Argumentative Essay On Fat Shaming

According to Ann Marie Paulin in “Cruelty, Civility and Other Weighty Matters”, the mass media are discriminating against overweight people, which creates a society where being fat is looked down upon. Paulin argues that, “the media are notorious for getting things less than accurate” (243), therefore we shouldn’t believe how they depict fat people on tv, magazines and other media sources. The author believes that not all overweight people are like, how the media portrays them, but rather their lifestyle is influenced by the culture we live in. She claimed that, “Sugary or fatty foods are often available in grab and go packages that are so much easier to take to work or eat in the car than making a healthy snack” (245). She believe there are evidence to show that humans are naturally attracted to unhealthy foods, but society continue to manufacture them to make people eat more (243-249). I agree with Paulin about how the media need to stop fat shaming because it’s not only making people feel bad, but it is promoting obesity.

Obesity has increased in numbers rapidly over the years. It is now considered a dangerous epidemic. Variety different arguments have been considered as to why obesity has increased. Many blame it on the consumers, but can it be the fault of someone else.

Julie Devaney’s essay discusses the fat shaming epidemic and its contribution to a culture of toxic shaming. Regardless of whether shaming works, she states that we all engage in some degree of compulsive behaviour. Devaney argues that people gain weight simply because they have restricted options and when they are manipulated into purchasing affordable, convenient foods that are designed to be fattening. She explains that these affordable, convenient foods not only contain additives that cause weight gain, but also make you addicted to their low cost and convenience. Moreover, Devaney continues on by saying that yo-yo dieting is a also a source for obesity. She says, prepackaged calorie-deficient weight loss-foods and magic herbal regimens

In American culture, the obese body is represented very negatively. One factor that contributes to this negative representation is the abundance of negative reactions that people display towards overweight people. It is a stigma that often taints and belittles the person, leading others to judge the individual negatively, rejecting, hating, or ridiculing him or her. That can often lead the obese person to develop sever psychological problems.

Greg Critser author of “Too Much of a Good Thing,” published by the Los Angeles Times proclaims obesity the most pivotal medical issue currently, citing United Nation health and nutrition experts. Rising rates of obesity around the world and in United States, due to several universal factors and underlying parental challenges, have created an environment detrimental for parents educating children in acceptable dietary behaviors (Critser 161). Critser affirms the stigmatization of unhealthy dietary behaviors would result in reduction of risk and harm regarding obesity; furthermore, he cites incidences where the stigmatization of perverse behaviors diminished the frequency of hazardous activities. The author challenges several widely-accepted

if you want to stick to the obesity argument you might want to think of arguments such as 'should the government be doing more to tackle the problem or is it up to the individual?' or 'How is it people can allow themselves to get that far into bad health(obesity)?' (might be more of a Psychology question though..) A good one for looking at arguments relating to the fast food industry is 'Super-Size me' that documentary, that might give you some more ideas about arguments, to look into some of the issues that Morgan Spurlock touches on, (size of food portions, advertising, health related problems of obesity, etc..)

Our culture uses health and wellness with food to divide groups as well. Julier ("The Political Economy of Obesity: The Fat Pay All") discusses how obesity vilifies certain groups and how poverty and obesity have a function in society, serving the industry and the economy. Julier says rhar obesity vilifies women, the poor, and people of color, groups of people that are already marginalized, and the stress of life as a marginalized group can lead to a disordered relationship with food. Americans are incredibly intolerant of individuals who have let themselves go, and get even angrier when those individuals don't do anything about it to get to the socially accepted normal: skinny (Mead "Why Do We Overeat?"). Julier ("The Political Economy of Obesity: The Fat Pay All") gives 13 political, economic, and cultural functions of poverty and obesity, one of them being the idea that when fatness is related to irresponsible behavior, those who aren't fat and stick to the socially constructed normal of thin are able to maintain and create public agenda to control and vilify the obese and overweight.

