Some thoughts on fat.
Jan. 27th, 2011 02:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
leticiaI realize that on my friendslist, I'm going to be mostly preaching to the choir, but, this is in response to someone who commented on wow_ladies. Since the individual in question got plenty of similar responses, and admitted her mistake, I feel no need to pile on her, but wanted to say it anyhow.
We hear a lot about how being fat is associated with lots of death and early diseases, but correlation, we all know, is not causation.
In many cases, the things that contribute to obesity also contribute shortened lifespan - diabetes, chronic pain and disability, asthma, and heart disease.
And even more, being overweight is correlated with inferior health care.
Every time you go to the doctor, you're told to lose weight; doesn't matter if you showed up with something completely irrelevant. Medical equipment is likely to be too small for you. The doctor is likely to fail to diagnose you properly, dismissing everything from chronic pain to congenital heart disease to depression to depressed immune functioning on your weight, and simply tell you to lose weight rather than treating your actual disease.
The chairs in the waiting room aren't large enough for you, and sitting in them for the long time it takes the doctor to get to you is painful, especially if you have other conditions that contribute to obesity like chronic pain. You avoid going to the doctor unless you have to, and when you do go, the blood pressure cuff doesn't fit you, the doctor wastes your time explaining (again) the (mostly poor statistics) risks of weight loss. It's humiliating, painful, and often futile.
For a concrete example, my husband is currently on a ton of painkillers for chronic back pain associated, actually, with athletic activity (unsupervised weight-lifting in high school). Because he is a very large man - over 350 pounds, and 6 feet tall - he does not fit in a closed MRI. The neurosurgeon we were referred to is unwilling to operate based on an open MRI. Therefore, my husband continues to remain on a plethora of pain meds, with all their long and short term side effects, because someone can't make an MRI big enough for him - and the hundreds and thousands of other hefty Americans.
This is undoubtedly shortening his lifespan - both the medications and the chronic excruciating pain. Is it because he's fat? Yes. Is it something -inherent- in fatness? No, it's because the medical community is all jacked up in their response to fatness.
This is why fat phobia, intended or unintended, whether outright hostile or just dismissive, is so dangerous. It actually kills people (same as racism and sexism and all these other pleasant things).
You also never know when someone's fat because they eat a lot and don't exercise, or because they have a thyroid disorder, or severe untreated PCOS (which being a so-called female complaint has no actual treatments anyhow), or because they have crippling chronic pain that stops them from exercising (or asthma, or a heart condition, or...) It's like cussing someone out for parking in a disabled spot when you don't see them in a wheelchair. Maybe a few people can change it - but with all the fat hate in our society, I can promise you most overweight people -can't-, or they would have. Who -wants- to be despised and looked down on their whole life?
We hear a lot about how being fat is associated with lots of death and early diseases, but correlation, we all know, is not causation.
In many cases, the things that contribute to obesity also contribute shortened lifespan - diabetes, chronic pain and disability, asthma, and heart disease.
And even more, being overweight is correlated with inferior health care.
Every time you go to the doctor, you're told to lose weight; doesn't matter if you showed up with something completely irrelevant. Medical equipment is likely to be too small for you. The doctor is likely to fail to diagnose you properly, dismissing everything from chronic pain to congenital heart disease to depression to depressed immune functioning on your weight, and simply tell you to lose weight rather than treating your actual disease.
The chairs in the waiting room aren't large enough for you, and sitting in them for the long time it takes the doctor to get to you is painful, especially if you have other conditions that contribute to obesity like chronic pain. You avoid going to the doctor unless you have to, and when you do go, the blood pressure cuff doesn't fit you, the doctor wastes your time explaining (again) the (mostly poor statistics) risks of weight loss. It's humiliating, painful, and often futile.
For a concrete example, my husband is currently on a ton of painkillers for chronic back pain associated, actually, with athletic activity (unsupervised weight-lifting in high school). Because he is a very large man - over 350 pounds, and 6 feet tall - he does not fit in a closed MRI. The neurosurgeon we were referred to is unwilling to operate based on an open MRI. Therefore, my husband continues to remain on a plethora of pain meds, with all their long and short term side effects, because someone can't make an MRI big enough for him - and the hundreds and thousands of other hefty Americans.
This is undoubtedly shortening his lifespan - both the medications and the chronic excruciating pain. Is it because he's fat? Yes. Is it something -inherent- in fatness? No, it's because the medical community is all jacked up in their response to fatness.
This is why fat phobia, intended or unintended, whether outright hostile or just dismissive, is so dangerous. It actually kills people (same as racism and sexism and all these other pleasant things).
You also never know when someone's fat because they eat a lot and don't exercise, or because they have a thyroid disorder, or severe untreated PCOS (which being a so-called female complaint has no actual treatments anyhow), or because they have crippling chronic pain that stops them from exercising (or asthma, or a heart condition, or...) It's like cussing someone out for parking in a disabled spot when you don't see them in a wheelchair. Maybe a few people can change it - but with all the fat hate in our society, I can promise you most overweight people -can't-, or they would have. Who -wants- to be despised and looked down on their whole life?
