Fat-shaming: (V;): fat shaming is the act of poking fun of someone for being overweight, or telling someone they are worthless, useless, lazy, or disgusting because they are overweight.
Fat shaming doesn't work and here's why:
1. It's shaming - It's not meant to encourage or motivate, it's meant to degrade to make yourself feel better... (so you do the math what kind of people do this)
Her motto: "If it offends you so much you lose weight I'm okay with that." - it's literally the opposite of the effect fat-shaming usually has...
2. It usually has the opposite effect because it makes the depression or the stress higher - and cortisol spikes - hence prevents the body from loosing body fat.
3. It pushes already depressed overweight people into contemplating suicide or actually killing themselves...
So, in the end, I guess it depends on what was your true intention when fat-shaming someone: if your intention was for them to:
a) fall into a greater depression
b) spike their stress levels
c) make them more prone to commit suicide
then yeah...I guess it works...
But if your intention was to motivate or encourage them to lose weight...that is the furthest thing from helpful you could ever possibly do.
People who fat-shame are themselves insecure, have a tense relationship with food or fitness or both, have internal issues that they're focusing on others to deflect from themselves...
People who fat-shame are doing it to make themselves feel better.
People who fat-shame aren't doing it to benefit anyone.
People who fat-shame and are trying to convince you it's because they truly care for some anonymous person's health are trying to explain themselves to you in a seemingly logical way so you wouldn't judge them...but every logical and smart person knows that those who do this aren't doing it to make anyone else become better, they're doing it to elevate themselves while putting someone else down.
Simple.
Fat Shaming, in Spite of Popular Opinion, Actually Doesn't Work
I think "that other take" which a lot of people read and responded to, pushed a lot of buttons and for good reason. I whole heartedly believe in encouraging people to take on a healthy lifestyle through the promotion of community fitness programs, urban gardens, and things like work fitness and health programming because it helps people as a community to learn more and care more about their health. Sometimes people just literally need the tools to help them workout and eat right, BUT, that cannot happen with shaming. It's simply another form of bullying. I have seen and witnessed some incredible stories of friends and family dedicating themselves to helping someone obese by being their workout buddy and accountability partners from day one, until they got fit. They encourage the overweight person, they give them tough love and don't let them get away with just giving up, but it's not mean spirited, it's not rude, it's not bullying, and it's never meant to tear someone down and "force" them to get better which as you know, doesn't work. Treat others the way you want to be treated, it's plain and simple.
You're not wrong but the trend of telling people they can be any size they want is dangerous. It ignores a lot of medical research. Somewhere like the UK where health is all done through taxes it's having a big effect on our service.
Education is the answer here. It has worked, to a point, with smoking. There's not reason the same logic can't apply to eating (although it's less urgent because 2nd hand smoke actually harms others).
No need to shame someone but it's wrong to let people think it's "ok" to be overweight. It's not.
The American diabetes association decided to scrap "pre diabetes" as a diagnoses, not because it doesn't exist, but it was stressing out oatiebts too much. So doctors are told not to use the diagnoses. It is about taking away hope. Without hope we tend to trend downward healthwise. Its the same idea about fat shaming. It strips hope. It is negativity based. It doesn't mean we should stop educating and helping people reachbhealthy goals. Bur living in now and accepting now without shame will help us reach our goals. Shame never motivated.
True it is not meant to encourage or motivate. But I doubt people do it to make themselves feel better about themselves. The natural line of thought would be "geez, that person is so fat. what a waste of a life. they're so unhealthy, and the health issues they must have are a burden to the system that I have to pay for".
I can bet that is what most people actually think... because that's what I have thought for years. And I doubt that my brain is unique in thinking that way.
I don't recall thinking "wow, she's so fat, and I'm so skinny"
YESSS. I was about to write a myTake called "Fat Shaming vs Encouragement" (btw thats a hella good name) because that take was really offensive. On both a personal and general level. I agree with all your points. I'd also like to add that in the status quo, everyone freaking knows that being overweight is unhealthy. They don't need insensitive fucks to shame them for it. It just creates all these harms like you mentioned. And if it did help lose weight, it wouldn't be healthy or for the right reason. I'd rather be fat and happy than skinny and suicidal. Trust me I've been in both situations.
