Monday, November 2, 2015

Obesity and Societal Problems



Both articles have a common subject of obese people in the United States. I find this subject very compelling and intriguing. I feel it is important to get outsiders views on this topic, and let the readers know from studies of obese people and how they are treated. It states that people are more prone to attack obese people. With vicious words instead of helpful words of encouragement. They go with how people can discriminate against obese people, in modern society.

In the first article America’s War on theOverweight, it gives a sort of progressive stance. How we as a society evolved into how obese humans are looked upon. While in Understanding the Negative Stigma of Obesity and its Consequences, it goes more into depth with social and personal obstacles. Kate goes back to the time of World War I, how people of the time viewed obese people as gluttons, and holding on to food from others. The first early on recordings of obesity didn’t start until World War I.” Actuarial tables began to connect weight and shorter lifespan, and cookbooks published around World War I targeted the overweight”. (Kate Dailey Newsweek). She explains the early onset, and what people began to believe why obesity was happening. Rebecca and Kate both state the perception of being overweight is that of someone that is lazy, unhealthy, and weak. People view it as a lack of control to ones self. There is a widespread belief that being fat is controllable. While that view is seen by most, Rebecca goes into how people can have medical conditions that cause them to be overweight.
 In Kate’s article it states most common people to have negative attitudes to fat people are women says Marlene Schwartz, director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University. “younger women, who are under the most pressure to be thin and who are also the most likely to be self-critical, are the most likely to feel negatively toward fat people”. (Kate Dailey Newsweek). She gives research showing how women are most cruel. Rebecca tends to focus more on the daily life affects from people. A lot of people will forgo healthcare says Rebecca Puhl. “Healthcare can easily become a negative and shaming experience for obese patients because of weight stigma. “ (Understanding the Negative Stigma of Obesity and its Consequences Rebecca Puhl, PhD). To many obese people going to the doctor can have a negative emotional effect on them. People that are seen to be able to control their weight are viewed harsher says Rebecca Puhl. “obese individuals are more likely to be stigmatized if their overweight condition is perceived to be caused by controllable factors compared to uncontrollable factors” (Understanding the Negative Stigma of Obesity and its Consequences Rebecca Puhl, PhD). People that don’t have a medical condition are more stigmatized than those with.

Both the authors take a pretty strong stance, of how fat shaming has become a major problem in today’s society. They feel like it is our job to help these overweight people out, by not being to critical and mean towards them. We need to uplift them and help them in fixing their obesity, not shaming them and making them have more emotional damage. The way that obese people are getting treated in society is not beneficial for the individual being shamed. They need words of encouragement to help them. I feel like both authors did a good job of pointing out their strong points and using plenty of research to show their backed stance.

Kate Dailey and Abby Ellin, and Rebecca Puhl all write about how todays modern culture views obese people, Dailey and Ellin tell about this war in a much more neutral way. While Puhl takes a lot more, harsher side of the problem with discriminatory problems towards obese people. I feel as though Rebecca speaks on a more bias term. I prefer Kate’s article because there seems to be more substance. While Rebecca takes a strong side for the obese people. Rebecca speaks on a more biased term in her article. She makes the obese people out to be victims and that society needs to change, not the obese people to fix their weight if possible.

Articles cited.
.Kate Dailey America’s War on the Overweight (Bedford Guide Page 549)
.Rebecca Puhl Understanding the Negative Stigma of Obesity and its Consequences (Puhl R, Brownell KD. Bias, discrimination, and obesity. Obesity Research. 2001;9:788-805)