Yet we're all hypersensitive about telling women they are overweight or obese.
One of the reasons for this is that women don't really get told they should work on their fitness to improve their own quality of life. The framing is almost always that the only real value a woman has is as a sex object. Telling women they need to lose weight is also a blame game where people with relatively little control over their lives are tasked with yet one more standard to meet instead of being given the support they need.
I am a woman. I am still alive when I should not be in part because I refused to cave to enormous social pressure to diet and force my body to conform to certain expectations. After getting the right diagnosis in my mid thirties, I was empowered to finally take proper care of myself. I shrank dramatically, even though that was not a goal of mine and my doctor was not trying to get me to lose weight because my condition usually leads to people being severely underweight and this helps kill them.
Our built environment used to be designed with fitness is mind. Now, many Americans are prisoners of their cars, spending long periods driving to and from work or school and finding nothing within walking distance. Elevators and escalators have replaced stairs. Sedentary office jobs are more the norm than hard physical labor. Everyone is too time stressed to go home and cook a real meal from scratch, so folks eat crappy microwave meals or get fast food at the drive through window or some other equally unhealthy option.
From my perspective, women giving push back and saying "I'm not your bitch, don't hang your shit on me. Quit judging me for how I look and pressuring me to conform." is actually the essential first step for trying to take control of their lives. That control leads to better health. Women starving themselves to try to conform does not lead to better health. It is just one more source of stress and problems for people who already tend to have too little control over their lives.
Or maybe some people legitimately were concerned for your health? The statistics are indisputable, being obese causes permanent damage to your body and reduces both the quality and length of your life. Wanting someone to frame this differently is a bit of an odd complaint.
I also used to be obese, and I also made my own decision to become healthy. I don't think you can force someone to become healthier, but I doubt that I would be in my current state today if nobody mentioned my weight to me. Maybe you feel differently, but ignoring a problem rarely helps make it go away.
Blaming your environment (Elevators? Really? Every building has fire stairs...) or society at large for people not being motivated to lose weight is an odd perspective (especially blaming people who are trying to help by bringing the problem to your attention). Letting things slide, and a lack of constant affirmation is what caused to me to remain obese for several years. There are better ways of helping (offering to go for a run with someone), but ultimately that's just a nicer way to remind someone of their weight.
Also, GP was pointing out the double standard when it comes to how anorexia and obesity are treated by society.
Or maybe some people legitimately were concerned for your health? The statistics are indisputable, being obese causes permanent damage to your body and reduces both the quality and length of your life. Wanting someone to frame this differently is a bit of an odd complaint.
No, not at all. If you don't frame it differently, you won't change anyone's mind. That reveals the goal for what it is: to feel good about thumbing your nose at obese people, rather than actually persuading them to do something about it.
If you want to persuade people, it's best to be clear about that in your own mind. But if you only want to feel superior then being like "You're fat, yo" is a fine way.
Or maybe some people legitimately were concerned for your health?
I know the motives of the judgy people who were a part of my life better than you do.
This kind of comment really should just never happen. In one sentence, you are casually dismissing conclusions about my own life that have taken me decades to arrive at.
Also, GP was pointing out the double standard when it comes to how anorexia and obesity are treated by society.
The article is about France, not the US. The observation that Americans are oversensitive about this could be deemed "off topic." The article lays out the completely valid reasons why France is concerned about a) excessive emphasis on thinness in its country and b) photos not simply lying to you about how people look.
Really, it is kind of BS to act like there is something wrong with requiring a two word label notifying you that the photo has been retouched. We are inundated daily with endless photos. Knowing which are legitimate representations of what actual people look like vs photo shopped fantasy bull seems like a completely valid desire for a long list of reasons.
Most likely very little of the kind that qualifies them to express such opinions.
I've had experiences that are reminiscent of Michele's over the past 10+ years.
I can tell you that neither your own comments, nor the comments others made to Michele that you're now trying to defend, are at all helpful, and in both cases can be quite damaging.
> Or maybe some people legitimately were concerned for your health?
If this was the case, why specify women and not men, why use shaming techniques that are scientifically proven not to work, why argue that this is to protect the feelings of women as if it is a bad thing, when there is proof that making women feel bad about their bodies with unrealistic media actually contributes to obesity?
One of the reasons for this is that women don't really get told they should work on their fitness to improve their own quality of life. The framing is almost always that the only real value a woman has is as a sex object. Telling women they need to lose weight is also a blame game where people with relatively little control over their lives are tasked with yet one more standard to meet instead of being given the support they need.
I am a woman. I am still alive when I should not be in part because I refused to cave to enormous social pressure to diet and force my body to conform to certain expectations. After getting the right diagnosis in my mid thirties, I was empowered to finally take proper care of myself. I shrank dramatically, even though that was not a goal of mine and my doctor was not trying to get me to lose weight because my condition usually leads to people being severely underweight and this helps kill them.
Our built environment used to be designed with fitness is mind. Now, many Americans are prisoners of their cars, spending long periods driving to and from work or school and finding nothing within walking distance. Elevators and escalators have replaced stairs. Sedentary office jobs are more the norm than hard physical labor. Everyone is too time stressed to go home and cook a real meal from scratch, so folks eat crappy microwave meals or get fast food at the drive through window or some other equally unhealthy option.
From my perspective, women giving push back and saying "I'm not your bitch, don't hang your shit on me. Quit judging me for how I look and pressuring me to conform." is actually the essential first step for trying to take control of their lives. That control leads to better health. Women starving themselves to try to conform does not lead to better health. It is just one more source of stress and problems for people who already tend to have too little control over their lives.