“5 Reasons ‘Body Positivity’ Is Evil” – Guy Starts A Discussion About The Toxicity Of The Body Positivity Movement
Interview With Author
Body positivity is a touchy topic, even to this very day. While some fully embrace it for helping people accept who they are with all of their flaws, others are more careful about voicing their support because they believe that some use it as an excuse for unhealthy habits. Meanwhile, fitness expert Jack Bly sparked a bit of internet drama over on Twitter after sharing his 5 reasons why he believes that body positivity is ‘evil.’
Like you could have expected, this approach made quite a few people angry while others stood in support of Jack’s views. Have a read through his arguments below and let us know in the comments what you think of them, dear Pandas.
In reality, body positivity and fitness are very sticky and nuanced topics. They aren’t as black and white as people would prefer to paint them, whatever their views on the subject. Each individual case and the small details matter a lot. For instance, a personal trainer I’d spoken to earlier pointed out that body positivity greatly depends on the context of the individual and the movement can be “both extremely helpful and potentially harmful.”
Meanwhile, The Guardian notes that we need to have those unpleasant conversations about weight and health instead of “leaping straight to the friendly hashtag, complete with women detailing their own blessed journeys towards inner beauty.” Uncomfortable? Yes. Necessary? Also yes.
I reached out to Jack and he was kind enough to go in-depth about the thread and his views on body positivity. “When it comes to TRUE body positivity, I think it can be a good belief system for things regarding our appearance that may be out of our control,” he told Bored Panda, pointing out some examples where it works such as in the case of burn victims, people with disabilities, etc.
“But, it is a terrible belief system when it comes to things in your control,” he noted that, in his opinion, this doesn’t work with obesity. “Like I mentioned in my thread, a lot of misinformation has been thrown around due to this which is extremely detrimental to everyone.”
Jack shared the reasons why he personally believes that the body positivity movement is ‘evil’
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Jack told Bored Panda that, overall, he received “an OVERWHELMING amount of support” that far outweighed any criticism that he got.
I wanted to get Jack’s take on what we should do if we’re looking to improve our level of fitness but we’re constantly finding ourselves without much energy to see things through.
“If you’re someone who is SERIOUS about making a permanent body transformation but feels like you’ve tried everything before, don’t want to do another miserable diet, or don’t have much time to commit… you need to invest in a coach,” he put it simply that the support of a professional helps immensely.
“Countless studies show the power of accountability when it comes to achieving any goal. And we know that where we invest our time & money reveal our true priorities. If you want an area to improve you MUST invest your resources there. And, just know that EVERYONE is capable of achieving the body they can be proud of.”
He added: “You can do this!!!”
There are plenty of perspectives on body positivity even among professionals. It’s a topic full of nuance
Earlier, personal trainer and physiotherapist Paulius Lipskis explained to me that we have to be completely honest about ourselves, our health, and our fitness levels.
“Somebody could potentially use the body positivity movement as an excuse for their unhealthy habits, however, if the movement encourages you to accept and embrace yourself, it’s something that you should strive to follow,” he told Bored Panda during an earlier interview.
“It’s also a problem if you view healthy living as something that you’re forced to do. If you’re constantly angry, tired, and you’re low on energy—it’s an issue,” the personal trainer said.
According to trainer Paulius, you can’t force someone to want to change; their desire to change their lifestyle must come from within.
“Usually, our unhealthy habits are a result of constant stress and our behavior that’s meant to protect us from it. If we would have an honest chat with ourselves, we’d clearly see that we’re dissatisfied with ourselves only when we feel that we’re using our bad habits to cover our emotions,” the fitness expert said.
“However, if we accept that we’re not perfect, we’re not pressured to change. That’s when you start developing a natural desire and curiosity to find out what the best possible version of you is.”
Meanwhile, Eva Wiseman shared in an article on The Guardian that the body positivity movement increases the pressure and guilt that overweight people feel. In her opinion, we’re better off finding peace with our bodies instead of loving ourselves as we are.
“‘Everybody’s beautiful, and all bodies are perfect!’ said 2019, to a small murmur from those pointing out that the workplace, Tinder, fashion, and health professionals disagree. The effect, then, was a feeling of isolation, and a doubling of guilt. Guilt both for living in a body that doesn’t fit and for wanting to change it,” Wiseman said that we ought to move toward body neutrality, not positivity.
People reacted to Jack’s post in a lot of different ways. Some were completely in favor of his view…
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…others had a different opinion and were much more critical of Jack’s approach
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Meanwhile, some Twitter users pointed out that body positivity and the health industry are all about making money
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I may be wrong but I have thought body positivity is about loving yourself no matter how you look. And this self love means that you take care of your mind and body. A person can definitely be slightly overweight or underweight but still healthy. But willingly going beyond that means self destruction and needs to be addressed.
That's indeed how body positivity started out. Love your healthy body despite it's "imperfections". It was a reaction against the magazines telling people to get plastic surgery for no good reason at all. Today it's changed to: "Love your body even when you're unhealthy overweight and you're uncomfortable and miserable not being able to do what you want to do."
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Body positivity is not meant to be about promoting obesity, or accepting that it's normal. Body positivity is about self esteem. So many people obviously just don't get it. Articles like the Cosmo one doesn't help though. Often poor self esteem coincides with mental health issues that also coincides with lack of motivation, emotional eating etc. It's also about teaching people that just because some are obese does not mean they don't deserve to be treated with respect and kindness. We are obese, not stupid so we know what effects it has and health issues. People picking on overweight/obese actually make things worse, not better. Bullying, teasing etc rarely helps anyone. Plus obesity is not always caused by poor diet and lack of exercise. There are many factors to take into account. How about you mind your own damn business since you have no idea what the individual is going through. It's between the individual and their doctor.
I think the best point that was made in this article was the person who pointed out that no one complained about unhealthy body standards when it was underweight people being praised, but now that it's overweight people being praised, everyone's freaking out. I think that neither extreme is healthy, and if you are not at a healthy weight you should work to resolve that issue. Also, praising people who are underweight and praising people who are overweight has happened before. In the Roman Empire, for example, a voluptuous body was viewed as a good thing. It's possible the cycle is repeating itself. On the other end of the spectrum, underweight bodies have been praised up until the body positivity movement. And I completely agree with your point that it might not actually be a person's fault for having an unhealthy weight.
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I had a friend who was curvy, but she went to the gym and she ate well. Yet people still lectured her, berated her and made fun of her because she was still curvy, even her mother told her that she only had a pretty face. Did this help? Did this make her work harder? No. She tried but she eventually gave up because she could see no point in continuing. Body positivity doesn’t mean accepting obesity, it just means loving yourself.
By "curvy", do you actually mean overweight? I'm overweight and I'm not curvy. In fact, I'm shaped like a candied apple.
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I think we've become so deranged about body fat, and the conversation has become so toxic, we all need to take a collective deep breath and step back. Let people be. You want to encourage healthy behavior? Then do that. Keep your disdain & disgust to yourself.
Shame doesn't work. If I could be shamed into losing weight, then I would have been thin my entire life. When I have some acceptance about my weight, when I let go of the self-hate, that's when I've been able to make positive changes about my weight and health. Edit: I've lost 35 pounds so far in Overeaters Anonymous. It's a 12 step program based on Alcoholics Anonymous.
IMHO people can't lose a large amount of weight and reduce obesity-related health problems unless they have feelings self-worth. The Fat Acceptance thing can be the first step on a positive journey towards a better self-image and better physical health, it means letting go of feelings of the self-hatred and shame that burden many fat people. Shaming people over their weight accomplishes nothing but ruined self-esteem (or defiance, in my case), but some people won't give up the idea that they can shame the whole world into being thinner.
Exactly! The body positivity movement is meant to stop the self hatred (and self harm). It's meant to let everyone love themselves and their bodies, no matter how big or skinny they are. It's not promoting obesity, it's not promoting anorexia. It's people being kind to one another, loving other people for who they are and not judging them for what they look like. It's about finally allowing everyone to love themselves and their bodies, without any shame
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It's one thing to love and accept yourself, as you always should. It's a whole other thing to make disgusting tv shows about people who are so morbidly obese, they need to be carried by 6 people using pulley systems into another room. Morbid obesity is not positive. And if your kid is obese, most normal countries would consider that child abuse.
An excellent point I think. Personally I don't see the big deal if someone is overweight but still living a normal life. If you can still move around your home, go out, go shopping or do your daily job and manage your health then who cares? You do you. My issue with it comes in when people cannot walk anymore, just lie in bed or on the sofa all day because they need someone to help them move around and they're physically incapable of even dressing themselves. You can't tell me being totally incapacitated is "beautiful and healthy".
