Why are we all supposed to pretend that being morbidly obese is ok?

Nobody should be bullied over their body shape/size but why are we pushing it as a “normal” state to live in? It is not. It is unhealthy and should not be accepted or promoted as being “OK”.

I’m not going to make fun of you if you’re overweight, but I’m also not going to pretend its a good or normal thing.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-54292412

Somoenes size/weight, and the healthiness thereof, is between them and their doctor.

We’re not.

It’s about being nice and not bullying someone for not being supermodel perfect.

You don’t have to pretend anything because of a story about a celebrity on a website, HTH.

We’re not.

It’s about being nice and not bullying someone for not being supermodel perfect.

Not according to Lizzo. She thinks being obese is normal. My other problem is that her career is no doubt at least partly built on body positivity. So spouting off that body positivity has been commercialised is more than a little hypocritical.

Somoenes size/weight, and the healthiness thereof, is between them and their doctor

I agree, but trying to tell people that’s it’s ok and normal to be morbidly obese is crossing that line and quite frankly dangerous.

I’m reading as she’s saying the opposite. She’s saying that body positivity has been hijacked by some some who be considered to fit in with the norm. She is saying that it is Ok if you feel happy with your weight. You know accept the risks it comes with it and not have to feel you need to be slim.

Someone could be of normal weight and have loads of fat around their organs then again someone could be overweight and be above average healthy. It’s the visual clues that drive the prejudice.
Steroid abuse tends to increase internal fat and some of those guys are ripped.
I have more distain for hot tubbers myself.

I’m reading as she’s saying the opposite. She’s saying that body positivity has been hijacked by some some who be considered to fit in with the norm. She is saying that it is Ok if you feel happy with your weight. You know accept the risks it comes with it and not have to feel you need to be slim.

But why accept the risks and just let people be unhealthy. That didn’t happen with smokers, and they are probably the most stigmatised group around in terms of personal health. No one ran around saying “be smoker positive”. It was universally agreed to be bad for you and over time Les and less people are smoking.
So why is it ok to accept people being obese?

That didn’t happen with smokers

Nobody put weight on by standing next to an overweight person eating something.

Plus, no one has to smoke.

Someone could be of normal weight and have loads of fat around their organs then again someone could be overweight and be above average healthy. It’s the visual clues that drive the prejudice.
Steroid abuse tends to increase internal fat and some of those guys are ripped.
I have more distain for hot tubbers myself.

I’m not sure if that is medically correct, but we are not talking about folks who are a bit chubby here. This about morbid obesity.

Nobody put weight on by standing next to an overweight person eating something.

True, but it’s not just second hand smoking, first hand smoking is massively stigmatised nowadays.

Terrible, isn’t it.

First we couldn’t hate people because they were brown; then we couldn’t hate people because they were queer; now if we’re going to be told that can’t hate people because they’re fat then what are we going to do?

Thank god we still have vegans, hey?

Not according to Lizzo. She thinks being obese is normal.

Being obese is absolutely normal, she’s from Texas.

People can be as body positive as they like but Diabetes and Heart Disease don’t care and will kill you.

True, but it’s not just second hand smoking, first hand smoking is massively stigmatised nowadays.

So is obesity but as Tom points out you can’t catch an illness from someone else being obese.

first hand smoking is massively stigmatised nowadays.

Best of luck stigmatising eating.

Lol @ Cougar

what are we going to do?

Get a haircut, hippy.

It’s an interesting topic. I am Obese, less so than I was, but still Obese, I almost wrote ‘technically’ Obese like I rock around the place looking like Arnie in his prime, but no, I’m fat AF.

Happily for me, whilst “fat and fit” is mostly a oxymoron, I have mostly managed it. Perfect BP, sub-60 resting rate etc etc. Was’t always the case. In 2005 I was Type 2 diabetic and managed to reverse that, thanks to Bike Riding and associated weight loss. In 2013 I was prescribed Statins, you don’t need to be fat to have high cholesterol, but it was the cause of mine. Again, I don’t need to take those anymore.

I have a BMI of 33, it will likely reduce my life expectancy by around 4 years. My Doctor sugarcoats it and says with my muscle mass she would consider my ‘true’ BMI to be around the 30 mark and she’s not concerned at the moment, but as I get older and less active, I could quite easily jump much higher.

Lizzo however, based on what data can be found online has a BMI of around 50, which will reduce her life expectancy by around 14 years. She’s 32 at the moment, which is a few years after I discovered how my health was being damaged by my weight.

