Must Read: Everything You Know About Obesity is Wrong
Last week Huffington Post published a great article by Michael Hobbes titled Everything You Know About Obesity is Wrong. about the current state of obesity and just how wrong, so many have gotten it for so long.
It opens with examples of gaps in the science and health and our … willingness… to treat them serious (and seriously treat them), before mentioning that obesity has one of the largest of those gaps in our time. The points brought up in the article cover a spectrum of science, medicine and society and how those areas have treated those with obesity. Or maybe failed to treat them I suppose it could be said. Bias and prejudice are rampant with attitudes that allow professionals and the public alike to bully those with obesity, all in the name of it “being for their own good”.
Much of the rest of the article uses personal stories from interviews Hobbes did with a number of people to help illustrate various points about bias, bullying and more.
I have never written a story where so many of my sources cried during interviews, where they shook with anger describing their interactions with doctors and strangers and their own families.
Be forewarned, this is a long article, it will take some time to read… especially to read and really digest it, but I highly recommend you do… it will be worth the effort.
One last note, while this article gets soooo much “right” in the way it presents the topic, including making a note of the stigma related to images of those with obesity, it did get one glaring thing wrong… many, many times. People first language. there are constant uses of “fat people” type references that could have easily been reworded, it just seems glaringly out of place. Especially when there are some instances where wording such as “higher-weight patients” was also used. Don’t let this deter you though, check out the article and maybe share what you thought in the comments here.
Everything You Know About Obesity is Wrong
image credit: Alpha Stock Images