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Body positivity is not promoting obesity and saying "hey let's all get extra fat because that's a good thing". Obese people know it's not healthy to not be able to fit in a chair or to walk for more than 3 minutes. Just like smokers know smoking is bad and just like drinkers know being an alcoholic is not good for you and junkies know drugs ruins your life and will likely kill you. People don't have to be told what's bad for them, they know. Body positivity is about not shaming people for being extra large or extra skinny, not shaming them if they feel like eating McDonalds or a soft serve on a sunny summer day. It's about people being able to be proud of who they are and not judged for their pants size and not having to hide themselves when they are a larger (or smaller) size. It's about everyone having the right to feel good about themselves, no matter what they look like and no matter how many inches their waist is. And even if you cannot fathom that, it's certainly not up to you to judge others. You don't know their life, you don't know what choices they make and why, or what they might be dealing with. They might prefer a larger size, they might have an illness (physical or mental), they might have all sorts of issues you know nothing about. Be kind and whenever you feel like judging other people publicly look at yourself in the bathroom mirror and repeat "it's none of my business, it's none of my business, it's none of my business" until the urge passes
Do we stigmatize people for other unhealthy habits and call them disgusting for it? If you never exercise, is it somehow not as disgusting if you're skinny? If you don't get enough sleep, how disgusting are you? That's worse for you than obesity. If you don't have any friends or any social support, you're hurting your health as much as a smoker is - do we hurl invective at lonely people now?
You can't really MAKE people sleep more without breaking the law.
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Body positivity is just about loving your body. If people don't hate their bodies, they'll show it the respect it deserves to live a healthy lifestyle. The guy may well be right, but making those people feel bad about feeling good about themselves will likely have a negative outcome, instead of what he's hoping to achieve.
Funny coming from the country where you can have a burger for $1 and a salad for $15 and litres and litres of coke for free
This guy wants change but he is going about it ALL WRONG. You don't encourage people to change by beating them down and making them feel lower than low. And does he -- and his supporters -- not get that fat people understand their situation? Look at the language that is getting used in the tweet: "evil", "lies", a drain on society, "unethical", "disgusting", "low standard of life", a bad example for children. etc. Would you talk about someone you respect that way? I am fat. I work hard to be the healthiest version of myself I can be. My personal best at the gym was 537 days in a row without missing a workout. But still fat. I have a lot of obstacles in my way. But If I walked into a gym and heard somebody talking about bodies like mine in that way, I would feel so utterly unwelcome and targeted that I would lose heart. At least the people who find me disgusting have the grace to keep their mouths shut while I do my best.
I have literally set up an account on bored panda just to say this. Body positivity has NEVER claimed obesity is healthy. What it, however, has claimed, is that unless you’re someone’s doctor, you have no way of knowing if that person is obese or not, or what health problems they do or do not have. Many people who appear overweight or obese have stellar test results (ever seen disk throwers at the olympics?) and on the other hand many people who don’t appear particularly large do have obesity-associated issues due to their lifestyle. Many slender people have serious health problems related to their weight too. I’m gonna say it again, louder: UNLESS YOU’RE SOMEONE’S DOCTOR, YOU HAVE NO BUSINESS COMMENTING ON THEIR SIZE OR INFERRING ANYTHING ABOUT THEIR HEALTH. So this guy is coming from a completely misinformed, and frankly quite dangerous place. And shame on you bored panda for spreading this misinformation.
Exactly this. These posts always have hundreds of comments from people who shouldn't.
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Nah, it's more Twitter (the ruiner of society) changing this to "If you don't think Carol Yager is the pinnacle of humanity, you are an animal and should be hunted for sport" i'm against.
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He seems like a pretentious fat phobe to me. He’s one of those guys who gets rejected and immediately says, “well you’re fat anyway.” As another commenter said fat people know they’re fat. We know it’s unhealthy. Body positivity is about loving yourself not about fat acceptance. So to all the fat shamers out there, we’re fat not blind and certainly not stupid. Worry about yourself and quit with the unsolicited health advice. That’s what we have doctors for.
What I don't understand is whose business is it, other than mine, if I'm fat? If someone is overweight, just leave them the hell alone! Stop f*****g with their heads and telling them they're gross, or telling them they need to do something about their weight. THEY KNOW! Just mind your own bloody business!
And you can't hide if you're overweight. Everyone knows.
Load More Replies... What the hell is going on, did this guy pay for all this advertisement? This person is a personal trainer who directly benefits from maintaining strict body standards and shaming those who don't fit into them. I didn't see any concerns over the medical complications of being underweight highlighted here, though I'm sure many more magazine covers show that body standard.
Funny how this excellent point seems to have sailed over the heads of most people reading the article. Including me..I really need to pay more attention.
Load More Replies... Why is junk food so cheap yet food that is good for you so expensive? Why do people make fun of over weight people when they do try to go to the gym and better themselves? Why do people think that body positivity means accepting obesity as a good thing? Why don’t people realize that depression is a major cause of obesity? Why don’t people realize that if people are allowed to love themselves, then they will be less depressed and may start seeking a healthier lifestyle.
All for body positivity, but the guy is right. It's not physically healthy so shouldn't be encouraged to stay significantly overweight. Be comfortable as you are but keep striving to be healthy regardless. It's good to love yourself, but be under no illusions that being overweight is a way to stay.
I´m fully behind this idea. We have been putting some healthy lifestyle programs in place at schools here (not US) and besides not selling crap at school, they get healthy lunches, schools provide for fruits and vegetables as snacks, they only get something sweet as a dessert 1 per month, etc... and child obesity has lowered almos 10% in total in the last decade. Right now stuff with added sugar, sodas, etc has an "healthy tax" on it to discourage people to buy it too (we dont have data on it yet though).
Load More Replies... I would like to know if all these people were so outraged when magazines had underweight models all over them? Both are unhealthy lifestyles.
And believe me, i know obesity is not healthy. It is a struggle, but for the majority of people it has been caused by themselves (like me). But you can't be outraged and pretend to care for overweight women if you're not also going to care for the underweight ones.
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I exercise almost every day, and most of my friends would agree that i am one of the healthiest eaters they know. But i still have belly fat a big thighs . Am i healthy, yes ,am a bigger , yes , am i promoting obesity because i try to love myself, no .(sory for the spelling and grammar lol)
You can tell the guy just doesn’t like fat women because of the whole “PC culture” comment. He doesn’t understand what PC culture even is or what “politically correct” means. It doesn’t mean what he thinks it means. I agree obesity is blatantly not healthy but this guy is clueless.
The guy also said "Do you ever wonder why so many people pass away shortly after they retire? Because they lack purpose"..... WTF... This is not a man we want to take advise from
This is truth in that statement, although 'shortly' may be exaggerated. A person who has been working for 40+ years and suddenly finds themselves without a purpose can go into a depression very quickly, and stop caring for themselves.
Load More Replies... Obesity is not caused by people thinking it is okay to be fat, and being healthy does not come from hating yourself. So we should focus more on the culture that is creating the problem. Fast cheap processed food, working too many hours, stress, self loathing, etc.
Can be. My ex was overweight. His mother thought it looked fabulous. Thinner looked bad to her. If he lost 2 kilo, she'd stuff him full, because he looked so bad.
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One thing that a lot of people don't understand is that carrying too much weight for your frame will lead to all kinds of health problems. And it doesn't matter if you're carrying extra fat or extra muscle (like body builders). You're putting undue stress on your internal organs, bones, and joints. By all means, love yourself however you look. But don't say that obesity can be healthy, because it absolutely cannot.
There is a difference between being dangerously obese and not having a perfect body. Body positivity isn’t just about being overweight it’s about other normal insecurities as well. Things like bloating, hip dips, acne, a little extra stomach fat, stretch marks, etc. So I do agree that people should be educated on the risks of being obese but body positivity/body image is still important to have. Being extremely overweight isn’t healthy but having some extra fat is okay.
So a) back that up with science - you can't because these are vague statements that cover populations not a person and some are just vague opinions and b) what is your goal here? This language is best left between a person and their doctor, shame makes things worse. If your goal is health then start by having a healthy appreciation for everyone on a personal level (which is what body positivity is) and health, overall health will follow. I mean, we could talk about your drinking binges and cigarette use and it's affect on your health but I am sure that is your personal choice and you'd be offended.
I’m fat, I get it. I’m also in pain everyday. No, I don’t eat right because it takes too many spoons. I take meds for my mental health which means my physical health suffers. I have absolutely no esteem when it comes to my body. I take no pleasure seeing women in tight clothes that don’t fit. But if they feel comfortable, more power to them.
The anti-depressants I took caused thyroid problems and I put weight on. Stopped taking them and the weight came off. As being fat was making me depressed they weren't actually helping. I'm in a lot of pain too - it's tough it really is.