DO I think over-weight people should be poked fun at in the street, have overt comments made about them in Restaurants or otherwise bullied? No, no one who is overweight enough to have to worry much about it, is unaware they’re overweight. There’s denial that makes you moan at your wife for shrinking your 30″ waist jeans so they don’t fit anymore and there’s being shown the way to the ‘special’ jeans they keep in the back of M&S with the elasticated 40″ Waist.

That said, it shouldn’t be celebrated, it’s one thing to have some dickhead moaning because the latest popstar isn’t the size 10 they’d ideally like to store in their **** bank, but it’s another to say they it’s positive to have a BMI of 50, anymore than being a smoker – they have roughly the same effect on life expectancy.

Nobody should be bullied over their body shape/size but why are we pushing it as a “normal” state to live in?

Because, whilst “nobody should be bullied over their body shape/size,” they are. So what are you going to do about that?

Equating it with smoking is bogus because smokers don’t get random abuse yelled at them by passing strangers on the other side of the road for the crime of having a cigarette. If you’re overweight it’s a near-daily occurrence that someone feels the need to pass comment on it. And god forbid that you might try to do something about it like take up jogging or, well, cycling.

This is basically the “all lives matter” argument again. In order to fight prejudice it may be necessary to overcompensate for a while before an equilibrium can be found. When girls and young women have stopped being driven to attempting suicide because their ‘friends’ have been mercilessly ripping the piss about their weight, then maybe we can talk about whether pretty much the whole of Western society telling them they’re not normal is a great idea or not.

First we couldn’t hate people because they were brown; then we couldn’t hate people because they were queer; now if we’re going to be told that can’t hate people because they’re fat then what are we going to do?

No-one is hating on anyone. This isn’t about mocking anyone or bullying. It’s about promoting an unhealthy weight problem as being normal. P-jay has the best post on the thread and kudos for being so honest.
My wife is morbidly obese, so I know about the health issues that go hand in hand. She is diabetic, has pain in her knees on a daily basis cannot walk upstairs without having to have a sit down. This should not be promoted as normal. If we normalize it we are encouraging people to develop these and other associated health issues.

Cougar nails it.

I’m on the other end of the scale and faced regular abuse when I was younger for being skinny, it has seemed to stop as I’ve got older though. Sadly I don’t think it’s the case for those who are overweight.

Best of luck stigmatising eating.

Find someone overweight. send them into Greggs for a cream cake. See how long it takes for someone to prove wrong your notion that you can’t stigmatise eating. I give it 40 seconds.

Find someone overweight. send them into Greggs for a cream cake. See how long it takes for someone to prove wrong your notion that you can’t stigmatise eating. I give it 40 seconds.

I was thinking more generally, as with smoking.

No-one is hating on anyone. This isn’t about mocking anyone or bullying. It’s about promoting an unhealthy weight problem as being normal.

No-one here perhaps. Yet. But the problem is that over in the real world these two things are inextricably intertwined. Ie, just because you may believe you have separated them doesn’t mean that everyone else has.

You need to be very very careful when throwing around words like “normal” with gay abandon, that’s how we get to Othering. Telling someone overweight that their weight may be affecting their health is one thing, telling them they are abnormal is quite another.

Lizzo is awesome. I once got an erection watching one of her videos! Is that normal?

No-one here perhaps. Yet. But the problem is that over in the real world these two things are inextricably intertwined. Ie, just because you may believe you have separated them doesn’t mean that everyone else has.

You need to be very very careful when throwing around words like “normal” with gay abandon, that’s how we get to Othering. Telling someone overweight that their weight may be affecting their health is one thing, telling them they are abnormal is quite another.

I get that, but in this case I use the word normal as it’s the same word used in the article.

I was thinking more generally, as with smoking.

Is smoking stigmatised? When did you last see a smoker being yelled at by passers-by for smoking?

It’s controlled, for what are now fairly obvious reasons, not least of which is to minimise the health risks to others. But if someone were to light up a cigarette at a table outside a pub, no-one would bat an eyelid. Now swap that for a fat lass ordering pizza.

The story has nothing really to do with normalizing obesity, Lizzo is just unhappy that people who are not obese but saw a bandwagon and jumped all over it are using something to get themselves in the spotlight.

Fair play to Lizzo, there’s far too much “expected” of women (and men) to look a certain way or to be a certain build, but too many folks just assume that if you’re fat you must be lazy and worthless. You don’t know what’s going on in someone’s life, for all you know they might have already lost weight or been through something traumatic and they put weight on.

