Argumentative Essay On Fat Shaming

From receiving praise from hundreds on social media to backhanded compliments and harsh criticism, fat shaming and thin praising have become increasingly prevalent in this day and age. Well what is fat shaming? Fat shaming is defined as the action of humiliating someone judged to be fat or overweight by making mocking or critical comments about their size. Thin praising is defined as the opposite. Well-known names like Jonah Hill, Mo'Nique, and Lizzo have all been victims of the issue. This is because people view skinny as healthy and fat as unhealthy. The problem with this mindset is that health is not the true goal, achieving the ideal body type is. And this all stems from the beauty standards that are pushed onto people, specifically women. Instead of motivating them to lose weight, it is mostly doing the opposite. The main issue is the more we praise and reward people for maintaining their diet and having a thin body, the more we’re going to continue to denounce having a bigger body. While some think they are doing the right thing by praising thin people for their looks and trying shame fat people to lose weight, I believe that neither of the two should be used because they cause thinner people to be looked at as healthier than bigger people, they are not effective with helping lose weight, they cause increases depression, and they prioritize looks over health.

So where does this mindset come from? Some think that thin praising and fat shaming are essential in helping a person lose weight and maintain their skinny lifestyle. But why do people think like this? I think that the people who have these opinions are people who have never had to experience being that size. The people who grow up skinny their entire lives are taught that being skinny is a good thing. This mindset ties into weight discrimination and beauty standards. When a person is constantly complimented on their appearance because it fits the beauty norm, they start to look at people who are not as morally inferior. Insecurity also plays a big role. Someone who is not comfortable with their body finds someone who they perceive as overweight, so they can make themselves feel better by shaming them. Some do it as a form of bullying, and some don’t even think they are doing anything wrong. Thin praisers just think that they are just giving a normal compliment, but they are doing the same as fat shamers. I do not think that fat shamers and thin praisers all fall into one generalized category, but they all share the same idea.

Because skinny people are viewed as healthier than bigger people they are often discriminated against in healthcare. People are often pushed to be skinny rather than pushed to be healthy. Afshan addresses this issue in her article “Not a Fan of Fat Shaming? Stop Thin Praising.” She talks about how people associate thin as being healthy and fat as being unhealthy. This in turn leads to “medical professionals misdiagnosing fat people, whose medical problems are misattributed to their weight, and under-diagnosis of serious illnesses for thin people who are assumed to be healthy” (Jafar 41). I have experienced this type of discrimination during my doctor visits. I would go in for my asthma, which I have had since I was three months, but since my BMI is above 30, my doctor would look at my weight as the problem. Weight is looked at as the go-to problem, when some may have more serious underlying health. In her article “The Injustice in Fat Stigma” Rekha Nath claims “the vast majority of doctors and nurses report endorsing negative stereotypes about fat patients and looking down on them” (Nath 580). In extreme cases, people with more serious cases are misdiagnosed. In her article, “The Fat Misdiagnosis Epidemic,” Ragen Chastain describes a “64 year old woman named Ellen Maud

Bennett, who had cancer for several years. When she sought medical intervention, no one offered suggestions beyond weight-loss treatments. When her cancer was discovered, she had only days to live” (Chastain). This goes to show that even medical professionals fall victim to that same type of thinking. Is this thinking even effective?

Well, fat shaming and thin praising do not even serve one of their intended purposes. Although some may think they can shame someone into losing weight, it does the opposite. Research says that in some cases fat shaming may be as harmful as having a poor diet or being physically inactive. In his article “The Harmful Effects of Fat Shaming,” Kris Gunnars claims “people with obesity who experienced weight discrimination were 3.2 times more likely to remain having obesity” (Gunnars). This is because constant fat shaming leads to copious amounts of stress, which causes people to use food as a coping mechanism. Thin praise is just as bad because it pushes the mindset that “if thin bodies are the result of hard work and good choices, then fat bodies are the result of laziness and bad choices” (Jafar 41). Body shamers do not care about your health. They look at it as if you’re bigger, it was your fault and your responsibility to do something about it. It is even proven that people who are constantly fat shamed tend to have weaker mental health.

Victims of fat shaming are at an increased risk of depression and thoughts of suicide. Kris Gunnars takes aim at this in his article “The Harmful Effects of Fat Shaming.” His article talks about the effects that fat shaming has on a person’s mental health. He mentions a study in which “2,436 people, who were associated with severe obesity were 21-times of a greater risk of suicidal behavior and 12-times of a greater risk of attempted suicide” (Gunnars). This is the result of the constant criticism that is supposed to act as a form of motivation. It instead acts as a constant reminder of something that they probably can’t control or don’t want to change. They try to force the thinking of “Maybe if I lose weight, then I’ll be happy.” This can lead to a person to succumb to large amounts of stress. Amy Roeder talks about, in “The Scarlet F”, how “ongoing stress in daily life can lead to cellular wear and tear and increased risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and premature death” (Roeder). Research says fat shaming may be as harmful as having a poor diet and being physically inactive.

Beauty norms in society have become the new “normal.” If you are skinny and pretty, you are considered normal regardless of your health. When you fit into that mold, people start to admire you. Not because you have not been sick in almost two years or your cholesterol and blood sugar are normal, but because you have the ideal body. And people are more inclined to do this because “both punishment (shaming) and positive reinforcement (praising) reinforce beauty norms that value thin, flawless, usually white or light-skinned bodies” (Jafar 42). I relate to this quote because I have seen different women change their appearance to fit this “beauty norm.” My cousin went through different surgeries to “fix” her appearance because she did not like what other people thought about her body. Although she now has complications with her health, she still receives compliments on her weight loss now. Jane Schmid talks about her experience with this issue in “Why We Need to Stop Praising Thin.” After losing the weight she says that everyone thought she looked better than she did before she lost weight. Even though her “eyes looked dead and sunken in, and her skin was yellowing and losing hair. She was thinner, and that was all that mattered to people” (Schmid). This goes to show that people don’t care what health issues you have.  Michelle Konstantinovsky talks about this in her article “We Know The Dangers of Eating Disorders--So Why Are We Still Celebrating Weight Loss at Any Cost?.” She claims that as a society “we all make assumptions rooted in the premise that weight loss is the ultimate sign of success, and the logic is just flawed and ungrounded and keeps many of us sick, mentally and physically” (Konstantinovsky) This is because we are quick to dish out compliments as long as they have the ideal body type or they are no longer big.

I think people should value a person’s overall health and well-being, instead of worrying about the shape of their body. People should be praised for being healthy, not for what body shape they have. Losing weight should not be newsworthy or praiseworthy. Health should be the main priority. Not someone weighing 300 pounds or someone losing 120 pounds. People should not have to worry about facing depression or being discriminated against in doctor’s offices because they are “too big.” Thin praising and fat shaming are not useful. They bring more harm than they do good. As long as you are healthy and happy, beauty norms are irrelevant.