But I read it in a textbook.
I was mulling over Kevin's response a little bit today, and the idea that he cited "textbooks" as the source for much of his information. Many of you caught this right away and had fitting criticisms. We know that textbooks, and even the research on which they're based, can be biased, incomplete, and go quickly out of date.
But I also realized that, while Kevin's assumptions darn well might be supported by his textbooks, when it comes to my textbooks, you'd have to read pretty selectively to only take away the message that "obesity is not comparable to racial identity" since it's a "fixable problem" and that "you must be told that you are fat so that you will do something to change it."
So, as a counterpoint, I would like to present you with some selected readings from a few nutrition textbooks I happen to have laying around.
On "fixability":
"Many people assume that every overweight person can achieve slenderness and should pursue that goal. First consider that most overweight people cannot -- for whatever reason -- become slender; only 5 percent of all people who successfully lose weight maintain their losses for at least a year. Then consider the prejudice involved in that assumption. People come with varying weight tendencies, just as they come with varying potentials for height and degrees of health, yet we do not expect tall people to shrink or healthy people to get sick in an effort to become 'normal.'"
p. 276, Understanding Nutrition, 9th ed.
...and the desirability of the "fix" itself:
"...there is no definitive evidence that weight loss by overweight and obese adults results in increased longevity...[and] the possibility that weight loss has deleterious effects on longevity merits further exploration."
On our needing "to be told" that we are fat, since we're so completely unaware:
"Psychologically, [fat people] may suffer embarrassment when others treat them with hostility and contempt, and some have even learned to view their own bodies as grotesque and loathsome. Parents and friends may scold them for lacking the discipline to resolve their weight problems. Health care professionals, including dietitians, are among the chief offenders. All of this hurts self-esteem."
p. 276, Understanding Nutrition, 9th ed.
On fatness being not at all an inborn physical trait:
"Researchers have found that adopted children tend to be similar in weight to their biological parents, not to their adoptive parents. Studies of twins yield similar findings: identical twins are twice as likely to weigh the same as fraternal twins -- even when reared apart...
"Clearly, something genetic makes a person more or less likely to gain or lose weight when overeating or undereating. Some people gain more weight than others on comparable energy intakes. Given an extra 1000 kcalories a day for 100 days, some pairs of identical twins gain less than 10 pounds while others gain up to 30 pounds. Within each pair, the amounts of weight gained, percentages of body fat, and locations of fat deposits are similar. Similarly, some people lose more weight than others following comparable exercise routines."
p. 272, Understanding Nutrition, 9th ed.
On prejudice and stereotyping of fat people being in no way similar to other social prejudices:
"Large segments of our society place such enormous value on thinness that obese people face prejudice and discrimination: they are judged on their appearance more than on their character. Socially, obese people are stereotyped as lazy, stupid, and lacking in self-control."
p. 276, Understanding Nutrition, 9th ed.
"Society may also stigmatize obese people, attributing negative character traits to them and discriminating against them. Evidence suggests that obese people, women in particular, may have lower levels of socioeconomic achievement and less social mobility than those who are not obese."
On fat discrimination being in no way similar to other forms of discrimination:
"Obese people, particularly women, are socially stigmatized. This negative perception adversely affects their educational, socioeconomic, marital, and employment status (Enzi, 1994). Obese high school students, despite comparable grades, test scores, attendance, and extracurricular activities as their nonobese counterparts, are less likely to be accepted into college (Wing and Greeno, 1994). Overweight women are found to have lower household incomes, a higher incidence of household poverty, and are more likely to be single (Enzi, 1994). Many employers are unwilling to hire overweight persons. Research confirms that diverse groups, including children, adults, and medical personnel, hold negative stereotypes of obese persons (Wing and Greeno, 1994). These negative attitudes may stem from the belief that obese persons are weak willed and self-indulgent (Stunkard, 1996)."
...and having no direct intersection with race, such that fat discrimination results in de facto racial discrimination:
"Levels of overweight and obesity vary among racial and ethnic groups. These difference likely reflect interactions among genes, social class, and cultural attitudes and customs. In the United States, for example, the prevalence of obesity is higher among non-Hispanic black (37%) and Mexican American women (33%) than among non-Hispanic white women (23%)...High prevalences of obesity have also been observed for Native Americans and Pacific Islanders."
And, lastly, on fatness not being a social identity, since it is simply a "health problem":
"Societies and ethnic groups differ in how they perceive and accept people of various body sizes. Where thinness is valued, obesity can have a deleterious psychosocial effect. For example, individually, obese adults and adolescents, particularly females, can suffer from low self-esteem and distorted body images, factors that could negatively affect their quality of life."
"Such a critical view of overweight is not prevalent in many other cultures, including segments of our society. Instead, overweight is embraced as a sign of robust health and beauty. Many overweight people today are tired of our obsessions with weight control and simply want to be accepted as they are. To free our society of its obsession with body weight and prejudice against obesity, we must first learn to judge others for who they are and not for what they weigh."
p. 276, Understanding Nutrition, 9th ed.
