I Take Up Space

Congrats on the new blog Patty. Great first post and looking forward to more :)

What wonderful words of wisdom, Pattie, and ones everyone needs to hear. Thanks for sharing them, and I sincerely look forward to what's to come.

Congratulations on your new blog, and thank you for this post. Even among people who are more enlightened than most about the weight loss industry and the actual lived experiences of fat people, the "moral panic" concept doesn't come up often enough. It needs to be said again and again and again.

"What if, however, the belief that weight equals health is wrong? What if people with "good" life-styles still get fat, still get sick, still suffer injury? Then such public policies based upon these beliefs will fail."

This is so important. Thanks for reminding me what Sociology has to bring to the table in this analysis.

Great blog. Governmental "wars" don't work. Take the war on poverty. Let's see......no, still not working. We need to take the money that is being wasted on public programs that don't work and spend it on researching ways to help us all be healthy, regardless of body size, pre-existing condition or current health. Eating disorders is another casualty of the war on obesity. I agree. Let's stop the insanity!

thanks Pattie for such a well-written argument that provides plenty of supportive evidence!

Great article Pattie. I am also a sociologist who did my master's project on weight stigma. I could not agree with you more. Sadly, telling someone that most diets fail face to face gives one the moral status of puppy kickers. I can't tell you how many times I have been cut off while trying to inform folks about the genetic component to body size by someone gloating about how they recently dropped 50 lbs last year. Uh huh! Talk to me 5 years from now when you have gained it back and put your body through the dangerous yo-yo cycle. But try to tell them that and with their limited perspective and they think you are just jealous or a saboteur. I wonder if they would feel the same way if you warned them about the side effects of a dangerous drug in their medicine cabinet?

We have been chained to scales for decades now. Our weight obsession is partly to blame for why our society is dysfunctional in so many other areas. Time to stop letting our lives be manipulated by mass media marketing. Time to start thinking for ourselves. Time to move past our thinderella fantasies and focus on REAL problems!

Nice post! I always enjoy reading your work. Best of luck in your new location. ;)

Nice debut. Keep it comin'!

Common sense ain't always that common. Congrats on a great article. If only they'd read it in the White House...

The academic mind can eat away the very basis of its own assurance ... produce contortions when it tries to bend over backward ... allow itself to be dismayed by the picture it has created of relentless historical process.
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