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Is Fat really a Feminist Issue?
In the article, “Fat Is a Feminist Issue” in They Say I Say, Susie Or Bach claims that women in America are viewing themselves as overweight, and they must have a feminist perspective rather than to blame others for their “failure… to control their weight, control their appetites and control their impulse: ( 449). She also explains her view on the obesity issue with women in the United States. Or Bach demonstrates that most women are seen as beautiful only if they are thin. She also points out that being obese and overeating is much more painful experience for women due to the society having high standards for women and their weight. She seems frustrated with this and explains that women fought to have equal. Women are established into a caretaker role due to the “only known genetic difference” between the sexes: females’ ability to give birth. Not only that woman gives birth and feed their infants, but they are expected to be pleasing, attractive and even sexy. Another part of not only to be attractive, but to fulfill her part as a mother and wife, a...
Christa Kurkjian explains in her paper, Is “Fat” the New “F” Word?, that Carver transforms the social norm of being fat—and ugly—to something of a “saving grace” (Kurkjian 3). However, I have to disagree with Kurkjian on her thesis. I truly do not feel Carver’s intent for Fat is to transform the word “fat,” but to elaborate on how people perceive fat.
In “Cruelty, Civility, and Other Weighty Matters” by Ann Marie Paulin, she was trying to get across a very important message: skinny doesn’t mean happy. The main idea was about how our culture in America encourages obesity because of the food choices they offer, how expensive weight loss pills and exercise bikes is, and etc., yet the culture also is prejudice against these same fat people that they encourage. It’s a constant back and forth in America between what is convenient with the little time we have in between everything we have to do each day and working out to be skinny enough for everyone to not judge you. Ms. Paulin wrote this article for literally everyone, this article was for skinny people to show them like hey, you’re not all
“Fat Acceptance”: An Argument Lacking Validity Cynara Geisslers’ essay “Fat Acceptance: A Basic Primer,” was published in Geez Magazine in 2010. The focus of the essay is to refute the pressure of society to be thin and promote self-acceptance regardless of size. While this essay touches on many agreeable points, it tends to blow many ideas out of context in an attempt to create a stronger argument. The article takes on a one-sided argument without any appropriate acknowledgement of the opposition, overlooks the risks of ignoring personal health, and has a strong feminist ideology associated towards the essay which tends to make the validity of her argument questionable.
This is an essay written in the MIT Sloan Management Review that presents the correlation between businesses and the issue of obesity in order to persuade businesses to take action in regards to preventing the issue. Therefore, its target audience is anyone who currently works in business or plans to do so in the future. In this review, the author begins by citing four internal and external reasons for which businesses should care about obesity: self-preservation, public criticism, employee productivity, and opportunity. The author proceeds by providing an idea as to how businesses can assist in reversing the trend. In order to do so, he analyzes what he considers to be the two sides of the obesity problem: physical activity and food consumption.
The subject I have chosen to respond to is an ever-growing problem in our world especially in America it is obesity, which is when someone is overweight for their body type and height. Recently we watched a video from YouTube called Dear fat people by Nicole Arbour in this video she was extremely blunt with her opinions on obese people and what she feels they could do better at and the trouble they are causing with being over weight. I think most would/ do view it harshly because they are either overweight or they are over weight but have a medical condition and can not necessarily help it but she said in the video that this did not apply to medical conditions just people who can help there situation. Either way I think what Nicole said is
Obesity is one of the most serious health problems, and it has been increasing significantly. The film “Fed Up” attempts to provide an answer to why people become obese: food itself. However, “real food” as solution offered in the film begs the question of feasibility. The film assumes that people in general have time to buy, prepare, and cool “real food” and thus commits the fallacy of contradicting its own theory by suggesting that it’s the people’s fault for not being diligent enough in taking care of their health.
I do believe that the media really depicts what beauty is “supposed to look like,” which is being thin or muscular, but to some people being “fat,” as Smith would put it, is just as beautiful. Personally, I really do not like the word "fat," I prefer the term overweight or the politically correct term “people of size.” Throughout Smith’s article, she refers to “people of size” as “big,” “heavy,” or “fat” people (86-88). She uses all of these snarl words to bring a negative connotation and generalize that people view overweight people this way.