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When we see someone's life deteriorating due to drugs and alcohol, we encourage them to love themselves enough to get well, and then continue to love themselves to maintain health. I find this all to be a similar situation. But it's curious how we'll cut people out of our lives for drugs because we can't stand to see them destroy themselves anymore, or we'll yell and point, "JUNKIE!" in the streets....but can't call someone overweight...and moreover are pressured to call them beautiful and healthy. Seems kinda weird.....
That's just as bad. They do that with smokers too.
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So many people think that healthy equals a certain clothing size. The body positivity movement is about being able to love yourself and take care of yourself at a size 14 and not just at a size 4. Lizzo is a prime example of how body positivity is a good thing. She turned her confidence in herself at morbidly obese into self-care and adopted a healthier lifestyle, and while she may never be the "ideal" (according to the media) size 4, she can eat healthy and exercise regularly and take steps towards healthier.
I believe that, like all things, it should be in moderation. Don't be cruel to people who are a bit overweight, but don't let unhealthiness be fine.
There's a difference between "overweight" and "morbidly obese". I know plenty of "fat" people who are that way because they can't exercise or are restricted in ways that means they can't be as active as they'd like. Many people don't have the money to eat well and fast food/ cheap food is full of sugar, crap, fats and no nutrition. That aside - I have lost 2 family members to morbid obesity. This is an eating disorder. It's an addiction, just as being addicted to heroin or video games or gambling is. You can't just stop eating, you can't just get lectured or shamed into stopping anymore than an alcoholic can. One cousin died at 620 pounds last year. It took a LONG long time to get there. Her kids tried. We all tried. Doctors tried. She'd sit and shoot up her insulin while eating, so she could keep on shoving sugar into her. It was horrific to watch. Mental illness shouldn't be blown off with "be happy with yourself". People need help when it's out of control.
I've been a plus size for most of my life. I have PCOS (polycystic ovary syndrome) and eventually diagnosed with Adenomyosis. Both these conditions affected my weight and lifestyle (Adenomyosis is a chronic condition) About 7 years ago I drastically lost weight, from a UK28 to a UK14. I could not reconcile with the image I saw in the mirror; that's when I realised that I hated my body, not my weight. Over time the weight came back; I now have Fibromyalgia and CFS/ME and my mobility is very limited. Despite this, and the meds I take, my liver and kidney function are normal, I'm not even pre-diabetic, have low to normal cholesterol. I take BP meds due to constriction of blood vessels and I'm waiting for further diagnosis. I love my body, fat rolls, stretch marks, wobbly bits and all. I am overweight but HEALTHY despite my chronic illnesses which are NOT related to my weight.
My Fibromyalgia and CFS were manageable until 3 years ago when I had a massive traumatic event.
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I am not entirely in or against this statement. It is without a doubt that obesity is not healthy. However, obese people are not idiots who believe it is. The point is that losing weight is not easy. It requires time and strong will. I think that body positivity exists mostly to soothe one's psyche rather than make you believe being fat is ok from a medical point of view. At the same time, looking at the cited cosmopolitan cover, I can understand the speaker as well. The words used to present it are wrong. Would have been better if the text was "This isn't shameful!" rather than "This is healthy!".
Everything about this dude is coded as alt-right (aka fascist). The in-your-face American flag background, the stupid hat, the rhetoric ("facts don't care about your feelings"). Bored Panda should not be giving people like this a platform. Also, if Mr. Bly really cared about obesity, he would advocate for larger solutions like more walkable cities, getting rid of food deserts, accessible and affordable healthcare including mental health, etc. He just doesn't want women, especially Black women, like the model in the original ad, to feel good about themselves. Do better, Bored Panda.
People are not obese on purpose. People who are against body positivity talk as though there were a reverse anorexia epidemic. There isn't. Feeling bad about being obese is not the cure to obesity.
You're correct but we also have to encourage overweight/obese people to take accountability sometimes. It's a very small number of people who are overweight due to medical issues or medications;majority will be like me and food is just far too good. Who wants to eat healthy and exercise?! Not me! But i also only have myself to blame for being overweight because i know how to change. I dont need a 'coach' like this dude to do it; hes toxic. But something does need to be done to educate people and help with taking accountability and fixing relationships with food and exercise. Men like this guy DO NOT HELP though.
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I think the point of body positivity isn't about health so much, it's about being respected. I've been skinny and I am now currently overweight due to medication and health issues which forced me to become less mobile. Now I've put on weight I have been spoken to and treated like I am the most disgusting thing they have ever seen. Believe me no one who is overweight knows it's healthy. It's about being seen as a human worthy of love and respect just like everyone else.
COVID-19 doesn't care about body positivity. If your heart is already under stress because of your body, COVID-19 has a higher death rate.
I agree with this guy, why should it be frowned upon for a medical professional to tell a fat person that they are fat. Don't want to get shamed and insulted in the street? Cool, that's not nice so fine. Want your doctor to lie to you and not use the word "fat" because it makes you sad? Tough. I HATE the phrase "my truth" because that usually means LIE, just like when the Markle uses it. Making s**t up used to be called lying, now it's "my truth".
Do you think there's a single morbidly obese person who *doesn't* know that they're fat? Considering how doctors use the excuse of a patient being 'fat' to palm off all their health problems, refuse to run proper diagnostics, and fail to run proper tests, why not get angry about that instead?
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You know you've made a great point when the professionally argumentative attack you personally instead of addressing your argument.
There are "professionally argumentative" people who will come at you with personal attacks no matter what your opinion is.
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Body positivity is NOT about saying that being overweight is healthy. It is to say that we should love ourselves and not shame ourselves for not being like these "perfect" Instagram models. No one is perfect and no one should be.
At least this is better than the edited "perfect" Instagram photos
Body positivity is good, especially for those who ignore it and do not take care of their own health.
Bodypositivity is about NOT MOCKING people, that means 99% who do not fitnthe extreme beauty standards. To feel good about yourself makes you much better at actually doing good for your body, it works against depression, etc. So him mocking people, braying, that fat people should not be seen, (that is what he advocates) because it in it self somehow is the cause of those diseases is stupid. Being mocked and cast out , told you are less worthy is harmful to health and healthchoices.
In discussing body positivity, whenever I see a person "raising concerns" about the health of obese people but fails to do the same about underweight people, I know it's never about peoples' health and always about fat-phobia.
body positivity is just a more physical aspect of the self-love movement. if you truly love someone or something, you want what’s best for it. body positivity was originally a movement for people with missing body parts, skin conditions like vitiligo, or facial features that weren’t “the norm.” it’s original purpose was to destigmatize things that weren’t unhealthy, but didn’t fit the current beauty standards. (examples being having cellulite, stretch marks, acne, etc.). it’s been recently twisted out of proportion and become a “don’t try to be healthy because YOURE PERFECT AND HEALTHY!!! :) which, as this guy said, is BS and has severe negative consequences. if you’re healthy and active but still a size 16, that’s fine. the movement also focuses on improving positive mindsets and confidence.
My body positivity fluctuates between 5 and 10 pounds tolerance, then it's time to move a**e. Not 100 not 200 pounds. Now down vote this.
If "moving a**e" were the cure to obesity, maybe you'd have a point. Obesity is actually a complex medical condition.
Load More Replies... oh boy i can hear twitter sharpening their pitchforks and building their wooden effigies now
I thought body positivity was about things you couldn’t do anything about. Like genetic stuff. I know a girl who has mild hirsutism(more than average body hair) and she’s really conscious about that. It’s genetic, how much can she shave? She has hair all over her body. I thought it was about people with these types of problems.
Body positivity, or the way I see it, isn't really limited to one problem or another that makes you "imperfect". I think it addresses hirsutism, vitiligo, etc as much as it addresses people who have a few extra pounds/kilos.
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The way I see it is we need more pictures of 'normal' people looking happy and gorgeous. Representation is a powerful thing, and seeing images you can relate to, of people like you having the good stuff in life, really opens your mind to what is possible. Over lock down I lost 5kgs,taking me from slightly overweight to being really healthy. However, the motivation came from seeing 'imperfect' people working out: from being able to buy flattering fitness clothes in my size: from it being acceptable for people like me to be seen outside, running. Body positivity invites people in to environments that have previously felt intimidating.
Image values are effed up and we all know it. So I work in a hospital, and yes obese comes with extra health risks. But the culture of ‘BMI’ and model thin is too wrong as well. Can we as a society of humans find a ‘healthy balance’ where BMI of 25 isn’t automatically called overweight and BMI of 31 is automatically obese. I had a 35 y patient who is 350 lbs who didn’t know how hard he is struggling with oxygen levels in the toilet from obesity hypoventilation and untreated sleep apnea. But pushing for a ‘thigh gap’ is wrong too. I have curves, I have a BMI of 25.5 and I run faster than when I was in my 20’s.
