I recently read this article about a woman's trip to the doctor and I suggest you read it before reading my response to it. TL;DR this 5' (152cm) and 201 pound (91kg) woman went to the doctor for a checkup and the doctor asked her about her family's medical history. The woman responded that she has a family history of heart attacks, so the doctor did what any other doctor would do, attempt to prevent her patient from going down the same road by suggesting that she needs to watch her diet and lose some weight. However this woman took it the wrong way and believed it was fat-shaming.
Let's get to it:
Oh no, a medical professional bringing up your medical history and talking about your weight. Lord oh lord what a travesty. You must alert the government at once, good woman. Such a topic should never be mentioned because talking about weight is so taboo because women are easily butt-hurt over the slightest comments about their weight.
Look, I'm all for body acceptance and whatnot as I mentioned in a previous article but this isn't fat-shaming. This is a doctor nudging you into a healthier weight. Although you might be perfectly healthy, it's not a doctor's job to wait until your results indicate a health risk, it's their job to prevent it. You might be healthy now but you might not be in a few years time. It's not fat-shaming or skinny-shaming if a doctor suggests a healthier lifestyle
Although the doctor shouldn't have used the BMI chart which in no way indicates how healthy you are (there are a lot of factors that come into it), she still makes a valid point. Someone young who is 5' and 201 pounds shouldn't be applauded for it or encouraged to go on with that kind of lifestyle. Women nowadays throw around the word fat-shaming like it's nothing. They always want to play the victim. I am an advocate for accepting your body for what it's supposed to be, but I'm not an advocate for obesity, because that's not what you're supposed to look like. A little fat here and there and having curves is awesome and magnificent, but I don't agree with women who are so big that their legs start to bow from the weight. Women who find it difficult to jog. Women who find it hard to fit into a standard airplane seat. Body acceptance is lovely, but big girls have become so sensitive to the outside world that the mere mention of the word weight, even during a justified setting (like in a hospital) puts them in a rage.
Fat-shaming is discrimination due to your weight. Mentioning your weight isn't fat shaming, especially by a doctor who wants to keep you on the right track. Every time I go to the doctor for a health issue (very rarely because I'm pretty tough), they would always mention my weight in such nonchalance. Some of them would just say, "you should eat more," or "you're very skinny, you should gain weight." Obviously they don't know about my mother and my grandfather's equally fast metabolism and that I come from a family who inherently looks like Asian toothpicks. But I never write a fucking article about skinny-shaming doctors. A doctor literally recommended me some weight-gaining milk which didn't really do much for me since I've tried every weight gain trick out there to no avail. But did I cry in the corner after the doctor gave me the prescription for the milk? Nah, I took it and gladly went to the pharmacy to buy a few bottles, because they know what's best.
I am healthy. My heart is healthy, cholesterol is good so far, I'm basically a poster child for a healthy teenager, alright? But there are several risks to being this thin. It's easier to get miscarriages, depression, anemia, lung problems (like bronchitis, pneumonia or asthma) and the list goes on. I know all that so I won't tell off a doctor for mentioning my weight. Just like how S.E. Smith shouldn't get butt hurt over the doctor who seemed professional enough to ask about her family history first to get a better understanding of her health.
Overweight women should stop blaming everyone for fat-shaming them when they don't actually fat-shame you most of the time. Mentioning your weight so you could live a healthier and easier life isn't fat-shaming. Fat-shaming is refusing to befriend you because of your weight. Fat-shaming is calling you names. Fat-shaming is making you feel bad for not fitting in a size 2.
Fat-shaming is not suggesting to go on a diet because you might be at risk for several diseases. Fat-shaming is not giving you a diet plan so your cholesterol levels could decrease. Fat-shaming is not telling someone that if they were to go on this road of overeating, they wouldn't last very long.
Don't just ignore the doctor's suggestion to lose weight or fix your lifestyle because you're too comfortable with what you're not supposed to look like. There's a difference between accepting your healthy body and accepting an unhealthy body. People look at an emaciated girl and the world tells her to gain weight. But when an obese woman is in the mix, people will rush in to protect her rights to be overweight. That doesn't make any sense. Both ends of the spectrum aren't healthy, so why are people only defending the overweight?
If I can deal with doctors professionally as they poke, prod, and weigh me and look at me with disapproval then so can you. If I can deal with nurses trying to talk me out of my presumed eating disorder than so can you. It's their job to keep you in the right track. It wouldn't be called an obesity epidemic if being overweight is such a lovely thing. If several doctors agree that you should lose weight, then listen and stop complaining. The term 'fat' might be a social construct from a society based on patriarchal media, but medically speaking, the terms 'overweight' and 'obese' aren't.
Stop thinking everything is fat-shaming. It's not. Stop playing the victim all the time.
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