Is It Anti-Feminist to Diet?
That's the big question India Knight asks in this Guardian piece. Unfortunately she doesn't tackle the question with any real substance, instead falling back on old and tired thoughts on weight that really frustrated me.
The upfront disclaimer not in the article is that Knight is the author of a diet book. Take that as you will. Her argument is that if a woman wants to lose weight (worded here in a control state - ie, if you're fat you're not in control of your body) then that's just fine and moreover is possibly a feminist action. Knight runs a weight loss forum and blog (they have those on the internets?) and she writes about the victories she sees therein:
Why is it wrong to like what you see in the mirror, or to like your body? Why is it good to be pleased that you look like a pig? I believe unhappily fat women are doing themselves an injury - literally, in health terms, but also emotionally. And I don't think them wanting to stop injuring themselves is weird, or naff, or vain, or self-obsessed.
I really see her blurring a number of issues here. Wrapping up weight in emotional and feminist reactions is a big blanket for sure. She does want to see happy fat women - allegedly - but I get the impression that anyone over a size 14 would be "too" fat. And "look like a pig"?
I'm not in a power position to speak about feminism. But my understanding of it was that part of the goal was to get past the way people look and celebrate all forms of diversity, granting equality to all people. Right? If that's the case (feel free to argue), then why is Knight twisting her weight loss into something more political? I think it could be argued that her personal weight loss was of a personal political nature - there is a huge difference there.
I don't want to say that the "sumo wrestlers" that her forum members lost in weight (900+ pounds) amounts to nothing. Obviously people who diet get very, very wrapped up in their weight and often - but not always - link the number on the scale with happiness. I think Knight is truly just repackaging the same old same old in a new wrapper: it's feminist and empowering to lose weight. Why?
...I cheer for the woman whose husband puts her and her weight down every single day. One of these days, he's going to have to stop. One of these days, she and her new-found confidence aren't going to take it any more.
Yeah, but then in Knight's vision she's going to lose weight in order to meet that goal. That's a dubious endeavor. Yes, self-esteem is vital and of course, men who put down women because of their weight are self-centered assholes who probably need to be dumped. But! Turning around and losing weight, in my opinion, only feeds into the beauty ideal. And for goodness sake, why can't one gain confidence and set that as a goal without weight loss?
Knight seems to be saying that you can't. Maybe some can't. Maybe some won't. But it bothers me a lot to see dieting as a feminist action.
We are thinking about our own gaze [versus the male gaze], about what we want, and about what it does to our sense of ourselves to want things - weight loss, in this instance - and not to blame or punish ourselves for wanting them.
And what I say in return is, think very carefully about going after such a goal as the evidence out there suggests it's harmful and irresponsible.
Wouldn't it be kinder to help create a world where she can be comfortable being her natural 14 size? How? Well, women not bullying other women might be a start. And it might also be a step forward for those "critics" of dieting to control the urge to judge and dismiss something that they clearly don't (or can't) understand. Because you do begin to wonder: whose side are they on?
Wait. Knight wants less bullying and then suggests fat women look like "pigs"?
Finally, I don't dismiss dieting. If you ultimately want to do that to your body, it's your choice. But one needs to be aware of the incredible commercial, societal, and psychological forces that may be pushing one to make that choice. [Thanks, Anna!]
Heather MacAllister Passes | Is Al Gore "Too Fat"?
Posted by paul on February 22, 2007
I'd like dieting added to the DSMIVR as a mental illness, like bulimia and superdieting/anorexia. A person's starting weight does not change a diagnosis of schizophrenia; it should not change a diagnosis of anorexia.
Beautifully put. I hold out no hope that this will happen in our lifetimes (or even those of our children), but it would be wonderful to think that the mass delusion that dieting is good for one would one day be seen for what it really is.
How is it feminist to hate your body? To starve yourself because men say you need to be thin? To hate other women because you hate yourself for not being able to conform to a standard that men set up in order to control women? I would think that if anything, it would be anti-feminist.
I agree that it's one thing to diet for environmental reasons, or even actual health reasons, but I think dieting just for the sake of being thin to be able to conform isn't right. Women are not going to get anywhere with equality until we all stop buying into this "you must be thin" hype. It is all about controlling us. Stop letting them control you.
I think we need to relax about this some because we are winning. The latest statistics say that 65% of Americans are "overweight." That number is even higher for women and that number continues to grow inspite of the media's bias against fat people.
Skinny women are in the minority by far! Women are no longer listening to the the propaganda.
I think we are winning!
Winning? No we're not. We're not out to make more people fat. The percentage of fat people is going up partly because everyone is dieting. Dieting, for many people, leads to weight gain over the long term.
We'll be winning when our society is no longer neurotic about food and weight, and people aren't judged by their size.
in the short term you are correct but the more fat people there are the more difficult is will be for them to insult our intelligence.
Inspite of the efforts of media, the diet industry and government the trend for obesity is still growing. People are leting the propaganda go in one ear and out the other.
Clearly Americans are not falling for it as the following article illustrates.
