Biggest Loser Identity

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.

In “Kentucky Town of Manchester Illustrates National Obesity Crisis” by Wil Haygood, he AV that obese people don’t want to face their obesity problems, obese people are embarrassed of their body. Obesity is a subject that people try to avoid because it’s an uncomfortable topic to discuss. Haygood meets the Robinson family in a small town called Manchester. The town is filled with numerous fast-food joints where a feeling of “cleaning off your plate” is held in many homes, this attitude illustrates the point that Warner makes about the American Culture. People in Manchester grow up with a culture of cleaning off their plates full of unhealthy food. As Haygood talks with the two Robinson sisters, Britney and Carlin, they reveal their embarrassment

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

When it comes to the topic of obesity, most will readily agree that it is a growing dilemma. This argument has many writers bringing different responses. Two explanations are debated in What You Eat is Your Business by Radley Balko and Don’t Blame the Eater by David Zinczenko. Both pieces create a good stance on the topic of obesity. Balko’s piece, however, has a better all around flow, organization and consistency.

“The Cato Institute’s” Policy analyst, Radley Balko, in his article “What You Eat Is Your Business,” talks about the idea of obesity and whose fault it is. Balko’s purpose is to convey the idea that obesity is the individual’s responsibility, not the government’s or anyone else’s for that matter. Ultimately, Balko’s “What You Eat Is Your Business” has a strong hold on ethos, pathos, and logos, making for a successful and persuasive article.

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.

Celebrities everywhere are cutting out things from their diet that they do not need to in order to lose weight. Thousands of people will also starve themselves because they think that it helps them to lose weight, but it just hurts their body more. The writer exemplifies the problems in today’s pop culture to a new level to allow the reader to see how insane it really is.

In the article “Distorted Images: Western Cultures are Exporting Their Dangerous Obsession with Thinness,” author Susan McClelland’s mainly focuses on how many young women idolize the women they see on T.V. The media is making many women feel as if they need to look a certain way to fit in with the world. Also the fact the western culture is spreading to other countries is a big issue because sicknesses, like bulimia, were not an issue before. Many women in other countries are starting to look at the women in the United States and want to be just like them. In this article, the author says that television, magazines, and media show

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).

So how does one manage the physical self? Bordo says that to achieve the ideal body of our culture one must keep "constant watchfulness over appetite and strenuous work on the body itself is required to conform to this ideal." This would be the most rewarding way to attain the admirable body of our culture, but many people refuse to put the work required to have a healthy body. Many rely on diets and other methods that produce instant gratification. Bordo looks at dieting as a direct path to failure when hoping to this idea of a normal body in our culture. She explains how deprivation leads to bingeing and the process of dieting develops feeling of defeat and worthlessness.

In her essay, “The Globalization of Eating Disorders,” Susan Bordo informs her audience of the growing trends in eating disorders. Through her argument, Bordo illustrates the cruel identity of body-image distortion syndrome while she searches for a solution to the eating-disorder problem by looking to its birthplace in culture. Making use of several examples and scenarios, facts and statistics, and appeals to pathos and logos to construct her argument, Bordo shows a strong intent on eradicating the growing crisis in a reasonably sound argument.

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,

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.