This is the Weight and Healthcare newsletter! If you like what you are reading, please consider subscribing and/or sharing! Before I start today, I want to preface this by saying that there isn’t as much “deep dive” research and analysis as usual. That’s because (while I don’t talk about it much) in addition to the time and effort it takes to write about these topics, there can be an emotional toll as well. I want to be super clear that I have a lot of (white/cis/abled/neurotypical et. al.) privilege to cushion me from that toll, as well as the privilege to have the time and background to write about this, and having paid subscribers who support my work. I often use
It's always difficult to see that things like WOD still exist - one would hope, Regan, with people like you working so hard at educating those who swallowed the diet-culture Kool Aid, that it
wouldn't be necessary any longer.
As a "smaller" fat person (but make no mistake, still REALLY fat by diet-culture standards) I've
escaped some of the stigma of weightism, but NONE of us is immune, and I think that's where
the worst of the harm is: ANYONE larger than a so-called 'normal weight' is vulnerable to the
fallout on the issue of fat stigma. In the past couple of years, with health such a real concern due
to the covid pandemic, there seems to be a backsliding into "but we care about your health"
on weight-related issues; it's using covid as cover for renewed efforts to shrink us down and make us go away. Things like WOD just intensify the harm done by that attitude.
Am I alone in seeing this, or is this real? ARE the fat-phobes using covid issues to ramp up the
war against the big people? Does anyone have any thoughts to add to this? (If I'm just being
paranoid, well - it's so EASY to reach that place!).
Thank you Ragen for the stellar work do! Thank you for your heart and soul work, and for your rigorous research methods and breaking it down for me, and the community. You continue to make a difference in my life, and I continually learn from all the labor you do every week! 💗💗💗
This week’s episode of Grey’s Anatomy had a small victory for those of use who are anti diet and in larger bodies: it wasn’t the whole episode — I wish it were…..but the 3 segment story line was one small bright light in the world of weight stigma.
The ortho doc was examining a full figured woman having knee pain, assisted by another doc (who also lives in a large body).
The ortho doc gives the patient’s knee a quick exam and eventually recommends weight loss, much to the patient’s (and other doc’s) horror.
The ortho doc later gets challenged — the only thing I DID NOT LIKE about the way they handled this was that the larger bodied doc did call ob*sity a “disease,” but I was gratified by a high ranking doctor discrediting BMI when it was mentioned as tool to measure health.
It's always difficult to see that things like WOD still exist - one would hope, Regan, with people like you working so hard at educating those who swallowed the diet-culture Kool Aid, that it
wouldn't be necessary any longer.
As a "smaller" fat person (but make no mistake, still REALLY fat by diet-culture standards) I've
escaped some of the stigma of weightism, but NONE of us is immune, and I think that's where
the worst of the harm is: ANYONE larger than a so-called 'normal weight' is vulnerable to the
fallout on the issue of fat stigma. In the past couple of years, with health such a real concern due
to the covid pandemic, there seems to be a backsliding into "but we care about your health"
on weight-related issues; it's using covid as cover for renewed efforts to shrink us down and make us go away. Things like WOD just intensify the harm done by that attitude.
Am I alone in seeing this, or is this real? ARE the fat-phobes using covid issues to ramp up the
war against the big people? Does anyone have any thoughts to add to this? (If I'm just being
paranoid, well - it's so EASY to reach that place!).
Thank you Ragen for the stellar work do! Thank you for your heart and soul work, and for your rigorous research methods and breaking it down for me, and the community. You continue to make a difference in my life, and I continually learn from all the labor you do every week! 💗💗💗
This week’s episode of Grey’s Anatomy had a small victory for those of use who are anti diet and in larger bodies: it wasn’t the whole episode — I wish it were…..but the 3 segment story line was one small bright light in the world of weight stigma.
The ortho doc was examining a full figured woman having knee pain, assisted by another doc (who also lives in a large body).
The ortho doc gives the patient’s knee a quick exam and eventually recommends weight loss, much to the patient’s (and other doc’s) horror.
The ortho doc later gets challenged — the only thing I DID NOT LIKE about the way they handled this was that the larger bodied doc did call ob*sity a “disease,” but I was gratified by a high ranking doctor discrediting BMI when it was mentioned as tool to measure health.
I’ll take these small victories whenever I can.