Store Bought Mama

Over the past three four years I've been reading the fatosphere I've come across SO MANY links to news articles, journals and magazines that point to a made-up epidemic it's not even funny.  It's tragic.  The media, and now even the First Lady of the United States, is pushing this idea so strongly that any counter-arguement gets lost in the noise.  Below are my favorite and best links that counter the obesity panic.  More links will be added as I find them!

From Brittanica.com, the Top 10 Obesity Myths.

Children are getting fatter! OMG they're so unhealthy and going to die before their parents!  Oh wait, no they're not.

From Body Impolitic, why the BMI should not be used to determine health.  This post also contains links to Kate Harding's BMI project and the Rotund's graphs on height and weight.  Both should also be explored.

The Big Fat Facts blow the lid off the obesity 'crisis' quite nicely.

There are over 300 medications with the side effect of weight gain.

The question was asked "Is everyone who's obese unhealthy?"  The answer is NO.

Is being fat genetic?  You bet your ass it is!  The New York Times wrote about this in May of 2007.

So who's fat?  Who's obese?  Who's 'death fat?'  It's not the people you think it is...

From Kate Harding, one of THE most important sets of links and info: But Don't You Realize Fat is Unhealthy?!

Most importantly, in my heartfelt opinion, there are more people suffering from anorexia and bulemia, conditions that will ACTUALLY KILL YOU much more quickly and much more often than being fat will, than people with breast cancer.

Fat/Size/Body Acceptance, whatever you want to call it, vitally needs people of all sizes and all levels of health. If you are a size 00, you too can advocate for fat people – so that people will stop telling fat people that all they need to do is eat less and exercise more. If you are a size 32, you too can advocate for body acceptance – so that people will stop telling people who wear a size 00 that they are so lucky to be anorexic. No one is too fat for fat/size/body acceptance. No one is too thin.
Talking about food and exercise and the weight loss that can be incidental when following HAES is not verboten. All of these things can be discussed without associating them with the intentional pursuit, here defined as dieting, of weight loss. The only thing intrinsically linked to dieting is dieting.

In this space, fat is considered a feminist issue. Gender oppression is perpetuated by body oppression. Many feminists regard fat as a matter of health, not feminism but they are, quite frankly, deeply wrong. As long as women are taught to obsess over their bodies, the perceived flaws of their bodies, and why their bodies cannot possibly be pleasing to men if they are fat then women will not be spending their time obsessing over making truly significant strides forward when it comes to social issues, work issues, and the like. As long as women are taught to value their bodies only insomuch as their are pleasing to men, the self-worth of women will be dictated by men’s evaluations of those bodies. And you and I both know that is a bullshit way to live.

Fat men suffer from fat-hatred, too. Seriously, the fat hatred that permeates our society is not just aimed at women. Fat-hatred may function a bit differently for many men – the intersections of privilege and nonprivilege are pretty complex there – so male voices are totally needed in this movement. Not every male into Fat Activism is here just to hit on fat chicks. That said, Fat Admirers are welcome to participate as long as their understand the movement is not here to provide a larger dating pool for them.

(I totally stole those last three from The Rotund, by the way.)

Every once in a very great while there may be a post which contains a link to a product or service for which I've been paid to promote or have received for review purposes. I Blog With Integrity so you'll know which is which.