Obesity rates continued to rise last year in every state but one, and government policies and actions to date offer little hope of countering the trend, according to a new report by Trust for America's Health. Mississippi ranked as the heaviest state, Colorado as the least heavy, and rates stayed the same in Oregon,
How Obesity Policies are Failing in America, 2005.
Over 25 percent of adults in 10 states are obese, including in Mississippi, Alabama, West Virginia, Louisiana, Tennessee, Texas, Michigan, Kentucky, Indiana, and South Carolina. Seven of those 10 states are in the Southeastern U.S.
"Obesity is a gateway to heart disease, diabetes and a host of other diseases," said Parris N. Glendening, former two-term Governor of Maryland, president of the Smart Growth Leadership Institute, and co-author of the report.
"There is much more that can be done to help people make healthy choices about nutrition and exercise. For instance, decisions about where we build new houses and highways or schools and sidewalks can mean the difference between giving people more or less opportunity to participate in physical activity."
Approximately 119 million Americans, or 64.5 percent, of adult Americans are either overweight or obese. Estimates of the number of obese American adults rose from 23.7 percent in 2003 to 24.5 percent in 2004. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services set a national goal of reducing obesity in adults to 15 percent or less of the population in states by the year 2010. In addition, 16 percent of active duty U.S. military personnel are obese, and it is currently the biggest reason for the discharge of soldiers.
"We have reached a state of policy paralysis in regards to obesity," said Shelley A. Hearne, DrPH, Executive Director of TFAH. "We need more and better data so we can make decisions to get out of the debate limbo in which we are stuck. We have a crisis of poor nutrition and physical inactivity in the U.S. and it's time we dealt with it." Some other key findings from the study include:
-- Federal obesity programs are too limited and silo-ed to have a significant impact toward reducing or controlling obesity. Additionally, the lack of sufficient research to inform policies and programs severely constrains activities.
-- Obesity is exacerbated by the lack of significant policies addressing community design issues -- such as sidewalks and suburban sprawl -- and greater affordability and accessibility of healthy food options -- including the "urban grocery store gap."
-- People who receive food stamps are more likely to be obese compared to both eligible non-participants and higher-income individuals.
-- Most school meal programs still focus on delivering minimum versus maximum nutrition to students, and physical education programs are given low priority.
-- Six states have stricter requirements for the nutrition value of school lunches, breakfasts, and snacks than the U.S. Department of Agriculture requires. -- Three states have established new standards since last year.
-- Eleven states have set nutritional standards for foods sold in schools that are not part of the federally sponsored school lunch program, called "competitive foods," which include items sold in vending machines, a la carte in cafeterias, snack shops, and bake sales.
` -- Nineteen states limit the availability of "competitive foods" beyond federal requirements, such as restrictions on when they can be sold.
-- Over one-third of states tried to improve school physical education programs in the last year, however, requirements still fall short. While South Dakota is the only state not to require physical education for students, most state requirements in place are often not enforced.
-- A majority of governors throughout the country have taken steps to initiate innovative obesity-reduction and control programs for state employees, however, most statewide initiatives aimed at the general public are often limited to public information campaigns.
-- Forty percent of states have enacted legislation to limit obesity-related law suits.
-- Trends suggest possible future changes to employer health care plans, such as "fit versus fat" premium differences for individuals based on lifestyle and risk for disease due to obesity.
To help combat the obesity crisis, in the report, TFAH challenges the research community to focus on five major research questions to better inform policy decisions, and policymakers to act on 20 identifiable common sense based policy actions.
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Kindly link to articles instead of copy/pasting in the future. -Paul
Stinger, you don't seem to be registering what we're saying. Most people aren't becoming fatter because they are ignoring anti-fat propaganda. They are becoming fatter because they're trying to do what the government and the media tell them to. However, those "common sense" weight loss methods tend to be either ineffective or counterproductive.
You list government "anti-obesity" strategies and seem to imply that if people were going along with the government mandated focus on weight loss, then those strategies would be causing people to lose weight. However, most of these strategies concern reducing access to highly processed food and encouraging people to become more active. Every one of these strategies contains the assumption that fat people eat more "junk food" and are less active than other people. We know that those assumptions are not necessarily true.
Most fat people aren't size accepting. In fact, some of the worst anti-fat bigots are fat. Most people who get fat do not have a consciously rebellious mind set. They don't get fat on purpose, and they are absolutely mortified by it. They believe that getting fat is a horrible thing that someone must be blamed for. Most often, they blame themselves. They often internalize the hatred for fat and for fat people in our society.
I often wonder about the effect that this lack of self respect in such a large percentage of the population is going to have on society as a whole. Certainly, many of them are never going to cross over to the SA camp. They'll just do increasingly violent things to their bodies in the attempt to become thin. In between attempts, they'll continue to wallow in despair and neglect their bodies. The whole thing is a mess.
Most fat people aren't size accepting. In fact, some of the worst anti-fat bigots are fat.
I think part of the bigger issue that you're touching on, Dee, is that if a person is fat that person doesn't automatically become accepting of her size. (I wish it were that way!)
