Interesting!
I do believe that obesity is a health problem...a major national health problem.
However it is not, nor should it be, a definition of worth. Ms. Director says, "I'm fat, so what?" and I agree. So what? On a day to day basis, being fat does not add to nor detract from people's worth.
However I do have issues when the groups who support fat acceptance try to tout fat as being "just as healthy." Scientific studies have shown that even an excess of 10 pounds increases a person's risk for lifestyle related illnesses. I don't believe in any WAY shape or form that scientists are finding a relationship out of some sort of desire to "keep the fat person down."
Just look at the heavy set people in the mall for one afternoon. You see a lot of problems walking, honest-to-goodness pain on their faces, flushed skin, sweating. This is not a healthy person who is simply "fat". This is a person who is overweight and out of shape to the point of being ill.
Talk to any doctor, physical therapist, or other health practitioner and they will tell you that a lot of what they treat is related to lack of exercise and diets too high in fat and calories. That is not a "political agenda" that is a fact.
So while I think it is important to take the social stigma out of fat, I also think that to preach that it's okay on EVERY level to be fat is wrong. I needed to know, when I was overweight, that I was a good and valuable person despite my weight. In fact I worked on self acceptance LONG before I worked on my weight.
Once I got there I realized that if I truly did value myself and was a worthwhile person, I wasn't showing myself love or value by treating my body like a garbage heap. I needed to move it more, feed it wholesome food, and "invest" in my future.
Interesting article..and I do kind of agree that if the goal right now is to wag a shameful finger at society and provide a bastion for obese women to say "See, we are TOO valuable!" then it's probably a waste of university money. But if out of this we can come to some social change in BOTH acceptance of people at any size, and personal responsibility for ones health...then it is beneficial. As it reads in that article is feels more like "We want you to take responsibility for how you treat us, but we won't take any personal responsibility for our own health." I think without the latter, the former isn't going to happen.