I support body positivity but I also don't view body positivity as a promotion of saying obesity is healthy. I know that a lot of people within the body positivity movement do say any size is healthy and I disagree with that because we know obesity is not healthy, is the leading cause of premature death, causes heart disease and cancer. You name it, your body cannot withstand that much excess weight over a long period of time. It has drastically decreased life expectancy. Body positivity as a movement that tells you not to hate yourself, to love who you are, is what I support. People who have a positive body image and good mental health, are the people who are best able to transition into healthy lifestyles. People with poor body image struggle for an entire lifetime with their health and size. Attacking and being critical of someone's body results in a lifetime of struggle, being positive while promoting healthy food and lifestyle is a far better solution. Support, not shame.
Couldn't agree more! He also left out that obesity is the main cause of cancer before smoking!!!
It's always fascinating that thin people think that obese people don't know that they are obese. Guess what? We DO know it. We DO know we should lose weight, but IT IS NOT THAT SIMPLE. I am pretty sure most skinny people have unhealthy habits. How would you feel to get constantly harassed because you drink alcohol or smoke a cigarette in public? You are not worried about our health, you just don't like the way we look, that's all. And you are not helping, you are making it worse. You are the reason obese people avoid going to the fitness center, because they are fed up of being ridiculed and laughed at.
Well now, I am a skinny person who use to smoke and I got harassed about it on a daily basis and you know what that accomplished? It made my blood boil and I immediately lit up another to calm myself down. I tried and tried for about 10 years to quit smoking and you know what actually made that happen? Not all the people endlessly telling me how terrible of a person I was, telling me I was going to die (like dude, I am aware), it was me getting health insurance for the first time in my life and being able to go to a doctor for help to get over my medical condition of addiction. I smoked the most when people attacked me about it and when my self-esteem was at its' lowest from people telling me I was scum. I think my smoking struggle is what made me sympathetic to the body positivity movement. Society never has the right to disrespect someone or treat them as less than with this screwed up justification that it is for their own good. Hang in there!
Load More Replies... I mean, being severely overweight or underweight are both very unhealthy, but usually when they promote really thin girls as "beautiful" the emphasis is on how you can lose tons of weight to be just like them, while fat ladies on magazine covers aren't trying to promote new weight gain regimens s you can be fat too. So there is a difference.
Oh look another man who has decided that he can tell women what they’re supposed to look like
I'm not gonna take sides because I can see the point from both, but lemme just say three things: 1. Size is not an indicator of health 2. Health is not an indicator of worth 3. Fat people are often ignored when it comes to medicine, any issues they have are blamed on their weight. The solution presented to them is almost always 'lose weight.' Not to mention that diets can cause the same issues that are associated with obesity. (Many fat people diet...)
I personally think body positivity should be about “oh being overweight is perfectly fine, and you shouldn’t feel bad about yourself, but you SHOULD try to exercise more and eat less, in order to live healthier and longer”. Overeating to get a person to that size is a mental disorder, but not always. You wouldn’t see people with restrictive eating disorders on the front of magazine pages , promoting starving yourself. I do want everyone to feel good about themselves, while also feeling happy. If you want to share your opinion with Me, please do. I would love to hear it :)
what ignorance this is. It's not promoting obesity and eating unhealthy and FYI you can be skinny and extremely unhealthy but we don't bring that into light because society wants to promote you're only unhealthy if you're overweight which ignorance. Plus overweight people can be healthy as well, people with hormone problems tend to have weight problems no matter how healthy they are. They can run a mile everyday and be vegetarian and still be overweight people with different types of hormone problems literally have this problem. You can also starve yourself with hormone problems and be overweight. EDUCATE your stupid please. And not every Skinny person is healthy either so STOP promoting that LIE as well. All sizes can be healthy doesn't mean they all are.
Fat acceptance has ruined the body positivity movement. I am very "plus sized" and totally agree that you can't be overweight and healthy. Being obese has ruined a lot of things for me personally and I am now on a road to weight loss and being healthy. There is no healthy at every size! It costs more to be overweight then to be healthy.
Disappointing Bored Panda. This is fat phobia. Body Positivity is not about obesity, but embracing and loving who you are despite your shape or weight. It's pricks like these that make this difficult. The audacity of people to comment on someone's weight. What about stick thin, emaciated people. Are we concerned about their health? No, because they're not fat.
I'm fat no heart problems ,no high blood pressure, no diabetes just fat I'm comfortable in my own skin .mans opinion who give a s**t
Ps.And when morbidity obese you can't work and claim all sorts of benefits and don't pay taxes
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This article misses the point of body positivity complitely, It's about things like ableism, fatphobia that often results in medical negligence and generally about how people with different bodies are treated in society. Your health should never equal your worth, disabled people exist, invisible disabilities exist, chronic illnesses exist yet if you're fat your pain and suffering is seen as less, people die because we live in society that doesn't treat you like a human being if you're fat or disabled.
I totally agree and I was overweight for 10 years. Now years later after losing weight I still suffer from health issues due to that. And I wasn't even obese. Loving yourself is taking care of your health and your body. Eating healthy, exercising.. getting enough sleep. You have only one body and it's supposed to last a lifetime don't screw with it because you're addicted to sugar. That trend is unhealthy and its undeserving to women. Did you notice that we never talk about "body positivity" regarding men ?
Some of his points are entirely legitimate. It’s unfortunate that they got attention by coming from him, because his credibility is... questionable. First and most important point: Reading a lot of his posts on twitter gives me a very strong impression that he suffers from the logical fallacy “survivorship bias”. This is very common among the successful. Have a read: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivorship_bias Worse: He also uses language that is shared with online cults of entrepreneurship-personality. The modern version of toxic “positive thinking”, plus “pay for my services and you’ll be a sexy rich bro too!!” There are a bunch of “weak to strong” dude-bros presenting their “success method” with an unearned arrogance. Especially when he complains about “PC culture”: a catch-all label used by antisocial types to paint all efforts at promoting a more equitable society with the same brush. It all comes together to make him seem overconfident and... kinda douchey.
body positivity actually can help people to start feeling happy, dont feel insecure, and start to caring on theirselfs and even loose weight.... But no... every F*king people must came here and start talking abote how lazy they are, how ill they are, how is everything about them wrong.... What they did not see is, is the sirks of other people when they came out. When they go for a walk and everyone looking at them... When they came to gym to DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!!!! And everyone there be like "euuuugh, ugly fatso! They smell so wrong, they deffinetly not wash themselves properly. So disgusting!".... and nobody see the fact, that they are mabye fat, because other people bully them for it, so they have depression and compensate it with more food, which is mentall illness! Nobody see a woman, who actually trying to loose weight but no matter how she tried, here genes predicted her to be 'chubby' anyway.... I loose weight, I loose about 30kg, but no matter how I tried normally... TBC
no matter how i tried normally, I just stuck at the weight for a year. I dont want to stare myself, i dont have more money to spend on gyms etc... I too kalks, dont dring or eat sweet... But nothing happening anymore...... And also, when I start all this to loose weight, my male friend, who is my Ex, but we are still in contact, because I actually enjoy talking with him for most of the time..... I told him, that I start walking, and that I valked 9 km. And he was like "That's not something you should be proud of, that's normal. And I dont understand why you let this come so far that you was unable to walk for 9km.".... Well, no wonder he's Ex, and I dont enjouy talking with him anymore!!!... Body Positivity is not about staying fat, its about let people feel comfty, and allow them have nice, high quality clothes. Do you know how more comfty is to woking out and do some sports, when you can wear a sports-wear in your size? The ability to buy it IS BODY POSITIVITY TOO!!!!
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I get what he's saying . However , there are people that are overweight for a reason completely out of their control. My grandson is super chubby. He was 2 lbs when he was born. He eats healthy and is constantly on the move , swimming , biking , climbing , running ... and he's a little chonk. A lot of medications cause weight gain as well. People who don't have the option of being thin , should still be able to feel beautiful and ok with themselves
A weight below body mass index BMI 27 has NO higher mortality in it self. In beauty standards BMI over 19-20 is “ugly” . So f**k himfor being fake concerned about health when he just hates non skinny people, and wants them to be hidden away. If he was for good health, he would advocate fun good ways to exercise and eat good nutricious food and celebrate what ever age, wrinkles, and shapes we are, and support good mental health rather than mock and shame those not worthy in his mind.
Why can´t we stay away from the extremes?? It´s a fact that being over or underweight IS unhealthy. Just by itself it causes problems to our bodies and is a risk factor by itself. Let´s not go back to the severely underweight models from the 90s/00s or put the pressure on children and teens to achieve it (like society has done before) but let´s also not tell people that highly overweight is healthy. It´s not.
Can´t we just portray different people in the healthy weight range? Shorter, taller, muscular, on the lower side of healthy weight, on the bigger side of healthy weight... There´s plenty of variety of what healthy looks like and that´s what we all should want to see portrait and seen as an "ideal" in my opinion.