In fact, this is the angle that has given rise to the combo of pseudo-acceptance and dieting. After all, if these fat people liked their bodies, they wouldn't need to diet, right? But they do.
And yes, Stinger, we are the majority. That is true. But, out of that majority, the number of people who are (at least) "okay" with their bodies would be a low number, I suspect. That's, as Dee put it, a "mess".
I don't know that the increases in the number of fat people have anything to do with "not hearing the propaganda." In fact, there's plenty of evidence that the opposite is true -- the more people diet and become neurotic about food and their bodies, the more the average person's weight goes up. There's little evidence to suggest that pressuring people to become thin, or even people's actual desire to become thin, actually makes them significantly thinner on a permanent basis. There's always plenty of short-term loss, but very few people manage to keep it off.
It may be true, however, that the more we see fat people living to ripe old ages in large numbers -- which will undoubedtly occur as baby boomers move into their senior years -- the more the propaganda will be questioned over the long term. Let's hope.
Consider that fact that currenly the obesity rate is 65% and rising at over a percent every year. Clearly people ARE ignoring the propaganda campaigns.
By 2012 we will exceed 70% of the US population and we will control the power.
If we continue to act like victims by staying of the defensive we further the climate of self loating because by defending it we are giving the impression that being fat needs to be defended.
I am truly inspired by the Marilyn Wanns, the Paul Camposes and the Jennifer Portnicks whose take no prisoners approach tells our detractors where they can stick it.
I love my body. It's sturdy, healthy, and generally nicely-proportioned. I have shiny graying hair and a pleasant face. I've reached advanced boomerhood with few complaints. That doesn't mean I would preclude modifying the way I look by healthy means (weight training is one I've considered). Commercial media encourage body dissatisfaction in woman of all sizes; it's not just fat women they pitch to. You can pay attention or not. Anyway, self-improvement is a popular human pastime. It's not always pathological.
I am not saying that there still is not a lot of fat bigotry. I am sure it is worse in other parts of the country than others. I live in the Bible belt, Eastern North Carolina to be exact and the obeisty rate her is way above the national average. As a result it is very fat friendly here. As many of you know the South is not known for its tolerance as they are very anti-gay and anti minority here.
Southerners like to think of themselves as rebels. They are really into this heritage movement ie Southern pride. They simply do not listen to the propaganda. They are firm in their belief of "don't tell me what I "need" to do. I really admire that. It is refreshing.
As the numbers of us increase it is just logical that more people will take up the cause because the majority will control the power.
We are getting accomodation and it is getting better.
As to dieting everyone has their own reasons. Some people have been led to believe that dieting may improve their health. Others do it for vanity reasons but I cannot judge someone's motivation for doing it and i don't see them as a sell out in every case.
We'll be winning when our society is no longer neurotic about food and weight, and people aren't judged by their size.
Amen to that. We'll be winning when the $50 billion that is spent with the diet industry is redirected to real health issues, locally and globally: clean drinking water for all, health care for all, not a privilege for the wealthy, etc. We'll be winning when fat people are accepted equally in the workplace and academia, and enjoying promotions and salaries commensurate with their experience and expertise. We'll be winning when fat people receive from doctors the same treatment for illnesses that thin people do, immediately and not after they have first tried to lose weight. We'll be winning when fat jokes in movies or comedy routines are considered an outrage and an embarrassment to the teller, not to fat people.
Numbers alone do not define who is "winning." If that were the case, clearly the insects would be declared the winners on this planet.
Strides are being made in the area of healthcare in response to our needs. Open MRI is one.
Some technology still has not caught up in the case of the super morbidly obese but i don;t think that is a societal thing.
Healthcare in general is not all that good. What disease has modern medicine cured in the last 60 years.
I am a type 2 diabetic and I am getting good treatment form my doctors. I am looking at knee replacement and although the doctors are telling me I need to lose about 100 pound before it will be effective I really cannot complain because it is not thier fault that my weigh exceeds the load limits for artificial knees and we are often in need of joint replacement.
My doc even is looking into an experimental procedure that uses injections and special lasers that amy be effective on a guy my size.
What would you do in my situation? Would you lose weight so that you could get knee replacements? Would you wait for experimental remedies?
I get treated pretty well I think. When I was working I was well respected and I really don't think size was an issue for most people but there are bigots everywhere.
I regect most of what society pretends to be. The charletons in the diet industry they are just trying to make a buck by exploiting the weight issue.
There are people who may not like me because I am fat. I have had co workers offer me diet suggestions because they are worried about my health. They know my list of health problems and they think they are helping. I cannot get upset about that. I love them for it. Even though I am not working they still care about me. They are part of society. They looked past my fat and got to know me. I think they are glad they did.
If Ruth Ginsberg, Gloria Stienam, Hillary Clinton, Betty Friedan ect.. dieted because they thought it may improve theor health would nayone consider them sellouts?
IMO the feminist movement has sold out the women of the Arab world and the women in Sudan.