Today I’ve heard about studies linking fat to everything from diseases to lower cognitive function. There are any number of issues with these studies – from sample sizes so small that everyone in the study would fit in an efficiency apartment to correlation vs. causation mistakes that would make a first semester statistics student blush. But there’s a much larger issue: They often try to control for variables like age, smoking, socioeconomic status etc. But there’s a variable that they never control for: the stress of being under near constant stigma and oppression.
It’s not a small thing – the diseases that are correlated with obesity are also independently correlated with being under a high level of stress over long period of time. Like, for example, the stress of having your government declare war on you for how you look. So in order to even start to prove that fat causes diseases, there would need to be a control group of fat people who have not suffered a lifetime of stigma to see if their disease incidence was the same as the first group. When they find (in a tiny study) that fat kids perform worse in math, in order for them to even suggest that the fat causes the poor math performance they would need to test a group of fat children who did not constantly see diet commercials, hear the message that fat means your bad, lazy, sick etc., and who aren’t having war waged on them by the government. Because it’s entirely possible that being constantly stigmatized, bullied, and called lazy, ugly, dumb etc. could affect your performance in school. Except that no such group of fat people exists in this culture.
This society MUST stop acting like the best thing that we can do for public health is tell 60% of the population that they should hate their bodies and see them as a sign of their physical and moral failings, insisting that everyone will just hate themselves thin and healthy (and acting like they are the same thing), then asking if we’re “doing enough” about obesity. Not only is it not helping anyone’s health – it’s possible that it’s having the opposite effect. It’s entirely possible that when we hear about how our fat is linked to swine flu, the plague, hangnails or whatever the hell it is today, remember that it is entirely possible that they are caused by the stress of being under constant stigma and oppression which, as I’ve said before, I believe are the real public health threat.
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A world of Amen to that, Sister!
Actually it’s known that these messages affect people immensely if you look at all the research done by Dr. Robert Rosenthal on self-fulfilling prophecy. His research into this psychological phenomenon is one of the reasons that double-blinded studies are required. Unfortunately, with fat we cannot double blind effectively in this world unless we raised some colony of people from birth with no access to the various forms of media, and no access to people that have been influenced by these forms of media. This is obviously not an experiment we can do. I like to take a look at how animals behave. You never saw a bunch of dogs picking on another dog because he was fat. Actually that dog was probably even happier because people thought that he was so cute that he got extra treats and pets. As long as he can chase his ball and feels good he probably doesn’t give a toot what he looks like.
I was a fat kid. I’m here to tell you that it isn’t easy to concentrate when the kid behind you is kicking your chair and whispering “fatty” with every blow… when you know that when class is over the other kids will all cluster around you and poke you, pull your hair, yell names and throw things at you and the teachers just watch… it isn’t easy to concentrate at all.
Yikes!! (said with a touch of sarcasm towards “science”)
Let me get this straight; people who are fat and are exceptional in math…and perhaps even other studies, are an anomaly? I must rethink my position in the world as an intelligent fat person; goodness knows I wouldn’t want to be thought of as an independent thinker. *sigh*. Imagine all the people out there who are fat AND intelligent. MAYBE…just maybe…exceptionally smart and talented???
So – if we tell 60% of the population to quit hating their bodies then what would happen to our economy? OMG, we might put such foolish businesses like “the diet industry” out of business? Or the advertising industry. Perhaps the pharmaceutical and insurance industries would fail? OR…they would just find a new market to target with their propaganda. We would upset the entire apple cart of ridiculous finger pointing and false societal principals.
As for bullying, I am constantly flabbergasted at how hateful our society has become. My early years were in the early 70′s and I don’t recall bullying being such a tragic and consistent part of our communal culture. Of course I realize often such things lend themselves to geographic and demographic statistics but even so, so very sad that our current culture is so angry. Time for people to take responsibility for themselves and look in the mirror at who THEY really are; rather than pointing their hate at another.
Time for us to take back our place rather than abide by our place.
Thanks for the great thoughts!!
Awesome! I’m always on the look out for fat role models! I live finding intelligent, succesful women – it lets me know that its possible, despite what the media says. If you don’t mind, what career have you gone into?
I have worked retail mgmt (cosmetics & plus size clothing), advertising (although mostly classified) and I now have been working in the IT world for approximately 16 years.
Gadzooks, yes!!
