In response to a campaign that speaks out about, and seeks to stop, doctors shaming women who are members of oppressed populations, Dr. Lisa Girgis has penned a spectacular tribute to derailment, tone-deafness and victim blaming. I wrote about it for the ASDAH Blog. So this was at the top of my mind when I read several articles today about a recently-built hospital that was designed to be accommodating to fat patients and fat visitors. The articles were all problematic in the way that they talk about fat patients (too problematic for me to link to them) but it was the comments that were really interesting to me (TW:  The indented sections contain fat hate, concern trolling, and general crappy behavior)

Hospitals aren’t helping these people by accommodating them.

Actually, making healthcare facilities accessible to people, and then providing them with the healthcare they need is basically the definition of helping people.  What would not be helpful, would be for the hospital to not accommodate fat people who need the healthcare that the hospital provides, thus possibly leading to people dying.

Did they ever think that not being able to fit in the bathroom is the wake up call that these people need?

Did this person ever think that fat people who go to the hospital are in need of medical care, not some “wake up call?” Even if someone believes, despite the complete lack of evidence, that long-term weight loss is possible for most people, the kind of weight loss that they are talking about would take a lot of time, and this person obviously needs help from the hospital now, so what the hell do they want them to do about the restroom?  This is where the concern trolls show their true colors, you think fat people shouldn’t have access to a restroom while we’re hospitalizedl so that we can be encouraged to become thin?  Tell me again how you’re “concerned about my health.” On second thought, please don’t.

Blah blah muh tax dollarz blah blah

This is total bullshit.  If that’s not immediately apparent, feel free to head over here for an explanation.

So there are doctors who confuse victim blaming with ethical medicine, and there are horrible people who think that fat people should die rather than be accommodated by hospitals, a lot of these people are also those who haven’t thought this through at all and are just repeating what they’ve heard.  the good news is that, despite these people and their seriously screwed up ideas, the article against medical shaming got written, the hospital that accommodates fat people got built.  Progress is happening. We’re obviously not there yet, but progress is happening.

The Fat Activism Conference Is Back!  

This is a virtual conference so you can listen to the talks by phone and/or computer wherever you are. Whether you are looking for support in your personal life with family, friends, healthcare providers etc. or you’re interested in being more public with your activism with blogging, petitions, protest, projects, online activism, or something else, this conference will give you tools and perspectives to support you  and your work, and to help you make that work intentionally intersectional and inclusive, so that nobody gets left behind.

Get all the details here!

Like the blog?  More Cool Stuff!

Book and Dance Class Sale!  I’m on a journey to complete an IRONMAN triathlon, and I’m having a sale on all my books, DVDs, and digital downloads to help pay for it. You get books and dance classes, I get spandex clothes and bike parts. Everybody wins! If you want, you can check it out here!

Like my work?  Want to help me keep doing it? Become a Member! For ten bucks a month you can support size diversity activism, help keep the blog ad free, and get deals from size positive businesses as a thank you.  Click here for details

Book Me!  I’d love to speak to your organization. You can get more information on topics, previous engagements and reviews here or just e-mail me at ragen at danceswithfat dot org!

I’m training for an IRONMAN! You can follow my journey at www.IronFat.com

A movie about my time as a dancer is in active development, you can follow the progress on Facebook!

If you are uncomfortable with my offering things for sale on this site, you are invited to check out this post.

If you were looking for proof that our culture is unbelievably messed up around dieting, health, and weight, you need look no further than the fact that a study has come out called “Dietary restraint of 5-year-old girls: Associations with internalization of the thin ideal and maternal, media, and peer influences.”

Yes, we have reached a point where we are studying dieting behaviors and thin obsession in kindergarten girls.  So what did the study find?

RESULTS:

Thirty-four percent of girls reported at least a moderate level of dietary restraint. While most girls were satisfied with their body size, half showed some internalization of the thin ideal. Girls’ dietary restraint was correlated with weight bias favoring thinner bodies, and greater internalization of the thin ideal, media exposure, and appearance conversations with peers. Media exposure and appearance conversations were the strongest predictors of dietary restraint.

That is straight up horrifying, but sadly not even a little bit surprising. We put fetuses on restriction diets, and then give babies low calorie formula, schools grade kids on their weight, people who claim to be experts on kids’ health don’t feel the need to have any evidence before implementing interventions on fat kids, the First Lady fat shames her own daughters on National television and then holds up those who emotionally and physically abuse fat people as role models, we perform medical experiments on fat kids without informed consent or permission. So it’s not exactly shocking that by the time they are five girls understand and internalize the idea that a thin body is a good body, that food restriction is a good idea, and that all of this is a dandy topic of conversation among their peers.

We can make this stop. I think the solution is to talk about the health of all children, instead of the size of some children.  I think it’s helping kids develop a strong relationship and sense of trust with their bodies, it’s helping them understand their bodies’ needs instead of being terrified of being or becoming “fat.” I think it’s helping them try out lots of types of movement and giving them a chance to find something they enjoy instead of insisting that if they don’t like getting dodge balls hurled at them, or playing organized sports, or being judged on their ability to do a random group of exercises once a year (for which they get no training the rest of the year) then they deserve to be ridiculed.  There are lots of things that we could do if we really cared about kids’ health, and talking about their weight isn’t even close.

The piece talks about needing further research to determine if this will lead to higher incidences of eating disorders, and that’s important to discuss (in a decade we’ve seen a 119% increase in eating disorder hospitalizations in kids UNDER TWELVE.) But it’s not the only issue.  What happens to gender equality when 5 year old boys are exploring the world, learning body confidence, and talking about their thoughts and dreams and ideas, and 5 year old girls are hating their bodies, dieting, and talking about the thin ideal?

As a society we are fucking up five year old girls, and they deserve better,and there are simple things we can do that will give them better, and we should get on that right fucking now. Thanks to reader Jill for sending me the link to this study!

The Fat Activism Conference Is Back!  

This is a virtual conference so you can listen to the talks by phone and/or computer wherever you are. Whether you are looking for support in your personal life with family, friends, healthcare providers etc. or you’re interested in being more public with your activism with blogging, petitions, protest, projects, online activism, or something else, this conference will give you tools and perspectives to support you  and your work, and to help you make that work intentionally intersectional and inclusive so that nobody gets left behind.

Get all the details here!

Like the blog?  More Cool Stuff!

Book and Dance Class Sale!  I’m on a journey to complete an IRONMAN triathlon, and I’m having a sale on all my books, DVDs, and digital downloads to help pay for it. You get books and dance classes, I get spandex clothes and bike parts. Everybody wins! If you want, you can check it out here!

Like my work?  Want to help me keep doing it? Become a Member! For ten bucks a month you can support size diversity activism, help keep the blog ad free, and get deals from size positive businesses as a thank you.  Click here for details

Book Me!  I’d love to speak to your organization. You can get more information on topics, previous engagements and reviews here or just e-mail me at ragen at danceswithfat dot org!

I’m training for an IRONMAN! You can follow my journey at www.IronFat.com

A movie about my time as a dancer is in active development, you can follow the progress on Facebook!

If you are uncomfortable with my offering things for sale on this site, you are invited to check out this post.