Load More Replies... My husband was super healthy and fit, always exercised and ate right. He got a random kind of cancer and died young. I know of many others whose path was the same, too. I often think that the health impact of being overweight is exaggerated. It gives people an illusion of having more control than we really have. Be happy and thankful for every day that you have and don't waste time beating yourself -or others- up for superficial reasons.
Wouldn't it be great if people would stop interfering in the lives of people they don't even know.
The reason why this guy is so spiky is a reaction to the "fat acceptance" movement, which peddles truckloads of misinformation and nonsense... Fat people live longer, gaining weight whilst eating 800 cal/day, eating habits don't relate to weight gain, set points, diets don't work, intuitive eating.... on and on it goes. All so they can go on overeating and pretend it has no consequences. Check out the fatlogic sub on reddit for examples.
When you're underweight, you will be model, influencer, instagram ''object'' etc and earn money just for your look, praised by all etc. When you're overweight and you want to wear what you want, you don't want to be criticized, you want to be far from anxiety just came from others opinions and critics about your body and that's call EVIL. Thats what the body positivity is! Not just freckles, bad shaped noses, ''skinny'' fats but still be underweight!
I can understand how this makes sense to a lot of people. BUT, I think he totally missed some key points. Promoting a healthy lifestyle is good, but look, that lifestyle is not affordable or accessible to a lot of people. A nutritious meal usually cost more way money to buy and time to prepare (or learn to prepare) than fast foods. Talking about sport, as a working single person, work, transport, meal prep and chores leave me only 3-4 hours per day for "leisure activities". I still practice pilates 3-4 times a week, but that requires lots of mental effort to drag myself to the gym. People that doing 2 jobs at a time, single parents, or people with mental health issues will hardly be able to do it. So instead of targeting individuals, I would rather advocate for a shorter working day, a better health care system that treats mental health seriously and an economy that makes living-healthily more affordable.
I am a large gal and an amazing plus-size group I am in gave me the confidence to get/wear a bikini. I felt wonderful. Yet, this doesn't discourage me from trying to be healthy. I am now looking up healthy meal plans and signed up for virtual 5ks. People need positive reinforcement to be in a healthy mental space that allows them to feel safe to undertake a huge change.
Well what's the alternative? Shame and self loathing? That's always helpful.
I see too many comments saying that body positivity is about loving oneself, and it's right at some level. Yes it all started out like that, but like every principle that is politically correct, it would spread like wildfire, with misinformation, and radical movement (such as fat acceptance). I too many times see the member of this "body positivity society" bashing on reallly underweight people, calling them disgusting, or an*rexic, or telling them they would be dead if they don't change their lifestyles. And yes, I think being very thin is not healthy, but being morbidly obese is not healthy either... Binge eating is not healthy, alas we shouldn't glamorize being overweight. And no, we don't have to be shredded, we don't have to have that catwalk model body, but IT DOESN'T MEAN that we have to justify eating disorder. If you say that I'm overexaggerating, you can follow fat acceptance influencer, oh man, they love to witch hunting people who decided to go on weight loss journey!
There is so much more to say if a person is healthy or not. Weight is just a fraction of that. Just because someone seems to be 'thin and healthy,' doesn't make them healthy. There is things like blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes, mental health, things you can inherit from your family. People should not judge others by their outside appearance. I know people who most would not think of as being healthy and they are healthier than me. How many people appear to be healthy and end up having eating disorders or other health issues because they are not being healthy? More than people think I'm sure. I much rather see real men and women on magazines than the ones that are on there now. Not realistic and probably have really bad, unhealthy habits to maintain their weight.
It's not hard. People who feel good about themselves make better choices for themselves. You might find them unattractive, that's fine, but let them feel good about themselves and take care of themselves. Also, the fact that it's cheaper to buy a medium pizza than to buy veggies is something we need to address as a society. Poor people buy what they can afford, it's not always the healthiest option and that needs to change.
I think the original message of the movement is great, and while it still applies, i.e the part that tells you to love yourself, there's always room to be healthier, both mentally and physically. You don't have to focus on being a certain weight, you should focus on how you're feeling. Overall: Love yourself at every size and take care of yourself at every size. However, I do NOT like the man. He seems arrogant and cruel.
They went too far the other way. I remember telling my now-ex-husband back around 2002 that I was sick of not seeing "overweight" women in shows. He finally said, "Nobody wants to see someone who's 200 pounds overweight." (That's debatable, but in any case, I said, "No, I mean like your friend Jen!" Jen was probably 15 pounds over what doctor's would say is ideal weight. She was gorgeous. And she would have been playing the "fat girl" in a show. After that, my wasband finally started seeing what I meant. So, I hoped we'd get past that. (Us women have been hoping since the 70s when super-thing became the trend.) But now they have gone too far the other way with this type of ads. Having such women play parts in shows is awesome. Women come in all shapes and sizes, but to promote being 200-300 pounds overweight is no better than promoting anorexia.
It's 2 extremes, the fat justify it by saying oh all the anorexic super models. Well sure, that's unhealthy. Now we aren't perfect but being an obese blob is NOT what it's about, it's about saying we have wrinkles, we have sagging breasts, we have some fat...not mountains of fat = good. Bit like the gay thing, once gay =bad, now gay = trendy. My gay friend is horrified they hijacked her sexuality as a trend.....everyone jumping on the bandwagon...suddenly it's popular to be confused or bi or some such. No, you either are or you are not. It's not fashion.
yeah this guy can f off all the way to F-off land, then climb to the top of F-off mountain, and then keep Effing off until he gets to Jupiter. And then he can F off some more once he gets there. There are SO MANY poor health choices people make every single day but no one remarks on those choices if the person is thin, attractive, etc. So we need to just call out fat shaming for what it is. Jack, you don't give a single rat's patoot about my 'health' you are just offended by seeing my fat butt out in the world having an enjoyable life. When or if I die due to my choices, that's my business, same as your secret alcoholism, coke habit, smoking, STIs, sedentary life, processed food diet, bulimia, or what-have-you. Thin people get cancer, fit people get diabetes, young attractive people get sick and die all the time. In fact, ALL people die. And we all have illnesses and injuries along the way. Being bullied by other people is not helpful.
AMEN! Had a uncle struggle with obesity that caused his early death at 38. Love yourself sure, but don't use that as a crutch to not improve your quality of life.
Er, why is low libido a problem? Also, I'm part of the "plus size" women and while I know it's not healthy, loving myself as I am would be a huge help with my stress and low self estime
Because almost nobody wants a low libido. And it’s usually a sign of other things being wrong mentally and physically. And because sex is a healthy part of life as well.
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I kind of get what this guy is saying . I remember body positivity was about loving yourself and self-care . Now it’s about being obese . And to modern standards , obese people have a higher chance dying from COVID . And higher risk to heart disease. But still , love yourself people . But don’t change it to the matter of what today body positivity means . 😊
Okay, I did a school presentation on this exact topic, so I'm gonna say this like the unprofessional professional. It's really simple; you are beautiful. Just because you're overweight/plus-size/mid-size/obese doesn't mean you're less than someone who's skinny/straight-size. And what this man fails to notice is that a lot of the body-positive movement goes to those you are disabled/different other than size wise. IIRC, there's a body-positive organization who donates their money to research about vitiligo and other skin conditions. So, my man, are you saying people who are getting help through the body positive movement (i.e. research, awareness), or finally feeling confident and happy, are being toxic?
Well, are you really surprised that the fashion industry jumped on that wagon? It was never about obese people and their health. It was always about taking advantage of a real issue. This is in the same category as those smoking articles and “studies” sponsored by the cigarette companies that say smoking is actually not that bad.
This raises a good point. It's so easy to go from one extreme to another. It's true that you don't have to be ridiculously magazine model skinny to be healthy, but it also isn't healthy to be obese. However, we still need to remember that while being overweight or obese isn't a good thing, it doesn't make a person any less of a person or any less deserving of basic human decency and respect. We shouldn't act like it's normal and ok for people to be obese, but people deserve to be treated like people, not treated as less than human because of their body. Your right to exist should not be based on your beauty.
I completey agree: Body positivity should be about feeling comfortable in normal, healthy bodies. It should never be about Instagram model/sporty/Look-at-me-I-am-so-healthy, nor obese bodies. It should never be about all of us looking the same like some dolls made in a factory. Clinging onto an unhealthy amount of fat that acts like a disability in your life and calling it body positivity is not self-love, but self-hatred. Keeping yourself so skinny and without fat and muscle to be strong for daily tasks is also not self-love, but self-hatred. At the same time, not everyone of us needs to have a six pack and look like an athlete to be healthy, or fit, or strong. :-)
His first mistake was to trying to discuss this on Twitter - just another plattform for all sorts of lunatics to shout around. The critics show the current trend on the site. When Rebel Wilson (Pitch Perfect) lost weight they went crazy and called her all kind of bad names for it
I think the nuance of the point is unfortunately getting lost by knee-jerk reactions. It's not ok to judge oneself or other people for their body shapes and sizes. What's important is to understand one's medical situation and resolving issues that can and need to be addressed: that target isn't necessarily (and not likely to be) defined by "size 6". But Toxic body positivity dials it to 11 and implies that appropriate and needed changes to bad habits don't need to be addressed either. Ironically resulting in a completely reverse result of its initial intent. It started as a constructive "it's ok to be larger and healthy" to a perpetually destructive "you do you, boo".
