America's Fat-Shaming of Obesity

Concern with weight and body image is a widespread preoccupation for many Americans. In a study of college students 74.4 percent of normal weight woman and 46 percent of normal weight men said they thought about their weight or appearance "all the time" or "frequently" ("Body Image," 2012).

How many times a week do you go out to McDonald 's or Taco Bell for dinner? If you go more than once or twice a week then you really need to look at your diet and how healthy your lifestyle is. America is having a huge obesity crisis, too many Americans just don’t care about how much they weigh or unhealthy their lifestyle is. From the advertisement of the fast food companies, to people not being able to afford healthier foods, and people just being plain lazy, America has an increasing population of morbidly obese people.

In the United States, a crisis is breaking out known as the Obesity epidemic. For the first time in history, it is possible for the children of this generation to have a lower life expectancy than their parents. Millions of Americans are exposed to ads that are luring them into eating the cheap, fast food of billion dollar companies such as McDonald’s. Obesity has established itself as the fastest growing disease in the nation and continues to make an impact on the general population. The issue of Obesity is directly related to todays technology through television, cell phones, video games and all of sorts of new gadgets.

In the chapter The Adoption and Management of a “Fat” Identity, Douglas Degher and Gerald Hughes analyze how the reality of people that are overweight changes. “Obese people are fat first, and only secondary are seen as possessing ancillary characteristics.”(Degher and Hughes p.265). In today's society being overweight or not having the ideal body being portrayed by the media is usually considered as unhealthy. As a consequence, pharmaceutical drugs are being created daily to help reduce weight, workout dvds are being produced daily, and clothes keeps getting reduced and limited so that overweight people have a hard time finding something that fits them and that they like. In the eyes of countless individuals, being fat is considered deviant

“I don’t hate you because you’re fat. You’re fat because I hate you,” an iconic “Mean Girls” quote briefly illustrates how fat is often portrayed in society. Movies and television series have a tendency to exclude overweight actors/actresses or use them as a center of ridicule. In doing so, it sends a misguided message to children, teens and adults who now feel the pressure of inadequacy. People have begun to examine the effects of body shaming in America. In the article “Fear of Fatness,” Peggy Orenstein, an award-winning writer, claims that the image of the ideal woman is rather impossible to achieve, and even those who may obtain it, still find flaws within themselves. Orenstein presents the idea that body fat is viewed as a negative

Obesity is plaguing America and it is not surprising that fast food is contributing to the epidemic. The definition of onesity is when an individual is thirty percent more overweight from their normal age and height. Obesity is the largest public health concern of today. A stunning thirty five percent of the population is obese.

Obesity in America is an epidemic people die from this deadly disease. As people of America, we first need to understand what does it really mean to be overweight and uncomfortable? Nutritionists classify people in today’s society as either underweight, healthy weight, overweight, or obese. Being obese is not just a cosmetic problem. It’s a health issue that needs to be solved. Excess body fat accumulated over a period of time is harmful and it hurts.imagine walking around holding a ten-pound weight every day, then a few weeks later that ten-pound weight turns into a 2o pound weight. That’s not a good feeling it’s very comfortable. Who wants to have shortness of breath heart problems, diabetes, wheelchair bound or bed bound? Let’s make a change for humanity and the next generations.

Obesity is one of America’s problems that we struggle with every day. Even other countries see America for obesity and how much junk food and pop we consume. Our first lady is even trying to help fix this problem. Schools are gaining healthy lunches and changing up a few things in how make what school’s eat. That’s a great step, but you can always avoid school lunches. I know that people can’t force people to eat healthy. But I realize that how we are is really not anyone’s fault, except ours. Obesity is how much self control people have and how we handle our food options.

In America, seventy-eight million adults and twelve million children have been diagnosed with obesity (Rossi). Obesity is a disease that means grossly fat or overweight inasmuch as that is the consumers fault for eating imprudently; it also is the food industries fault, especially fast food. Fast-food is inexpensive and it attracts consumers, especially obese consumers, because fast-food is everywhere, nonetheless, Americans are not informed upon what they are eating not only causing obesity but chances of other diseases like heart disease, stroke, and diabetes.

