diabetes. People of all sizes get out of breath doing certain physical activities. And, yes, there are plenty of fat people walking around with no health issues. And those that do have health issues deserve compassionate, respectful health care. Nobody can tell what someone eats by the way they look, by the size they are. Nobody can tell what a particular person's health status is by looking at them either.
If you are interested in promoting healthful eating in kids one of the most important things is not demonizing certain foods, and not making it about their body size. Kids self-regulate pretty well and having a variety of foods available to them is really important. The goal of having kids eating a varied, nutrient-rich diet should be so that they get the nutrients they need, not to keep them a certain size. Some kids are bigger for part, or a lot of, their childhood. Some of those kids end up thin/average adults and some end up fat adults. Some thin children end up fat adults. And all those people, as children and adults, should be allowed to live freely in their bodies without shame. But this video didn't talk about any of that. It just acted out the same, tired stereotypes of the child-like fat person who can't be trusted to be make their own food choices and those choices alone (not genetic factors, not other environmental factors, not other health issues) caused them to have a heart attack.
I am really disgusted by this video and do not think it serves any purpose other than to shame fat people and engender a lack of compassion for fat people who have life threatening health issues. No thank you.