Yeah but who gives a shît. Fat people are fat, smokers smoke, alcoholics drink, life can just be whatever you do. Who cares.
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See, what happened was this all started as a movement to not shame and abuse overweight people, but keeping the notion that losing the weight is a good thing. That morphed quickly into body positivity, which is very unhealthy, anti-science, and straight up dangerous.
'"you need to invest in a coach," he put it simply that the support of a professional helps immensely.' I'll bet it does! That's great advice for the lucky few who can spend money on a coach. My question is why is anybody paying attention to this out of touch bozo?
of course someone threw out the race card. they always throw the race card
Obese people don't need to be told, we know. We are obese not stupid. Being told just brings feelings of shame to many people, which often makes things worse, not better. You aren't really doing your friends any favours.
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I may be wrong but I have thought body positivity is about loving yourself no matter how you look. And this self love means that you take care of your mind and body. A person can definitely be slightly overweight or underweight but still healthy. But willingly going beyond that means self destruction and needs to be addressed.
That's indeed how body positivity started out. Love your healthy body despite it's "imperfections". It was a reaction against the magazines telling people to get plastic surgery for no good reason at all. Today it's changed to: "Love your body even when you're unhealthy overweight and you're uncomfortable and miserable not being able to do what you want to do."
Load More Replies... Body positivity is not meant to be about promoting obesity, or accepting that it's normal. Body positivity is about self esteem. So many people obviously just don't get it. Articles like the Cosmo one doesn't help though. Often poor self esteem coincides with mental health issues that also coincides with lack of motivation, emotional eating etc. It's also about teaching people that just because some are obese does not mean they don't deserve to be treated with respect and kindness. We are obese, not stupid so we know what effects it has and health issues. People picking on overweight/obese actually make things worse, not better. Bullying, teasing etc rarely helps anyone. Plus obesity is not always caused by poor diet and lack of exercise. There are many factors to take into account. How about you mind your own damn business since you have no idea what the individual is going through. It's between the individual and their doctor.
I think the best point that was made in this article was the person who pointed out that no one complained about unhealthy body standards when it was underweight people being praised, but now that it's overweight people being praised, everyone's freaking out. I think that neither extreme is healthy, and if you are not at a healthy weight you should work to resolve that issue. Also, praising people who are underweight and praising people who are overweight has happened before. In the Roman Empire, for example, a voluptuous body was viewed as a good thing. It's possible the cycle is repeating itself. On the other end of the spectrum, underweight bodies have been praised up until the body positivity movement. And I completely agree with your point that it might not actually be a person's fault for having an unhealthy weight.
Load More Replies... I had a friend who was curvy, but she went to the gym and she ate well. Yet people still lectured her, berated her and made fun of her because she was still curvy, even her mother told her that she only had a pretty face. Did this help? Did this make her work harder? No. She tried but she eventually gave up because she could see no point in continuing. Body positivity doesn’t mean accepting obesity, it just means loving yourself.
By "curvy", do you actually mean overweight? I'm overweight and I'm not curvy. In fact, I'm shaped like a candied apple.
Load More Replies... I think we've become so deranged about body fat, and the conversation has become so toxic, we all need to take a collective deep breath and step back. Let people be. You want to encourage healthy behavior? Then do that. Keep your disdain & disgust to yourself.
Shame doesn't work. If I could be shamed into losing weight, then I would have been thin my entire life. When I have some acceptance about my weight, when I let go of the self-hate, that's when I've been able to make positive changes about my weight and health. Edit: I've lost 35 pounds so far in Overeaters Anonymous. It's a 12 step program based on Alcoholics Anonymous.
IMHO people can't lose a large amount of weight and reduce obesity-related health problems unless they have feelings self-worth. The Fat Acceptance thing can be the first step on a positive journey towards a better self-image and better physical health, it means letting go of feelings of the self-hatred and shame that burden many fat people. Shaming people over their weight accomplishes nothing but ruined self-esteem (or defiance, in my case), but some people won't give up the idea that they can shame the whole world into being thinner.
Exactly! The body positivity movement is meant to stop the self hatred (and self harm). It's meant to let everyone love themselves and their bodies, no matter how big or skinny they are. It's not promoting obesity, it's not promoting anorexia. It's people being kind to one another, loving other people for who they are and not judging them for what they look like. It's about finally allowing everyone to love themselves and their bodies, without any shame
Load More Replies... It's one thing to love and accept yourself, as you always should. It's a whole other thing to make disgusting tv shows about people who are so morbidly obese, they need to be carried by 6 people using pulley systems into another room. Morbid obesity is not positive. And if your kid is obese, most normal countries would consider that child abuse.
An excellent point I think. Personally I don't see the big deal if someone is overweight but still living a normal life. If you can still move around your home, go out, go shopping or do your daily job and manage your health then who cares? You do you. My issue with it comes in when people cannot walk anymore, just lie in bed or on the sofa all day because they need someone to help them move around and they're physically incapable of even dressing themselves. You can't tell me being totally incapacitated is "beautiful and healthy".
Load More Replies... Body positivity is not promoting obesity and saying "hey let's all get extra fat because that's a good thing". Obese people know it's not healthy to not be able to fit in a chair or to walk for more than 3 minutes. Just like smokers know smoking is bad and just like drinkers know being an alcoholic is not good for you and junkies know drugs ruins your life and will likely kill you. People don't have to be told what's bad for them, they know. Body positivity is about not shaming people for being extra large or extra skinny, not shaming them if they feel like eating McDonalds or a soft serve on a sunny summer day. It's about people being able to be proud of who they are and not judged for their pants size and not having to hide themselves when they are a larger (or smaller) size. It's about everyone having the right to feel good about themselves, no matter what they look like and no matter how many inches their waist is. And even if you cannot fathom that, it's certainly not up to you to judge others. You don't know their life, you don't know what choices they make and why, or what they might be dealing with. They might prefer a larger size, they might have an illness (physical or mental), they might have all sorts of issues you know nothing about. Be kind and whenever you feel like judging other people publicly look at yourself in the bathroom mirror and repeat "it's none of my business, it's none of my business, it's none of my business" until the urge passes
Do we stigmatize people for other unhealthy habits and call them disgusting for it? If you never exercise, is it somehow not as disgusting if you're skinny? If you don't get enough sleep, how disgusting are you? That's worse for you than obesity. If you don't have any friends or any social support, you're hurting your health as much as a smoker is - do we hurl invective at lonely people now?
You can't really MAKE people sleep more without breaking the law.
Load More Replies... Body positivity is just about loving your body. If people don't hate their bodies, they'll show it the respect it deserves to live a healthy lifestyle. The guy may well be right, but making those people feel bad about feeling good about themselves will likely have a negative outcome, instead of what he's hoping to achieve.
Funny coming from the country where you can have a burger for $1 and a salad for $15 and litres and litres of coke for free
This guy wants change but he is going about it ALL WRONG. You don't encourage people to change by beating them down and making them feel lower than low. And does he -- and his supporters -- not get that fat people understand their situation? Look at the language that is getting used in the tweet: "evil", "lies", a drain on society, "unethical", "disgusting", "low standard of life", a bad example for children. etc. Would you talk about someone you respect that way? I am fat. I work hard to be the healthiest version of myself I can be. My personal best at the gym was 537 days in a row without missing a workout. But still fat. I have a lot of obstacles in my way. But If I walked into a gym and heard somebody talking about bodies like mine in that way, I would feel so utterly unwelcome and targeted that I would lose heart. At least the people who find me disgusting have the grace to keep their mouths shut while I do my best.
I have literally set up an account on bored panda just to say this. Body positivity has NEVER claimed obesity is healthy. What it, however, has claimed, is that unless you’re someone’s doctor, you have no way of knowing if that person is obese or not, or what health problems they do or do not have. Many people who appear overweight or obese have stellar test results (ever seen disk throwers at the olympics?) and on the other hand many people who don’t appear particularly large do have obesity-associated issues due to their lifestyle. Many slender people have serious health problems related to their weight too. I’m gonna say it again, louder: UNLESS YOU’RE SOMEONE’S DOCTOR, YOU HAVE NO BUSINESS COMMENTING ON THEIR SIZE OR INFERRING ANYTHING ABOUT THEIR HEALTH. So this guy is coming from a completely misinformed, and frankly quite dangerous place. And shame on you bored panda for spreading this misinformation.
