This was so helpful - thank you! I'm curious about how addiction plays into this argument: someone addicted to nicotine may struggle to "just not light up" - their behavior is constrained by their body's addiction, beyond their control (in the same way that multiple factors influence a person's size in a way they can't control - apologies for this stigmatizing language). Can you help me think through a response to this addiction argument, as it relates to "smoking is a behavior, fatness is about the body?" Thank you!
Hi Jackie, This is a great question. First I would say that I do not believe that there is any such thing as "food addiction". Beyond that, I think that an argument smoking is to smokers what eating is to fat people is dependent on stereotyping how fat and thin people eat in ways that are known to be inaccurate. While smoking causes an unnecessary physical dependence, food is a necessary physical dependence in that we will die without it. Am I understanding your question correctly? Does that answer it? If not let me know and I'll take another swing at it!
Super helpful. I'd love a post comparing alcoholics (and AA treatment) with being higher weight as I grapple with dismantling my own anti-fat bias and unpacking my internalized society assumptions about being a higher weight. I see your point below about not believing there is any such thing a "food addiction" (not even sugar?) and "necessary physical dependence", but unpacking all that more would be helpful (apologies if you've written on this already).
Pedantic trivia: There have been (at least) a couple of smaller studies that show that stigmatizing smokers does not help them quit. This one from last year: https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2021-37575-001 and this one from 2019: https://guilfordjournals.com/doi/abs/10.1521/soco.2019.37.3.294
This was so helpful - thank you! I'm curious about how addiction plays into this argument: someone addicted to nicotine may struggle to "just not light up" - their behavior is constrained by their body's addiction, beyond their control (in the same way that multiple factors influence a person's size in a way they can't control - apologies for this stigmatizing language). Can you help me think through a response to this addiction argument, as it relates to "smoking is a behavior, fatness is about the body?" Thank you!
Hi Jackie, This is a great question. First I would say that I do not believe that there is any such thing as "food addiction". Beyond that, I think that an argument smoking is to smokers what eating is to fat people is dependent on stereotyping how fat and thin people eat in ways that are known to be inaccurate. While smoking causes an unnecessary physical dependence, food is a necessary physical dependence in that we will die without it. Am I understanding your question correctly? Does that answer it? If not let me know and I'll take another swing at it!
So helpful! The necessary vs. unnecessary dependence piece reframed it for me. Many thanks!
Yay! Glad I could provide a little support to your great work!
I cannot thank you enough for this logical and reasonable breakdown. I’ve never been able to articulate why this comparison is apples and oranges.
Thanks so much!
Super helpful. I'd love a post comparing alcoholics (and AA treatment) with being higher weight as I grapple with dismantling my own anti-fat bias and unpacking my internalized society assumptions about being a higher weight. I see your point below about not believing there is any such thing a "food addiction" (not even sugar?) and "necessary physical dependence", but unpacking all that more would be helpful (apologies if you've written on this already).