This is the Weight and Healthcare newsletter! If you like what you are reading, please consider subscribing and/or sharing! I’ve received several reader questions about a situation where those who are pushing the medicalization of higher-weight bodies often try to make some kind of comparison to smoking. Today, we’re looking at three examples:
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!
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!
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.
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).