Is it really that bad to say “be positive” or is that only for thin people? The worlds shit enough as it is, let’s try and focus on some positive for a change

I get that,

Then what’s your point? Because you said literally the opposite in your OP:

“I’m also not going to pretend its a good or normal thing.”

You’re not going to pretend it’s normal but you agree with me that it’s wrong to tell them they’re abnormal? Have we just flipped a coin and called “edge”?

Lizzo is just unhappy that people who are not obese but saw a bandwagon and jumped all over it

It came across to me that she was complaining that it was being appropriated by girls who weren’t overweight enough to be allowed to be “body positive.” Like, “girl, you ain’t fat, this is fat!”

Kind of a weird stance really. I may well have misunderstood it though.

Then what’s your point? Because you said literally the opposite in your OP:

“I’m also not going to pretend its a good or normal thing.”

You’re not going to pretend it’s normal but you agree with me that it’s wrong to tell them they’re abnormal? Have we just flipped a coin and called “edge”?

Ok, I am not saying obese people are abnormal. In the article Lizzo says “being fat is normal”. I take that to mean “it’s ok to be fat”. This is where I have an issue. It’s not “OK” it’s a serious health issue.

Ok, I am not saying obese people are abnormal. In the article Lizzo says “being fat is normal”. I take that to mean “it’s ok to be fat”. This is where I have an issue. It’s not “OK” it’s a serious health issue.

Maybe it’s more about “work with what you have” – I think the majority of overweight people know they’re overweight, I know I am, and know that losing weight will make them healthier. Shouting “IT’S A SERIOUS HEALTH ISSUE” over what Lizzo is trying to do is missing the point by a country mile. She’s just trying to make people feel better about themselves. Teenagers especially are fed the belief that “normal” is whatever bodyshape is in fashion and they’re smashed in the face every day with tik-toks and instagrams of these big titted models in bathing suits on some beach somewhere living their “best life” and being told “if you’re not like this, this week, then you’re shit, and nobody will love you”

Unfortunately, it’s not ok to be overweight, not only because of the health issues, but because it’s the go to option to shame someone and attack them based on what they look like and base their entire worth around what they look like and all the expectations based on just that.

There are plenty of thin people that drink their bodyweight in wine a week and don’t think there’s any harm in it nor is it unhealthy because someone once said “a glass of red is good for your heart” but they might be bordering on liver disease.

I think we’ve just encountered the middle of this conversation.

She’s just trying to make people feel better about themselves.

Is she though?

It rather read to me like she was trying to make some people feel better about themselves by excluding those who aren’t stick thin but aren’t obese either. The girls who cry themselves to sleep because they’re a size 14 rather than a size 12, or a size 12 rather than a size 8, and everyone’s calling them names and telling them they’re not good enough. According to Lizzo they’re not allowed to be “body positive” and feel better about themselves because they’re obviously just jumping on a bandwagon rather than, y’know, clinically depressed or something.

Her message didn’t come across as particularly positive to me. Came across as a bit TERFy if I’m honest. Plump-Exclusionary Radical Morbidly Obese?

Feeling good about yourself shouldn’t be something you’d object to going mainstream, it should be a basic human right. I might be totally missing the point here and I’m open to being schooled accordingly but like I said, I found the whole thing a bit weird.

The girls who cry themselves to sleep because they’re a size 14 rather than a size 12, or a size 12 rather than a size 8, and everyone’s calling them names and telling them they’re not good enough. According to Lizzo they’re not allowed to be “body positive” and feel better about themselves because they’re obviously just jumping on a bandwagon rather than, y’know, clinically depressed or something.

agreed, I was thinking similar while reading the article, like she wanted there to be a minimum weight/size for people to meet before they were allowed to be “body positive”

and then she actually did.

…You know, girls who are in the 18-plus club.

Seems like quite a negative message overall to me. Excluding people who she doesn’t feel make the grade enough to be “body positive”

Yeah, kind of (edit-aimed at Cougar’s post). To me she’s saying she doesn’t want it to just be a trendy movement that doesn’t make any difference. She wants the message to retain it’s edge. At the end of the day, it’s just one woman’s opinion and it’s a pretty confused message.

I suspect that she means that in the commercialisation of “body positive” ie advertising, they are using what would traditionally be referred to as glamour models, rather than the catwalk models and selling that as a real life scenario.

Which I think most people would realise is replacing emaciated stick insects, with actually beautiful women and pretending that is a normally achievable standard for everyday life.

When I see the legs of catwalk models and quite a lot of actresses, it is just bone with a knee protruding in the middle, no sign of muscle above or below, I think that is really unhealthy.