The leading cause of obesity is none of your fucking business

In news that surprises no one, but continues to disappoint, anger and harm, we have new scapegoats to blame for the overburden of the NHS: fat people.

As if being fat wasn’t already challenging enough, the Conservative government has now directly linked being fat with Covid 19. The narrative around being fat or obese already creates causal links between fatness and other diseases, which in turn, is blamed for how overburdened the NHS is. Apparently fat people are why the NHS can’t cope!

It’s important to note that firstly that my fat fucking ass is not a burden on the NHS. Austerity is. NHS cuts are. Brexit is. Staff shortages are.

It’s also important to note secondly, that my fat fucking ass is not the cause of any Covid spikes, nor am I as a fat person responsible for getting Covid because I’m fat. Our government is responsible with its continued ineptitude, lack of scientific understanding, refusal to listen to medical professionals, delays in action, reopening of pubs, lifting lockdown early, vague and confusing rules around social distancing and complete, shocking, unbelievable hypocrisy.

Now that we’ve got that out of the way, we should probably address some of the bullshit that’s coming out of the woodworks in response to this new initiative:

01. Structural causes of obesity arguments are still rooted in fatshaming

We’ve heard the fatphobic arguments before about how laziness is a cause of obesity. Well-meaning people, including doctors and medical professionals, are currently coming out to tell us that actually, it’s not about laziness.

These arguments focus on the fact that there are structural factors that feed into obesity. This is not wrong, it’s a fact that obesity rates are higher in poorer areas. Rich people tend to be thinner because they have access to better healthcare, they have access to better food, they have access to resources and time.

Turns out, it’s significantly easier to keep a thinner waistline if you can access the farm to table organic pesticide free fresh vegetable delivery service, as compared to only being able to afford the Asda Savers pasta bag.

But ultimately that’s all irrelevant because it still tries to frame obesity as something that is “wrong” in some way. The structural argument while important for other reasons such as improving access to healthcare and eradicating poverty, still fatshames obesity as something “undesirable” and therefore it’s something that needs to be corrected.

02. Fat people are not morally responsible for Covid

This narrative fuels “obesity” as a moral issue. It’s why we’re seeing the government argue that being obese is a burden on the NHS, and so it is our “moral responsibility” to lose weight and support the NHS.

This is by no means a new narrative. Distressing, fatphobic and shaming headlines about the “Obesity endemic” have been around for decades. What’s new this time, is the narrative and connection that fat people’s refusal to lose weight means that doctors don’t have the capacity to help all those people who are dying of Covid 19. This frames fat people for being “selfish” in their existence.

In addition, the limited research that the government has cited on Covid 19 shows that there is a slight increased likelihood of getting the virus if you are fat. Firstly, I don’t know about you, but given this government’s history of understanding and application of science and medicine, I’m disinclined to dive headfirst into blaming fatness for Covid 19.

Secondly, even if fat people were more likely to get Covid 19, that does not make them responsible for catching it, or spreading it. Just because you have risk factors that make you more susceptible to Covid 19, and there are so many risk factors such as age, history of respiratory illnesses, immune disorders and more – it does not make you more responsible for catching it than other people.

03. Obesity is not and should never be a moral issue

We need to stop looking at obesity as “wrong” or something that needs to be “corrected”. Yes there are structural contributors to obesity, yes some obese people have some health issues, yes some obese people might have Covid 19 – but does any of this mean that being obese is morally wrong? And we have a responsibility or duty to not be obese?

NO. Morality when it comes to obesity is often rooted in these ideas:

• that obesity is a “burden” on healthcare services
• that obese people are “lazy” and laziness is not valued under capitalism
• that obese people are “ugly” and “unattractive” and so have less value as people
• that obese people are “poorer” and poverty is something to be ashamed of
• that obese people are “uneducated”

None of the above (even if they were true, which they are not) mean that obesity is “bad” in any way. Much of this morality around obesity is rooted in capitalist ideals of what value a human being has, or patriarchal standards of what bodies should look like.

