Our Acceptance of America’s Ample Individuals
I recently read an article in the Huffington Post about Club Bounce. It’s a club in California that caters specifically to the over weight crowd. And while I’m incredibly tempted to make so many jokes here, I’ll just laugh on the inside instead of getting stoned.
This made me think back to the network television show, “More to Love” (which some on Twitter affectionately nicknamed “The Fatchelor”), which aired last season. The concept was a dating show; a “larger than life” version of “The Bachelor” with a hefty man out looking for love. All the contestants, of course, were also overweight. (While I won’t go into the hundreds of sidebar topics I could here, it was interesting to note that it seemed the producers consistently gave the ladies challenges that would seemingly bring back their worst childhood memories as a fat kid — swimming pool, sports, prom, etc.)
Are we, as a country, too accepting of fat people? Do we, for the sake of political correctness, not confront people’s issues and unhealthy habits? Would we rather gloss over the uncomfortable topics and turn a blind eye as our friends and family eat themselves into disease and even an early death?
Oh, sure, let’s be polite; people aren’t fat. That’s not the “correct” term. We wouldn’t want to offend anyone — they’re big boned. They’re thick. Large-framed. Plus-sized. Portly. Chubby. Chunky. They have “a little extra.” And there’s nothing wrong with that.
Wait. Yes, there is. And you know what? Let’s call it like it is — they’re fat. They’re overweight. In some cases, they’re obese. Being fat, nine times out of ten (I don’t know what the tenth time would be but I wanted to give the benefit of the doubt), means that you’re living an unhealthy lifestyle. And that’s not acceptable. God has given us these bodies to use, for His glory. I don’t think he’d much appreciate us trashing His temples. Especially since they’re on loan.
Oh, and let’s not forget that gluttony is a sin. I know that gluttony can apply to all sizes of people, not just fat ones. I also know that it would be very hard to become obese or overweight without being, at some point, gluttonous.
Now, go ahead, make the excuse that it’s not your fault you’re fat. I’ll wait…
Done? Ok.
Here’s the thing — ultimately, it is your body, is it not? You live in it? Move in it? Keep it alive? Every day? So how is it not your responsibility?
I understand that there can be genetic predispositions to certain diseases or that certain drugs may make you put on a few pounds, or even that you “don’t know how it got there.” However, the fact remains that you can, yes, can change things. No one is force feeding you massive, or maybe just regular, quantities of unhealthy food and keeping you from exercising (if they are you may want to consider filing legal charges). It may be difficult with work and school and church and family and just plain life but to be honest, we make time for what is important to us. If it was important to you to be healthy and in shape, you would be. Or at least on the road to being there, making progress.
And you know, I love and appreciate those of you who may be overweight and are still uber-confident in yourselves and your full-figured-ness, but honestly, I can’t help but wonder if that’s a defense mechanism. I’m not a psychiatrist, I’m just asking the question. No need to answer.
Listen, I’m not saying that everyone should be a size two or even a six; I know certain people are build differently, and don’t deny that. You have to be healthy for you. What I am saying is that we have to stop making excuses for ourselves (and those we love — especially if we really love them). Stop lying about the situation and call it like it is. Maybe if we weren’t so accepting of the problem, more people would do something about it.
But that’s just my opinion. What do you think? There’s no denying that America has an issue with weight, but are we too accepting or are we not accepting enough? How much is too much?
[For more from Stuart McDonald, check out his personal blog and follow him on Twitter]
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Comments
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This article at the very least is condescending to everyone who is “overweight”… I find it funny how it even appeared on this site, but any who.. I agree that being healthy and living a healthy lifestyle is important, the underlying sentiment in the article above is the accusation that everyone overweight is fat because they cannot push away from the table. Gluttony is a sin….lol It is sooo easy to throw in scripture isn’t it?? If you haven’t been in that person’s shoes, I would suggest for you to be quiet.
Under this article, there are pictures of people who are “Physically Fit and Loving It!” In those pictures is a picture of Victoria Beckham. While I agree that many people in North America have obesity issues, I don’t agree that Victoria Beckham is a good example of a physically fit person. She is slim, skinny and that is all. We have to learn the difference between skinny and fit. They are not the same nor are they interchangeable.
I agree with you Luxe. I think our socioties image of beauty distorts our views on being healthy. You briefly touch on genetics, medical issues yet disregard it as a factor. I am a vegetarian with a hormonal imbalance that causes my increasing weight. And I am not the only one.
People who are large in size become a target because our society views it as physical sign of being unhealthy and being slender as being fit. But what about the bulemics, the anorexics, the manorexics, the steroid using fitness people and drug abusers?
In there struggle for the “healthy look” they are very unhealthy. But when you see them not knowing what it took to get them to that “goregous figure” are they healthy? Well i guess so because they are not fat? Thats how closed minded designers like Karl Largefeld feels because he designs for the healthy looking individual according to him.
I find that when we talk about disorders like what is listed above the medical professionals blog about it giving advice. When its issues of being overweight everyone thats not overweight becomes a specialist on how to correct it. Like you don’t need to have a medical background to know why people are overweight. There is no one reason why someone is overweight like there is no one reason why people are thin. I think when we start realizing that we will start talking about eating healthy in general and stop targeting groups of people.
So although i agree that we need to eat healthy Mr McDonald I will have to disagree with your article.
Stuart, no one disagrees that being overweight is unhealthy, but that’s rarely the argument people make when they bash fat people. Fat people are easy targets because they are different. And that’s what people ridicule when they make fun of fat people. Let’s face this: being unhealthy, especially eating unhealthily is very easy to do in this country! We’ve created the monster! If being unhealthy is REALLY SUCH a pressing issue, healthier options would be much more accessible for people who don’t have yuppie/whole foods money to spend i.e. college students, disadvantaged families, minorities, etc. (Why are there no grocery stores in the “hood”? Only bodegas, Chinese joints, and delis? hm…??)
I think the fat acceptance movement is a little strange, but as a fat woman, I do understand the need to go ONE place in the world without being ridiculed NOT for being UNHEALTHY but for being DIFFERENT (and in a way that is socially unacceptable.)Damn skinny white man part of this country’s patriarchy! Can we have SOMETHING?