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!).
I've been very frustrated by the COVID issue: it's entirely possible for a trait to make people more vulnerable to a disease and still not be a "bad" trait. Near as I can tell, being fat is about as much as a risk factor for severe COVID as being male is. There's been some theorizing that specific blood types might be more vulnerable to COVID. There's been some theorizing that vitamin D deficiency might make someone more vulnerable to severe COVID which, in northern climates, disproportionately affects darker-skinned people as their skin blocks more sun. Nobody's out there like "oh man, being male/having type A blood/having dark skin is disease!"
Diseases are weird and our bodies are imperfect; entirely benign or even advantageous traits can make one more susceptible to a given disease. That doesn't say anything about that trait.
(There's also the perennial relative-versus-absolute risk issue: even if the relative risk of COVID is higher for fat people, their absolute risk remains extremely low.)
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!).
I've been very frustrated by the COVID issue: it's entirely possible for a trait to make people more vulnerable to a disease and still not be a "bad" trait. Near as I can tell, being fat is about as much as a risk factor for severe COVID as being male is. There's been some theorizing that specific blood types might be more vulnerable to COVID. There's been some theorizing that vitamin D deficiency might make someone more vulnerable to severe COVID which, in northern climates, disproportionately affects darker-skinned people as their skin blocks more sun. Nobody's out there like "oh man, being male/having type A blood/having dark skin is disease!"
Diseases are weird and our bodies are imperfect; entirely benign or even advantageous traits can make one more susceptible to a given disease. That doesn't say anything about that trait.
(There's also the perennial relative-versus-absolute risk issue: even if the relative risk of COVID is higher for fat people, their absolute risk remains extremely low.)
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.