Write Up of Essay One.

I'm writing on the prevalence of fat shaming in this country, because it's disgusting when 4 year olds are developing eating disorders and 6 year olds exhibit full on anorexia because they don't want to be fat. There's a difference in being concerned for the health of fat people and just angry, unnecessary, virulent ridicule. Fat people are the new negro, the new jew, the new inferior woman. They are the new easy target. They are stereotyped as lazy, angry, depressed, smelly, ugly, antisocial, they have no willpower, they're selfish, they're bad parents, they're less intelligent, less valuable. None of this is widely true of the entire demographic. There are plenty of angry, lazy, ugly, stupid thin people. From personal experience, I'm aware of how much of an outcast these people are forced to become. I attempted my own death twice because of it. After the second time, and a stay in a psychiatric hospital, I decided there was nothing at all wrong with me, but every one else in this shallow,  mentally immature nation. I decided to fight for myself and not to let them tell me I'm something I know I'm not.

The ‘golden standard’ for determining the weight appropriateness of an individual is the BMI (Body Mass Index) chart. It was invented in the 1830’s in order for doctors to show graphically the proportions of their patients who were uneducated. It was never intended to be used as a diagnostic tool, but an explanatory one. It cannot take into account body frame, musculature, nor differentiate the weight added by fat and the weight added by water, cartilage, bone growth, etc. It has not changed except for the accepted BMI numbers for ‘healthy’ individuals. In 1985, a person was considered ‘healthy’ if they were beneath 28 BMI, in 1988 the NIH (National Institute for Health) decided that it should be lowered to 25.

Even though “healthy” is anything up to 25, the desired BMI for women seem to be much much lower. In fact, some of the most desirable women in the US are in the BMI category for “underweight to anorexic”. Victoria Beckham for instance has a BMI of 15.8, only .9 points away from the category of ‘emaciated’, yet she’s one of the most desirable women. It’s shameful that the media has created an unfair desire for individuals whom, in any other society would be given help for an eating disorder.

Sources I'm using:
The Obesity Myth, Paul Campos
Fat Shame, Amy Erdman Farrell
The Shapely Prose (blog), Kate Harding
The unfat blog,