My body does not determine my value or worth, nor should it determine what help / support / opportunities I’m able to access.

04. Your concern for my “health” is rooted in fatphobia

But what about my health? You’re just worried about me? Well get the fuck off.

If you were truly concerned about my health, then you’d be fighting for me to be able to access unprejudiced healthcare, where doctors are able to treat fat people without shaming us or dismissing us, where we’re not blamed for our own medical needs.

If you were truly concerned about my health, then you’d be fighting austerity. You would be fighting for enough doctors. You’d be fighting for more NHS funding.

If you were truly concerned, then you’d be fighting for our health in all aspects, including mental health. You’d understand that fatphobia has serious ramifications for the detriment of fat people’s mental health.

But ultimately because your concern is rooted in my fatness, in my physical body, in the way that I look, then it’s not really a concern about my overall health.

05. Hating myself is not a healthy weight loss tool either

I’d rather be fat and love myself than fat and hate myself – because hating myself, being ashamed, feeling like I’m not worthy of love is not a healthy approach weight loss either.

Neither is diet culture. Diets have been proven to be completely ineffective, with over 90% of dieters in many studies putting the weight back on within 5 years. And the serious detrimental effect that yo-yo dieting has on the body is so severe, that it’s actually “healthier” to just stay at the weight that you are currently.

06. Obesity as an issue is none of your god damn business

Ultimately, the leading cause of obesity is none of your fucking business. If you are not my direct healthcare professional, then you have no say in what my body should be doing. That’s it.

07. Fatshaming is not the same as thinshaming either

Thinshaming is not the same as fatshaming. It’s truly awful that some thin people felt shamed for being too thin, but it’s important to note that despite the fact that thinshaming is absolutely terrible, fatphobia is structural.

From the chairs we sit on, to the normalisation of fat people as “jokes” in media, to the inability to buy clothes for ourselves, to the added cost of being fat, to the denial of access to healthcare, to the normalisation of fat bullying and hatred.

Ultimately, neither being thin, nor being fat is anybody’s god damn business but yours.

08. Fatphobia is constant harmful and active violence against fat people

Have you ever been told that you don’t deserve love? Have you ever been told that your body is “vulgar”? Have you ever been told that no one will want to be with you because you’re so fat? Have you ever been told you’d be beautiful if you lost some weight?

Have you ever been told that you’d be happy if you lost some weight? Have you ever been told that you deserve to die because you’re so fat?

Have you ever been told that you’re just lazy? Have you ever been told that nothing is wrong with you when you sought medical attention, that you just need to lose some weight? Have you ever been denied emergency care because you’re fat?

Has your own mother forced you to drink diarrhetic teas at the age of 12? Have you starved yourself until you passed out? Have your friends told you that they wouldn’t be your friend any more if you went up a dress size?

Have you had people ask you to keep your clothes on during sex? Have you had complete strangers laugh at you for being fat? Have you had groups of teens make fun of you and assault you, simply because you’re fat?

Have you been violently attacked just for being attacked? Have you been spat at for being fat? Have you been a target of a crime, like being mugged, because you’re perceived as too fat to do anything about it?

Have you been invisible in rooms? bars? restaurants? every single place and space? While people speak to your thin friends and not to you?

All of these things have happened to me or fat people I know. And this doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface.

If you don’t understand why fatphobia impacts you as a thin person…

It’s not that fatphobia affects just fat people, it also actually has detrimental impact on people’s relationships with their bodies across the board.:

Fatphobia assigns morality to our bodies for simply physically existing, which means you will be bound by restrictions to your body being specific ways.

Fatphobia continues to contribute to disordered thinking around food, complicated and potentially harmful relationships with food, body dysmorphia, body image issues, self esteem issues, self hatred, anxiety and more.

Fatphobia makes us believe that we only deserve things because of the way that our bodies exist and look.