Do we really need to tell fat kids they should "cease to be"?
A couple of weeks ago my husband and I were driving through North Las Vegas and we were taken aback by this billboard. Most people driving by probably think nothing of it. After all, isn't it right to promote healthy activity in children? The neighborhood where this billboard sits is predominantly African American and Hispanic and don't we hear every day that it is these populations who are suffering from the supposed consequences of a supposed epidemic of "obesity"?
I could spend a lot of time telling you all the objections that have been raised about the alleged epidemic and its alleged consequences, including the manipulating of statistics to make it sound like an overwhelming amount of diabetes and high blood pressure are prevelant in children or that children are extremely larger than earlier generations. These "facts" are in doubt and not as straightforward as popular media and the diet-pharmaceutical-surgical industry complex would like you to believe.
But I think a different approach is in order. Setting aside all the debate, how do you think a billboard like this makes a fat kid feel? "Cease to Be Obese" is tantamount to telling a fat kid that he should not exist. Now, of course, I know the objections. This is not saying the kid should not exist, but that he or she should be smaller. But the wording and the placement of the billboard is stigmatizing a population that already deals with the mundane, extreme stress of classism and racism.
So let's say for the sake of argument that you believe that reduction of body size is a way to health and that eating less and exercising more will lead to a reduction in body size in all human beings. Why do you have to promote weight loss in order to promote exercise? If you really believe in the calorie in/calorie burned model, promoting exercise and healthy eating for every one would automatically solve the "obesity" problem, would it not? Is it necessary to promote hatred of a fat body in order to get someone to lose weight? Is it not important to promote play, movement, and sportsmanship among all all kids? Why single out "obese" kids?
I think the most telling thing about those who are promoting the "healthy children" initiatives that this billboard represents is that the promoters do not trust the calories in/calories burned model. They resist a Health at Every Size (HAES) approach because they know deep down inside that dieting and exercise does NOT reduce body size in every person. And it is the body size, not the health on which they are focused. Focusing on how a child looks rather than on what they do is a sure fire way to promote stigma, fear, bullying and ultimately discrimination and prejudice.
Here's the bottom line. Both the weight-loss crowd and the HAES crowd agree that good eating habits and joyful movement are components of good health. But HAES does not stigmatize where one is today. HAES does not promote weight loss but it does not reject it either. So why not promote good eating habits and joyful activity among all kids, regardless of size? Only those who are concerned with looks and not health would reject this idea.