The social impact of obesity: although overlaps the concept of mental health, it includes the way society treats obese people and the difficulties they face because of it

The pressure to lose weight in today’s society inhibits the personality and health of overweight people while essentially increasing the weight of the people who experience these pressures (Worley 163-167). So reasons Mary Ray Worley in her article, “Fat and Happy: In Defense of Fat Acceptance.” Worley uses her personal experience as well as a small number of facts to dispute the reason overweight people struggle as they attempt to contribute to society (163-167). In the beginning of her article she references an association of which she is a member, the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance, to convey the possibilities to advance society when judgement based on size is abandoned (163-164). The association holds a conference every year, and Worley continually refers to the atmosphere at the convention as “another planet,” suggesting that the scarcity of judgment during the convention differed significantly from her everyday experiences (163-164, 167). Applying her encounters to all people of her weight category, she declares that even doctors blame the majority of sicknesses on weight (165). She also proclaims that people should not diet and exercise in order to lose weight, as this triggers loss of motivation without results, but to improve their attitude and mood (166). Referencing Dr. Diane Budd from the convention, she states that attempts to lose weight cause “lasting harmful effects on one’s appetite, metabolism, and self-esteem” (164). While Worley’s

As we all know America is obese. Americans are getting fatter and faster. Once it was considered obesity happened with high-income countries, but now it shows it is rising with the low and middle class countries. The reason for this is because our food supply and lifestyle are changing. Not only are food expensive, but we live in a very busy world. We have gotten used to buying food that are fast and cheap, which usually means unhealthy. We all cannot afford locally grown food which are healthier, so we turn to fast and cheap food which are usually fast food. Food that are there to serve and make us gain weight fast. Then add in our unhealthy lifestyle of sitting in front of the couch most of the time watching tv and probably eating, instead

Obesity will affect more than 1.3 billion people globally by 2030. Americans need to see how being over weight can have various health issues on ones body. However, we see obese and overweight people every day in our lives and who is to blame? Ourselves or the food industry? The choice one makes in their dietary plan affects their weight and overall well-being. Obesity among Americans remains whist although it is still on the rise. Recognizing the perception of being over weight in the United States has now become a new norm, as a result; Americans should incorporate that being overweight comes with consequences.

Those assumptions of the taken for granted relationship between obesity and health sometimes obscure the real causes that harm patients and lead to more fat-stigmatization. For instance, it is rare for a fat person to visit a doctor for checkup without hearing the normative advice to try to lose weight and eat healthy even though the visit might be completely unrelated to weight (Boero 2012: 134). This pre-assumptions and judgements that any fat person lives an unhealthy life style is already an issue.  The negative and automatic mind set of doctors, media and society towards obesity might be the root of the issue. Indeed, Boero in her book tells us of how gynecological cancer was thought to be more likely in obese women, and many concluded that obesity caused this type of cancer. However, one study, the WomanCare Plus, found that this cancer can be treated if early screening was done no matter what your size is (Boero 2012: 132). Moreover, they interviewed patients and found that women with high BMI faced some barriers that slowed their screening. For example, more than a third of women reported that they didn’t want to deal with the negative attitude of doctors towards their bodies. Also the embarrassment of not finding equipment that fit their size and the disrespectful treatments demotivated

The article “the ironic effect of weight stigma” is an article based on the consequences of weight stigmatizing messages and its effect on obsessed individuals. Americans war on obesity has further accentuates stigmatization among obese individuals. The analysis which shows that exposure to weight stigmatizing messages brings about negative effect on the social identity of such individuals. The result of the analysis shows that individuals who observed themselves to be above-average weight applied self control when provided with food with more calories. The participants were basically women who were randomly assigned to read weight stigmatizing news articles and the effect on the individuals in the job market or a control article.