Obesity Is Bad For Your Health

This does not make shaming good

Stock photos for obesity are all really shame-y, so here’s a pretty flower

Being the fat kid is something that never really goes away. When you spend your every waking moment acutely aware of the judgmental tone of every glance thrown your way, it leaves an indelible mark on who you are that is hard to erase. You can be a fat adult — comfortable, proud — and still, in the back of your mind, be thinking about coming in last on the athletics track on a hot summer day, thighs chafing, while your schoolmates point and laugh.

The shame is real.

Fatness is one of the few culturally accepted biases in our society. Being publicly fat is, as I can attest, an exercise in self-hatred and castigation. And recently, people have been making the wonderful argument that, instead of treating fat people as sub-human beasts, we should try and reduce the horrifying stigma that they face.

This is all to the good.

Unfortunately, there is another extreme that is being embraced by some. The argument that “obesity isn’t the problem!” is becoming more and more common. It…