Actually, the Roseto Cardiac study concluded that a close, caring community reduces stress to the point that heart problems become extremely rare. In the small community of Roseto, PA, the men worked in stone quarries, they smoked, they drank lots of wine and ate a traditional Italian diet in which they had largely replaced olive oil (which was expensive to import) with lard. Even though they had behaviors associated with bad cardiac health, they had a heart attack rate that was near zero. The study concluded that their sense of community and lack of outside judgement led to their remarkable cardiac health. Once the younger generation began going to college and bringing back typical weight stigma and ideas about “healthy” lifestyles, the Roseto community reached cardiac health parity with the rest of the nation.
You can read about “The Roseto Effect” here: http://www.uic.edu/classes/osci/osci590/14_2%20The%20Roseto%20Effect.htm
wow…..all i can say is wow.
Wow – what an awesome article! I have observed similar things when living in various cultures around the world (Kenya, Somalia, Lesotho, Taiwan, France). Community, connectedness and a sense of purpose matters.
So as we build our community here online we can begin to heal ourselves of the damage brought on by stigma. Way cool.
I agree! We’re doing it. Right here, right now. Way cool, indeed!
I believe there were similar studies, specifically about fatness and health, about Samoans living in their native country as compared with those who emigrated to the U.S. There may have been a nutritional component though, too; I don’t recall. Does this ring a bill with anyone?
Yes.
I thought there was also a similar study done in Fiji.
A problem with trying to control for stress caused by any situation, though, is that it affects people differently. Some people, like yourself Regan I’m presuming, thrive on sticking 2 fingers up at the doubters. Others work away quietly and still succeed. Some will crumble and underperform and some will completely lose it (like me
).
A good school anti-bullying policy will include physical differences. In my case it was my buck teeth made worse worse by having other teeth removed to make room in my mouth. Children can be bullied in school for being too skinny, too fat, too short, too tall, their accent, their skin colour, their clothes. However, with the support of parents, its also a brilliant place to challenge stereotypes.
I do wonder,though, about your comment of ‘near constant stigma and oppression’. A heck of a lot of stigma and oppression falls on women in general. Even if they hit the BMI normal range. You can’t do right for doing wrong if you can’t pee standing up.
Women will almost always take the brunt of the “obesity” crisis as it fits so neatly into the beauty myth that has been shoved out to us for decades now. As well as teasing for many other physical differences that don’t fit the “normal” (ha ha) criteria as set forth by a variety of avenues.
Our society is so angry; we need to find ways to diffuse it. To share with compassion and love. To teach our children without prejudice; to teach them that everyone is unique, special and yet we’re all the same too. If that makes sense…
Thanks and well said. It all starts from within. Many dont want to change. Hate is so much easier, isnt it?
i recently heard you speak on npr here in seattle and your intelligence on these matters and your inner-strength are amazing! i now subscribe to your blog because i respect all that you have to say. thank you for educating the rest of us!
I have a granddaughter who is tall and fat. She is very smart. Duke has been courting her since she was 11. She is almost 14. She had an opportunity to attend a “charter like” school where she could advance faster than in public school. During her interview (she was 12) she asked the principal what the policy was towards bullying fat kids. The principals response was, I quote ” There should be a problem as long as you eat healty”. At that point she decided not to attend that school. Glad I wasnt there, I would have told that principal a thing or 2. For whatever reason he mother didnt catch the comment or she would have gone off on her.
Oh god forbid that she eat a french fri like any other kid her age – then, I guess, it’s no holds barred on the bullying. Glad the food police are on duty and can give the all clear to gang up on her. Sheesh.
Good for her for deciding against attending that school. Sheesh.
Thanks Jen, I appreciate your sense of humor.
Sorry I ment to say there shouldnt be a problem. Geeze,
Ha, I was just reading about the scientific method today, and the textbook was talking about the importance of controlling variables in an experiment. I love it when the universe works like that.
I am fat. I also teach math to elementary students. A student’s size has nothing to do with their math ability.
I’m thinking this information also provides some insight into the statistics saying that African-American men have a higher rate of high blood pressure and heart disease. Makes me wonder whether a teensy bit of causation might exist between, oh, the stress of constantly worrying that a cop is going to follow you/pull you over/beat the crap out of you/shoot you for no reason, and high blood pressure? Food for thought…
And the rates are that much worse – but less frequently reported – in African-American women. Especially when they’re also fighting size bias.
One brighter point. Prominent in the news this morning was a study bearing out the point that fit fatties exist. Not news to us here, I know, but visibility in the mainstream media’s good, right?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-19474239
You probably have this article already, a coworker forwarded it to me. With good intentions he knows i am attempting to be a haes activist, but half way through i realized it is a start but still such a long way from acceptance.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-19474239
Bernie