My game plan for the blog this week was to share all about my word of the year. Something else has come up that is seriously giving me some serious eyeball rolls.
A major news source put out information on a study done about the intersection of the pandemic and obesity. Multiple people on social media are sharing this new source post and adding comments like : FINALLY - only took 22 months.
One : obesity and being overweight have ALWAYS been considered a high-risk factor in this pandemic. ALWAYS. It didn’t take 22 months. It took 22 minutes. Maybe knock off one of those 2s…
Let’s continue on this track for a hot second. Obesity (and being overweight) are a guaranteed fail safe for the media and medical community. Why? Because it’s easier to shit on the fat people (I am one - I’m not being rude or dismissive) than to say that everybody needs to take a good long look in their fridges, at their exercise or movement habits, sleep, water intake, all the things. I look what society considers “average”? WHEW. I’m good. Let me get back to my smoking or eating fast food everyday. (I will smack talk smoking every day considering my dad just died from smoking - not going to smack talk the fast food - I was a daily Starbs drinker - but, hey, I know). The point here? Instead of highlighting HABITS that make ANY body of ANY size healthier - it’s easier to ASSUME that people who visually look larger than the societal expectation of average are unhealthy and therefore… let’s just “study” them and draw conclusions on this singular population that was chosen for specific purposes. Also. BMI is bullshit. But hey - it helps the diet industry continue to spin the narrative about size and therefore make a shit ton of money.
Two : are we really not questioning why this study, that is NOT telling us anything new, is being pushed hard NOW? At the beginning of the year? In January? When the diet and gym industry makes BANK? And now they can make even more bank by scaring the fudge out of the obese and overweight people? By getting them to BUY products that RUSH the weight loss, but don’t actually make them any HEALTHIER? And because it’s not about actual HABITS, it most likely won’t stick?
Let us get real here for a hot second. Unhealthy habits may or may not have led a person to become obese or overweight, based on the BMI scale. Unhealthy habits may or may not have led a skinny person or “average” person to be their size, based on the BMI scale. I’m not saying that someone who is obese or overweight is or is not more at risk. Frankly - I don’t care. Some (most? Many? I don’t read them all anymore because it gets tiring) of these studies don’t take into account the historical construction of how the individual body came to be that way and what the current habits are to create a better functioning internal system that may or may not result in a change to the external aesthetic.
Academic studies will be what they are. They will pump out information and the media will pick up the juiciest tidbits for the common person to consume - not necessarily the most important tidbits, the juiciest. So, moral of the story?
If there’s something that you would say to someone of one size that you wouldn’t to another - maybe check yourself. If you haven’t also shared studies about smoking, and other unhealthy lifestyles - maybe check yourself. If obesity is what you’ve concentrated on - especially now - maybe check your timing and consider your why.
(To also be clear : while a post was shared many times on social media and this may seem to be a passive-aggressive response - it’s not. The chances of said people reading this are slim and also doesn’t lessen the import of what is being said - which is, basically, take care of your own house first. It’s awfully tiring to have people try to police mine without knowing what goes on inside)