It’s estimated that nearly 1/3 of people suffer from obesity in North America. Rather than being a part of the solution, the media has a portrayal of what one should and should not look like, what is beautiful and what is not, typically possessing unrealistic standards and showing those that are overweight, as weak-willed individuals, who generally are blue collared individuals. This paper shall discuss obese individuals and how they are portrayed on television or on online streaming programming. Secondly, this paper shall discuss why this group has such a negative portrayal. Third, this paper will discuss what social pressures and production forces shape these portrayals. Finally, this paper will incorporate a media theory and explain what effects it has on the audiences and how obese individuals are typically treated in society.

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 why 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 unjustifiable

The purpose of this paper is to study the social aspect of obesity and an individual's personal experience of being fat. I understand obesity as a socially and politically meaningful divergence that is analogous to other significant differences based on the body, for example: disability, gender, and ethnicity (ef. Cooper, 1997&1998; Young, 1990). In my research, I approach obesity as a discursive category that is created, produced and reproduced through various social practices, such as: medicine and health care system, school, religion, and the media (e.g. Foucault, 1979).

This essay discusses how social constructions have an effect on obesity and what combination of causes and contributing factors it includes can lead to obesity. `Obesity is the term used to describe someone who is overweight and unhealthy. Obesity shortens life by an average of 10 years. It is very common in the UK and results from a study back in 2014 showed that a whopping 65.3% of men and 58.1% of women are obese here. (UniversityOfBirmingham,2016) Being over weight is generally associated with being lazy and unpleasant. There are a lot of media groups that have influenced our society’s perception on obesity and many factors that lead to the disease. Obesity can be life threatening and can be the start of lethal conditions such as diabetes,

In “What’s Wrong with Fat-Shaming?” by Lesley Kinzel and “Solve America’s Obesity Problem with Shame,” by Chris Friend share two different ideas about shaming against obesity. Body-shaming happens to everyone at some point in their lifetime, it sometimes includes inappropriate negative statements and attitudes towards a person weight or size. Fat-shaming is a term made by obese people to avoid their responsibility in taking care of their body. These people make themselves victims in society by pretending they are being discriminating like an ethnic group.

Louise Townend in her research concerning the moralizing of obesity addresses the issue across a wide spectrum of categories such as economic, health and social policy. She enumerates the different social contexts of the obesity debate and begins by stating that obesity is no longer a trouble but an epidemic which is now a “significant issue for health and social policy, with major ramifications for general economic productivity across the globe”. (Townend) 2009: 3. She points out obesity is often associated with stigma such as laziness, dirtiness, illness and poverty (Townend, 2009). This connects the problem of obesity with the history of poverty and creates the question of why is laziness connected to obesity? And why does that consequently turn into poverty.

The issue that I chose to research about was obesity in children and why it is becoming more relevant and time continues. I chose a recent article from San Francisco Chronicle that explains a recent survey that was conducted and what their plan is to try to fix it. In this article, a national report was done comparing children and adult body mass indexes. “The 2016 National Survey of Children's Health found that 30 percent of Wisconsin children ages 10 to 17 are overweight or obese, while the state's adult rate of obesity is 31 percent” (2017). Because of these results, health officials are very concerned and are trying to fix the problem. Because of this concern, health prfessionals are trying to teach parents to start to fix the problem from home.by having parents provide a better diet and exercise routine for their children.

Body-Shaming is known as criticizing or humiliating someone by making impolite comments on an individual's body shape or size. Body-shaming is a subject that has been recently brought to light with the use of social media; many celebrities have talked about body-shaming along with quite a few other individuals who have even went out to do social experiments. Generations and generations have passed and as the years go by, the problems only seems to get worse. Comments like “you should put more meat on your bones” and “you should go on a diet” are both equally demeaning and overused. It shouldn’t matter what someone’s body size or shape is to anyone as long as that person is happy and content with himself or herself. Almost everyone has