I think that saying that shaming is "meant to make yourself feel better" is kind of bullshit, it's like when parents tell their children that people only bully each other if they aren't happy with themselves. There is some truth to it but it's not always true, it's just in human nature unfortunately. In reality shaming people for their weight also has lot to do with culture and the circumstances. To say it's all about "the shamer being" is pretty naive.
But you do have a point that shaming someone and making them feel like shit will not help most people, even tho I think it's because of mental reasons and not physical ones. But on the other side of the coin we also shouldn't be pretending that being fat is healthy or that you should be proud of being overweight. And I feel like that's the route some people are taking as a response to fat shaming.
I was bullied mercilessly at school and by my older sister about my weight. It really worked for me to motivate myself into lossing weight. As teenagers bodies are still growing too much weight encourages their bone structure to grow very large so that when they grow up they will always be heavy set or big boned. I'm thankful of the bullying I got.
Obviously. Who would think that it`d work? Also, i live in romania and fat shaming isn`t a thing, the person either takes it well or becomes agressive. After ackgnowledging that he`s fat, a friend of mine started diets multiple times and it worked for him but that doesn`t mean the jokes or poking fun stopped. He just didn`t mind it wich is the best possible thing someone could do. Also no, noone did it often, we are opportunistic comedians, we rely on the situation to make jokes.
@MsMusic No... i don`t post questions here, i just answer stuff whenever i feel like my life is going to shit again and i need something to pass the time.
Wow Sally. That's like saying I'm fat and Im Proud of it. Humans are not suppose fat. I would say to all those fat people who are on youtube coffessing their proud fat figure is like stupid. First you are heavier, you have more health issues. You need to get 2 plane seats. And much more. What is to proud to being fat. Like e Wtf is wrong with people.
A study from UCLA’s dedicated eating research institute concurred, explicitly recommending social pressure on the overweight as a remedy to America’s obesity crisis.
You don't have to Fat shame someone but we do need to help others that are overweight to get back on the right track for their own health purposes. The Marine Corps however of the United States of America do a pretty good job on fat shaming they have ways of motivating people
I couldn't agree more Sally! Making fun of slightly to very overweight people eventually creates anorexia. People get obsessed with losing weight and one day it leads to the opposite problem :-( I love that banner at the bottom :D
Uhh, if you are so weak-minded that you gonna off yourself, then the blame is solely with you. That someone might said something negative to you being the trigger basically confirms that.
Said the person who doesn't suffer from depression, either because it has not been passed down genetically or because he has not had it do to a situation. Yet.
And may I say, what a nice judgmental and aggressive nature you have there. That, and your choice of patronizing pictures, make for perfect troll characteristics. However, before you start feeling too superior, note that you did misspell "emphasize".
If you consider stating an unpopular opinion as being a troll, then I am a troll. If you consider mocking someone that is overly sensitive to said unpopular opinion as being a troll, then I am a troll. If you consider being straight-forward aggressive, then I am very aggressive.
Or in short: I really don't find any insult in what you are saying, because it's pretty true. I have no pity nor respect for people who are wallowing in their own suffering and misery. Breaking news, we all have to experience and go through shit. So take your woe-is-me attitude somewhere else and don't try to accuse me of a lack of empathy for whatever suffering you individually have by assuming I have had no first- or second-hand experience with it.
I do have a lot of respect for being standing up to to their own imperfections and doing something about it though.
You wanted to call me passive-aggressive. I was suggesting, guessing, that you were criticizing and making judgments without having ever been in their place. So many people do that, are so quick to judge yet have no experience. Maybe I was wrong about you, maybe I wasn't, but I was making a point for anyone who was reading your post. And it wasn't "woe-is-me", it was defending those who can't defend themselves. You see, I don't need to put down people who are less fortunate than myself to boost my ego. Some people do, and get great pleasure from it.
"You see, I don't need to put down people who are less fortunate than myself to boost my ego. Some people do, and get great pleasure from it."
Assuming first that I am putting people down rather than pointing out facts. Assuming second that these people are less fortunate than me which implies I was pretty fortunate in life. And assuming third that I get great pleasure from putting people down.
If that isn't passive-aggressive, then I don't know what is. Have a good one, man.
Fantastic take! I think there's been studies done on this, which show fat shaming doesn't work, but positive reinforcement does. Carrot is better than the stick.
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