Exactly this. These posts always have hundreds of comments from people who shouldn't.
Load More Replies... Nah, it's more Twitter (the ruiner of society) changing this to "If you don't think Carol Yager is the pinnacle of humanity, you are an animal and should be hunted for sport" i'm against.
Load More Replies... He seems like a pretentious fat phobe to me. He’s one of those guys who gets rejected and immediately says, “well you’re fat anyway.” As another commenter said fat people know they’re fat. We know it’s unhealthy. Body positivity is about loving yourself not about fat acceptance. So to all the fat shamers out there, we’re fat not blind and certainly not stupid. Worry about yourself and quit with the unsolicited health advice. That’s what we have doctors for.
What I don't understand is whose business is it, other than mine, if I'm fat? If someone is overweight, just leave them the hell alone! Stop f*****g with their heads and telling them they're gross, or telling them they need to do something about their weight. THEY KNOW! Just mind your own bloody business!
And you can't hide if you're overweight. Everyone knows.
Load More Replies... What the hell is going on, did this guy pay for all this advertisement? This person is a personal trainer who directly benefits from maintaining strict body standards and shaming those who don't fit into them. I didn't see any concerns over the medical complications of being underweight highlighted here, though I'm sure many more magazine covers show that body standard.
Funny how this excellent point seems to have sailed over the heads of most people reading the article. Including me..I really need to pay more attention.
Load More Replies... Why is junk food so cheap yet food that is good for you so expensive? Why do people make fun of over weight people when they do try to go to the gym and better themselves? Why do people think that body positivity means accepting obesity as a good thing? Why don’t people realize that depression is a major cause of obesity? Why don’t people realize that if people are allowed to love themselves, then they will be less depressed and may start seeking a healthier lifestyle.
All for body positivity, but the guy is right. It's not physically healthy so shouldn't be encouraged to stay significantly overweight. Be comfortable as you are but keep striving to be healthy regardless. It's good to love yourself, but be under no illusions that being overweight is a way to stay.
I´m fully behind this idea. We have been putting some healthy lifestyle programs in place at schools here (not US) and besides not selling crap at school, they get healthy lunches, schools provide for fruits and vegetables as snacks, they only get something sweet as a dessert 1 per month, etc... and child obesity has lowered almos 10% in total in the last decade. Right now stuff with added sugar, sodas, etc has an "healthy tax" on it to discourage people to buy it too (we dont have data on it yet though).
Load More Replies... I would like to know if all these people were so outraged when magazines had underweight models all over them? Both are unhealthy lifestyles.
And believe me, i know obesity is not healthy. It is a struggle, but for the majority of people it has been caused by themselves (like me). But you can't be outraged and pretend to care for overweight women if you're not also going to care for the underweight ones.
Load More Replies... I exercise almost every day, and most of my friends would agree that i am one of the healthiest eaters they know. But i still have belly fat a big thighs . Am i healthy, yes ,am a bigger , yes , am i promoting obesity because i try to love myself, no .(sory for the spelling and grammar lol)
You can tell the guy just doesn’t like fat women because of the whole “PC culture” comment. He doesn’t understand what PC culture even is or what “politically correct” means. It doesn’t mean what he thinks it means. I agree obesity is blatantly not healthy but this guy is clueless.
The guy also said "Do you ever wonder why so many people pass away shortly after they retire? Because they lack purpose"..... WTF... This is not a man we want to take advise from
This is truth in that statement, although 'shortly' may be exaggerated. A person who has been working for 40+ years and suddenly finds themselves without a purpose can go into a depression very quickly, and stop caring for themselves.
Load More Replies... Obesity is not caused by people thinking it is okay to be fat, and being healthy does not come from hating yourself. So we should focus more on the culture that is creating the problem. Fast cheap processed food, working too many hours, stress, self loathing, etc.
Can be. My ex was overweight. His mother thought it looked fabulous. Thinner looked bad to her. If he lost 2 kilo, she'd stuff him full, because he looked so bad.
Load More Replies... One thing that a lot of people don't understand is that carrying too much weight for your frame will lead to all kinds of health problems. And it doesn't matter if you're carrying extra fat or extra muscle (like body builders). You're putting undue stress on your internal organs, bones, and joints. By all means, love yourself however you look. But don't say that obesity can be healthy, because it absolutely cannot.
There is a difference between being dangerously obese and not having a perfect body. Body positivity isn’t just about being overweight it’s about other normal insecurities as well. Things like bloating, hip dips, acne, a little extra stomach fat, stretch marks, etc. So I do agree that people should be educated on the risks of being obese but body positivity/body image is still important to have. Being extremely overweight isn’t healthy but having some extra fat is okay.
So a) back that up with science - you can't because these are vague statements that cover populations not a person and some are just vague opinions and b) what is your goal here? This language is best left between a person and their doctor, shame makes things worse. If your goal is health then start by having a healthy appreciation for everyone on a personal level (which is what body positivity is) and health, overall health will follow. I mean, we could talk about your drinking binges and cigarette use and it's affect on your health but I am sure that is your personal choice and you'd be offended.
I’m fat, I get it. I’m also in pain everyday. No, I don’t eat right because it takes too many spoons. I take meds for my mental health which means my physical health suffers. I have absolutely no esteem when it comes to my body. I take no pleasure seeing women in tight clothes that don’t fit. But if they feel comfortable, more power to them.
The anti-depressants I took caused thyroid problems and I put weight on. Stopped taking them and the weight came off. As being fat was making me depressed they weren't actually helping. I'm in a lot of pain too - it's tough it really is.
Load More Replies... When we see someone's life deteriorating due to drugs and alcohol, we encourage them to love themselves enough to get well, and then continue to love themselves to maintain health. I find this all to be a similar situation. But it's curious how we'll cut people out of our lives for drugs because we can't stand to see them destroy themselves anymore, or we'll yell and point, "JUNKIE!" in the streets....but can't call someone overweight...and moreover are pressured to call them beautiful and healthy. Seems kinda weird.....
That's just as bad. They do that with smokers too.
Load More Replies... So many people think that healthy equals a certain clothing size. The body positivity movement is about being able to love yourself and take care of yourself at a size 14 and not just at a size 4. Lizzo is a prime example of how body positivity is a good thing. She turned her confidence in herself at morbidly obese into self-care and adopted a healthier lifestyle, and while she may never be the "ideal" (according to the media) size 4, she can eat healthy and exercise regularly and take steps towards healthier.
I believe that, like all things, it should be in moderation. Don't be cruel to people who are a bit overweight, but don't let unhealthiness be fine.
There's a difference between "overweight" and "morbidly obese". I know plenty of "fat" people who are that way because they can't exercise or are restricted in ways that means they can't be as active as they'd like. Many people don't have the money to eat well and fast food/ cheap food is full of sugar, crap, fats and no nutrition. That aside - I have lost 2 family members to morbid obesity. This is an eating disorder. It's an addiction, just as being addicted to heroin or video games or gambling is. You can't just stop eating, you can't just get lectured or shamed into stopping anymore than an alcoholic can. One cousin died at 620 pounds last year. It took a LONG long time to get there. Her kids tried. We all tried. Doctors tried. She'd sit and shoot up her insulin while eating, so she could keep on shoving sugar into her. It was horrific to watch. Mental illness shouldn't be blown off with "be happy with yourself". People need help when it's out of control.
I've been a plus size for most of my life. I have PCOS (polycystic ovary syndrome) and eventually diagnosed with Adenomyosis. Both these conditions affected my weight and lifestyle (Adenomyosis is a chronic condition) About 7 years ago I drastically lost weight, from a UK28 to a UK14. I could not reconcile with the image I saw in the mirror; that's when I realised that I hated my body, not my weight. Over time the weight came back; I now have Fibromyalgia and CFS/ME and my mobility is very limited. Despite this, and the meds I take, my liver and kidney function are normal, I'm not even pre-diabetic, have low to normal cholesterol. I take BP meds due to constriction of blood vessels and I'm waiting for further diagnosis. I love my body, fat rolls, stretch marks, wobbly bits and all. I am overweight but HEALTHY despite my chronic illnesses which are NOT related to my weight.
My Fibromyalgia and CFS were manageable until 3 years ago when I had a massive traumatic event.
Load More Replies... I am not entirely in or against this statement. It is without a doubt that obesity is not healthy. However, obese people are not idiots who believe it is. The point is that losing weight is not easy. It requires time and strong will. I think that body positivity exists mostly to soothe one's psyche rather than make you believe being fat is ok from a medical point of view. At the same time, looking at the cited cosmopolitan cover, I can understand the speaker as well. The words used to present it are wrong. Would have been better if the text was "This isn't shameful!" rather than "This is healthy!".