Now, of course, my textbooks aren't perfect. After many of these quoted sections, there would be a totally contradictory statement (the result of writing-by-committee, I decided) like, "But that doesn't mean you shouldn't try to lose weight anyway!" And, of course, a lot of the research may now be superseded by better and more recent findings.
The point is, these are not fat studies textbooks. I didn't have to go out of my way to get them; they're just the ones my school provided. These are plain old clinical nutrition texts that are definitely not fat-friendly, and definitely don't advocate for fat acceptance, or even use the term "fat acceptance" at any point.
They're biased, typically shitty textbooks that span first- through third-year nutrition (I didn't buy the fourth-year text), and even they have to admit that there's more to fatness than just a simple, fixable health problem.
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Posted by MichMurphy on April 23, 2008
Michelle's textbooks 8, Kevin's textbooks 0.
Of course, there's always the possibility that Kevin is selectively remembering what he's read in his textbooks.
Anything that hints at size acceptance?
lalalalalalalalalalalalala-ican'thearyou-lalalalalalalalalalalala
Thank you.
I've been frantically collecting links to "evidence" for what we all know, and while I realize that textbooks can't always be trusted, this is definitely useful and will be bookmarked.
And it is not just nutrition textbooks. Here are some quotes taken from an introductory psychology text book (Psychology, 6th edition, by H. Gleitman, A. J. Fridlund, and D. Reisberg, pp. 97-99) :
A later excerpt on genetic factors in obesity:
Two excerpts on setpoints:
one excerpt on the treatment of "obesity":
They go on to explain that only "morbid obesity" has been unequivocally shown to be a health risk, and that inactivity is a greater health risk than weight.
While the authors later on acknowledge that “problems of obesity may often be more social and aesthetic than medical” and that there is a strong social pressure on individuals to “conform” to the current thin beauty ideal, they do of course also make a point of mentioning how “morbid obesity” is a serious health issue. Still, all in all what they write is far more complex than what Kevin seems to have read in his textbook – or he has a very selective memory.
DeeLeigh, you beat me to it. (Damn, I wish I could type faster...)
sannanina, can I just say...that is awesome. I'm glad I'm not the only one who has noticed this. Too bad Kevin hasn't!
And I really don't mean to pick on him, specifically, it's just given me an excuse to point out that even non-fat-friendly discussions of "obesity" generally include something on fat acceptance, since, you know, it exists and has points and all. So if you write something that doesn't (or that dismisses fat acceptance as a stupid "flob" that shouldn't be entertained seriously for even a moment), you should probably feel a little silly, both for oversimplifying a complex issue, and for not even attempting to provide balance.
And that goes for everyone in the media, not just college students writing for school papers.
Thank you for this post. It's excellent. Despite the weaknesses of textbooks, it is a comfort to me to know that at least the message IS out there in more than the books (Kolata, etc.) that I like to read. Fat-haters and nutritionists (not necessarily one in the same, of course) are unlikely to read the sociological tracts about weight discrimination that I read, but if even a crappy-ass textbook is laying it out — that weight is not moral failing — that's encouraging. It also makes the pervading viewpoint of fat in society and the medical community that much more outrageous. The information is there, y'all...
If a crappy-ass textbook can admit that a: there IS fat hatred in our society, b: there IS weight discrimination in our society, especially towards women, and that c: fat IS NOT always a result of calling McDonald's our second home, then you would think a crappy-ass college student would admit it too. But since he's too busy fuming over Disneyland updating rides and getting beer drinking money, I guess he's not thinking with a clear head.
that is some really fantastic info there... thanks for the post!
An interesting read for sure.
Some good points and information in there.
"One must want nothing to be different-not forward, not backward, not in all eternity. Not only bear what is necessary, but to love it."
Neitzche
Really good point rebelle. And it's pretty surprising to find fairly nonpartisan views coming from typically biased sources (nutritional textbooks). Of course jumping the gap between presenting the info and getting people to actually UNDERSTAND it is a whole 'nother thing. As evidenced by Mr. Pease.
One of the most valuable lessons that he, any student, or for that matter any ONE, might want to take from this post is that learning isn't just absorbing. It takes active participation from the student who has to examine what's being taught, pull the most important nuggets of information from the rest of the dross and then ask questions to further refine those bits of info. And you've actually got to DO the work yourself. CliffNotes and used, pre-highlighted, textbooks are worthless for anything other than test taking or learning what someone ELSE might think is important. So the work has to be done by each and every student by, and for, themselves if they want to actually LEARN something. That would probably be why it's called Critical THINKING, I guess.
But It is encouraging to see the message that Fat Isn't EVIL being put forward. ESPECIALLY in a learning environment. Now, If only we could get 'smart' folks in general to realize that their not really helping their image when they explain the Theory of Everything in one breath and then tell us that the sky is falling in the next.
-DAILY AFFIRMATION:
>>Having control over myself is nearly as good as
having control over others.<<
Can I just say that it is pretty awesome to look around here and see that we have such an intelligent group of people, with critical thinking skills that are sorely needed in the wider community? Because f'real? It is true.