Let's take a brief break from the health complications that go hand in hand with heavier weight and focus on how society views obese people.
If you are one of those people whose wardrobe does not have clothes of size XS or M, you have probably already encountered unpleasant comments, which took your character by surprise.
It doesn't matter if you were fed up with hate speech by your classmates in elementary school, or if a colleague fried you in words that you should definitely not have that dessert for lunch. All these unpleasant remarks hit the target - your self-confidence.
The Death of Adonis by Peter Paul Rubens
Unfortunately, in addition to close people or (un) friends, your self-confidence can also be indirectly attacked by the media. Newspapers, Internet articles, and TV series are full of slender women who represent an unrealistic "ideal of beauty".
And if we already find a stronger person in the media, then his photo is accompanied by an advertisement for a slimming preparation or a season ticket for a fitness center.
Fatphobia, a negative attitude towards obese people, is ubiquitous and sometimes very aggressive. At the same time, times past were much friendlier to obese people.
From a century of fat to a century of slenderness
It is surprising how the ideal of beauty can change in a few hundred years. Looking at the works of the artist Peter Paul Rubens, it is clear that the Baroque was a tribute to plump to obese women.
Fat then meant wealth, while slimness pointed to poverty. And so the plump ladies enjoyed the attention of men, and the thin women worked hard to eat well with the money raised.
We will not talk about fatphobia in the nineteenth century either. Even though the women wore a wasp waist thanks to the corsets, they still made sure that the circumference of the hips and chest did not point to a low number. In addition, doctors took part in the discussion, constantly repeating that a strong figure is proof of health and fertility.
The turning point in the view of female beauty came only in the first half of the 20th century. War-torn Europe began to admire women who are more of a boyish figure and small breasts. At the same time, there was a boom in the mass media, which reported on actresses, miraculous diets, and pointed out the first fashion trends in slim mannequins. According to Peter Stearns, author of Fat History, the post-World War II period was arable land for fatphobia.
Fatphobia, defined as irrational fear, aversion, discrimination against obesity or people with obesity, has spread especially across the United States, a superpower that more or less affects other countries of the world. In addition, in the 1950s, obesity had a racist subtext.
Sabrina Strings, author of Fearing the Black Body: The Racial Origins of Fat Phobia, talks about the stereotype of "obese black women" and "slenderness of American women." Subsequently, American women followed one diet after another, only to be a perfect picture of their homeland.
Non-fat media
Try to think about the last time you saw an obese man in a TV series whose role would not be complemented by stereotypes associated with overweight? We guess you can't remember. No wonder, the media are, often inadvertently, one of the main carriers of fatphobia.
They portray obese people as sick and unhealthy looking, ideally with fries and a cola drink in hand. In TV shows, we can meet unobtrusive forums for obese people, and we come across the XXL size in advertising exclusively in connection with the food chain and its special week of discounts. It is no wonder that people subsequently approach obese people as an inferior part of society that has no right to "be in the eyes".
Yes, obesity brings with it health complications that we should definitely not overlook. In the same way, however, we should not overlook the rhetoric of today's society, which lynches plump women, constantly throws them an unrealistic image of female beauty, and on top of that, bothers them with hateful comments on social networks.
Just because someone isn't the size of an XS doesn't mean he's an inferior person who doesn't have feelings. We never know whether obesity is not caused by a serious illness, a recent birth, or a mental problem.
Final Thoughts
I am not defending an unhealthy lifestyle, what I am trying to say is that we shouldn’t shame people, imagine shaming drug addicts wouldn’t help much right? We should encourage people to live healthier lives without hating them.
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