Fat does not equal lazy; fat does not equal bad; fat does not equal overeating; fat does not equal ugly. Fat oppression is something so prevalent in our society, yet Americans refuse to recognize it as a problem or even an issue. After hearing an amazing woman named Nomy Lamm speak this weekend, I could not longer let this issue be ignored. (Lamm is a fat oppression activist and has been published in Ms. magazine). Fat oppression exists in this society and we all must recognize the damage it does to everyone, especially fat people.
Long-held, media-driven stereotypes about size and weight are playing out in the workplace for both men and women, according to a study, which found that thin women are paid more than their average-weight counterparts, while thin men are actually penalized for slimness.
...th the modern era defining beautiful as having less weight. (WiseGeek, n.d.) Another argument is that thin is a feminist issue and they just use this as a headline grabber because 39.4 million of Americans suffer from obesity and the British NHS survey of Disordered Eating noted 620 hospital treatments for anorexia or bulimia (with some patients registered twice or more) for 2005 to 2006 as opposed to 17,458 for the same period for obesity. They also argue that more material is being saved when models are thinner and clothes look more elegant and drapes effortlessly on skinnier models. Most models and designers argue that models are not supposed to eat and they are meant to be skinny to sell more clothes or make them look more appealing.
Physical beauty is constructed by the society that we live in. We are socialized from a very young age to aspire to become what our culture deems ideal. Living in the United States, as in many other Western cultures, we are expected to be well-educated, maintain middle-class or upper-class status, be employed as well as maintain a physical standard of beauty. Although beauty is relative to each culture, it is obvious that we as Americans, especially women, are expected to be maintain a youthful appearance, wear cosmetics and fashionable clothes, but most importantly: not to be overweight. Our society is socially constructed to expect certain physical features to be the norm, anything outside this is considered deviant. Obesity is defined as outside the norms of our culture's aesthetic norms (Gros). “People who do not match idealized or normative expectations of the body are subjected to stigmatization” (Heckert 32). Obesity is a physical deviance; it is one that is an overwhelming problem in our society as we are always judged daily, by our appearance. Those who do not conform to the standards of beauty, especially when it comes to weight, are stigmatized and suffer at the hands of a society that labels them as deviants.
ow levels of body fat are a value to the performance of a number of sports. Thus, athletes often pursue fat loss. Sometimes this is chronically, and others attempt to reduce body mass and body fat acutely so they may compete in a certain weight class in weight-categorized sports.
Some would say that obesity is a social problem and others would say it is a governmental concern. Child obesity is a major issue and has increased throughout many generations with the economic growth and the wrong information of dietary guidelines from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). There are many causes of obesity that play numerous roles from childhood to adulthood. Obesity starts at home and is a result of parents not being properly informed about the correct nutritional values that their children need. Some fault is from the USDA and their lack of informing parents with correct nutritional dietary guidelines. Another concern is what is placed into all foods nowadays and with too much consumption
Society should consider the physical and emotional problems of obesity in our nation. “Obesity is defined as an excess proportion of total body fat (Mayo Clinic).” American society has become increasingly obese, “characterized by environments that promote increased food intake, unhealthy foods, and physical inactivity (cdcinfo@cdc.gov).” Our nation increasingly has become consumers of a fast food diet. It is so simple to just pick up food on the go and not deal with the hassle of cooking and cleaning up afterwards. What are nation needs to acknowledge is the health risks they will obtain if they do not acquire a healthy life style.
Obesity and overweight have became a global problem in the last decade, according to the World Health Organization back in 2005 approximately 1.6 billion adults over the of age 15 were overweight, at least 400 million adults were obese and at least 20 million children under the age of 5 years were overweight. Experts believe if the current trends continue by 2015 approximately 2.3 billion adults will be overweight and more than 700 million will be obese. The scale of the obesity problem has a number of serious consequences for individuals and government health systems. Obesity is a concern because of its implications for the health of an individual as it increases the risk of many diseases and health conditions. Being obese means having so much body fat that your health is in danger. However, being fat is simply not an opinion. Having too much body fat can lead to many diseases. Obesity and overweight have become a global problem in the last decade.