The Fat Pride Movement

Destigmatizing is all the rage. And yet, we rarely ask the obvious questions. 

What happens when you destigmatize adultery?

Of course, you get more adultery.

What happens when you destigmatize divorce?

Of course, you get more divorce.

And, what happens when you destigmatize obesity?

Of course, you get more obesity.

Few people dare to point out these rather obvious points. But May Mailman has explained it all on the Daily Caller, via the Independent Women’s Forum. (via Maggie's Farm)

But, is fat really a problem? Mailman explains that it is a very serious problem.

America has a weight problem: Today, more than 42% of Americans are obese, up from only 10% in the 1950s. And by problem, I mean it. Obesity causes more chronic illness than smoking, and can cut a decade off one’s life.

As we flirt with war, we lack the readiness: one in four young Americans is too heavy to serve. And obesity is expensive. It costs the average adult $2,500 a year over his normal-weight peers in medical bills alone. On 2016 estimates, obesity-driven chronic disease costs our nation $1.72 trillion per year. Not to mention the effect on kids. Obese kids are more likely to repeat a grade and less likely to put effort into school than their normal-weight peers. They can’t sleep as well and can’t participate in sports due to breathing problems.

But in our fight against obesity, we now have another enemy: the growing fat pride movement.

Ah yes, the fat pride movement. It reminds of the anorexic pride movement, whereby young women who have reduced themselves to walking skeletons are stopped on the street and told how great they look.

Nothing quite like destigmatizing bad behavior. As it happens, the fat pride movement has produced what is called a Covid co-morbidity. Which means, if you are overweight the chances you will get very sick from Covid-19 are much higher:

It has already taken lives. We’ve long known that about 80% of people hospitalized with COVID-19 were overweight or obese. 

But even though this is the only policy-amenable factor (versus, for example, an aging population) that made the United States more vulnerable to COVID, our public health leaders have avoided the weight-loss chat, preferring to bless our growing waistlines, close down gyms and endanger us.

The movement in favor of body positivity and acceptance of overweight people is not new. 

Some of us are less attuned to women’s magazines and the advertising industry that they underwrite. But, apparently they are now filled with images of overweight females, proclaiming that they feel great about themselves. Because, we live in a therapy culture where how you feel about yourself trumps how you look to others. And besides, in our culture how you feel about yourself-- with the aid of the right psychiatric medication-- is more important than the health consequences of obesity:

Now, fat pride is positively mainstream. Fitness and lingerie brands showcase models less fit than the average American, and magazines scold fitness instructors to end their anti-fat bias. 

(Nevermind that many of us would ask for a refund if our fitness instructors made us gain fat.) Advertisements for “fat-inclusive” tailoring services grace the internet, as if sewing was previously size-selective.

And Mailman concludes that fat pride is good business. Then again, addiction has always been good business. It’s a frightening prospect, one that damages women. But, as it happens, no one cares about damaging women any more:

And it’s a sinister laugh at that. Today’s executives tout fat pride to enrich themselves, selling the 74% of overweight or obese Americans more magazines, luxury yoga pants and undies. But then what? Tell Americans suffering from joint pain, addiction to fast food and increased health costs they’ve reached self-actualization while you bop out to the tennis court?