Everything about this dude is coded as alt-right (aka fascist). The in-your-face American flag background, the stupid hat, the rhetoric ("facts don't care about your feelings"). Bored Panda should not be giving people like this a platform. Also, if Mr. Bly really cared about obesity, he would advocate for larger solutions like more walkable cities, getting rid of food deserts, accessible and affordable healthcare including mental health, etc. He just doesn't want women, especially Black women, like the model in the original ad, to feel good about themselves. Do better, Bored Panda.
People are not obese on purpose. People who are against body positivity talk as though there were a reverse anorexia epidemic. There isn't. Feeling bad about being obese is not the cure to obesity.
You're correct but we also have to encourage overweight/obese people to take accountability sometimes. It's a very small number of people who are overweight due to medical issues or medications;majority will be like me and food is just far too good. Who wants to eat healthy and exercise?! Not me! But i also only have myself to blame for being overweight because i know how to change. I dont need a 'coach' like this dude to do it; hes toxic. But something does need to be done to educate people and help with taking accountability and fixing relationships with food and exercise. Men like this guy DO NOT HELP though.
Load More Replies... I think the point of body positivity isn't about health so much, it's about being respected. I've been skinny and I am now currently overweight due to medication and health issues which forced me to become less mobile. Now I've put on weight I have been spoken to and treated like I am the most disgusting thing they have ever seen. Believe me no one who is overweight knows it's healthy. It's about being seen as a human worthy of love and respect just like everyone else.
COVID-19 doesn't care about body positivity. If your heart is already under stress because of your body, COVID-19 has a higher death rate.
I agree with this guy, why should it be frowned upon for a medical professional to tell a fat person that they are fat. Don't want to get shamed and insulted in the street? Cool, that's not nice so fine. Want your doctor to lie to you and not use the word "fat" because it makes you sad? Tough. I HATE the phrase "my truth" because that usually means LIE, just like when the Markle uses it. Making s**t up used to be called lying, now it's "my truth".
Do you think there's a single morbidly obese person who *doesn't* know that they're fat? Considering how doctors use the excuse of a patient being 'fat' to palm off all their health problems, refuse to run proper diagnostics, and fail to run proper tests, why not get angry about that instead?
Load More Replies... You know you've made a great point when the professionally argumentative attack you personally instead of addressing your argument.
There are "professionally argumentative" people who will come at you with personal attacks no matter what your opinion is.
Load More Replies... Body positivity is NOT about saying that being overweight is healthy. It is to say that we should love ourselves and not shame ourselves for not being like these "perfect" Instagram models. No one is perfect and no one should be.
At least this is better than the edited "perfect" Instagram photos
Body positivity is good, especially for those who ignore it and do not take care of their own health.
Bodypositivity is about NOT MOCKING people, that means 99% who do not fitnthe extreme beauty standards. To feel good about yourself makes you much better at actually doing good for your body, it works against depression, etc. So him mocking people, braying, that fat people should not be seen, (that is what he advocates) because it in it self somehow is the cause of those diseases is stupid. Being mocked and cast out , told you are less worthy is harmful to health and healthchoices.
In discussing body positivity, whenever I see a person "raising concerns" about the health of obese people but fails to do the same about underweight people, I know it's never about peoples' health and always about fat-phobia.
body positivity is just a more physical aspect of the self-love movement. if you truly love someone or something, you want what’s best for it. body positivity was originally a movement for people with missing body parts, skin conditions like vitiligo, or facial features that weren’t “the norm.” it’s original purpose was to destigmatize things that weren’t unhealthy, but didn’t fit the current beauty standards. (examples being having cellulite, stretch marks, acne, etc.). it’s been recently twisted out of proportion and become a “don’t try to be healthy because YOURE PERFECT AND HEALTHY!!! :) which, as this guy said, is BS and has severe negative consequences. if you’re healthy and active but still a size 16, that’s fine. the movement also focuses on improving positive mindsets and confidence.
My body positivity fluctuates between 5 and 10 pounds tolerance, then it's time to move a**e. Not 100 not 200 pounds. Now down vote this.
If "moving a**e" were the cure to obesity, maybe you'd have a point. Obesity is actually a complex medical condition.
Load More Replies... oh boy i can hear twitter sharpening their pitchforks and building their wooden effigies now
I thought body positivity was about things you couldn’t do anything about. Like genetic stuff. I know a girl who has mild hirsutism(more than average body hair) and she’s really conscious about that. It’s genetic, how much can she shave? She has hair all over her body. I thought it was about people with these types of problems.
Body positivity, or the way I see it, isn't really limited to one problem or another that makes you "imperfect". I think it addresses hirsutism, vitiligo, etc as much as it addresses people who have a few extra pounds/kilos.
Load More Replies... The way I see it is we need more pictures of 'normal' people looking happy and gorgeous. Representation is a powerful thing, and seeing images you can relate to, of people like you having the good stuff in life, really opens your mind to what is possible. Over lock down I lost 5kgs,taking me from slightly overweight to being really healthy. However, the motivation came from seeing 'imperfect' people working out: from being able to buy flattering fitness clothes in my size: from it being acceptable for people like me to be seen outside, running. Body positivity invites people in to environments that have previously felt intimidating.
Image values are effed up and we all know it. So I work in a hospital, and yes obese comes with extra health risks. But the culture of ‘BMI’ and model thin is too wrong as well. Can we as a society of humans find a ‘healthy balance’ where BMI of 25 isn’t automatically called overweight and BMI of 31 is automatically obese. I had a 35 y patient who is 350 lbs who didn’t know how hard he is struggling with oxygen levels in the toilet from obesity hypoventilation and untreated sleep apnea. But pushing for a ‘thigh gap’ is wrong too. I have curves, I have a BMI of 25.5 and I run faster than when I was in my 20’s.
I support body positivity but I also don't view body positivity as a promotion of saying obesity is healthy. I know that a lot of people within the body positivity movement do say any size is healthy and I disagree with that because we know obesity is not healthy, is the leading cause of premature death, causes heart disease and cancer. You name it, your body cannot withstand that much excess weight over a long period of time. It has drastically decreased life expectancy. Body positivity as a movement that tells you not to hate yourself, to love who you are, is what I support. People who have a positive body image and good mental health, are the people who are best able to transition into healthy lifestyles. People with poor body image struggle for an entire lifetime with their health and size. Attacking and being critical of someone's body results in a lifetime of struggle, being positive while promoting healthy food and lifestyle is a far better solution. Support, not shame.
Couldn't agree more! He also left out that obesity is the main cause of cancer before smoking!!!
It's always fascinating that thin people think that obese people don't know that they are obese. Guess what? We DO know it. We DO know we should lose weight, but IT IS NOT THAT SIMPLE. I am pretty sure most skinny people have unhealthy habits. How would you feel to get constantly harassed because you drink alcohol or smoke a cigarette in public? You are not worried about our health, you just don't like the way we look, that's all. And you are not helping, you are making it worse. You are the reason obese people avoid going to the fitness center, because they are fed up of being ridiculed and laughed at.
Well now, I am a skinny person who use to smoke and I got harassed about it on a daily basis and you know what that accomplished? It made my blood boil and I immediately lit up another to calm myself down. I tried and tried for about 10 years to quit smoking and you know what actually made that happen? Not all the people endlessly telling me how terrible of a person I was, telling me I was going to die (like dude, I am aware), it was me getting health insurance for the first time in my life and being able to go to a doctor for help to get over my medical condition of addiction. I smoked the most when people attacked me about it and when my self-esteem was at its' lowest from people telling me I was scum. I think my smoking struggle is what made me sympathetic to the body positivity movement. Society never has the right to disrespect someone or treat them as less than with this screwed up justification that it is for their own good. Hang in there!
Load More Replies... I mean, being severely overweight or underweight are both very unhealthy, but usually when they promote really thin girls as "beautiful" the emphasis is on how you can lose tons of weight to be just like them, while fat ladies on magazine covers aren't trying to promote new weight gain regimens s you can be fat too. So there is a difference.
Oh look another man who has decided that he can tell women what they’re supposed to look like
I'm not gonna take sides because I can see the point from both, but lemme just say three things: 1. Size is not an indicator of health 2. Health is not an indicator of worth 3. Fat people are often ignored when it comes to medicine, any issues they have are blamed on their weight. The solution presented to them is almost always 'lose weight.' Not to mention that diets can cause the same issues that are associated with obesity. (Many fat people diet...)
I personally think body positivity should be about “oh being overweight is perfectly fine, and you shouldn’t feel bad about yourself, but you SHOULD try to exercise more and eat less, in order to live healthier and longer”. Overeating to get a person to that size is a mental disorder, but not always. You wouldn’t see people with restrictive eating disorders on the front of magazine pages , promoting starving yourself. I do want everyone to feel good about themselves, while also feeling happy. If you want to share your opinion with Me, please do. I would love to hear it :)
what ignorance this is. It's not promoting obesity and eating unhealthy and FYI you can be skinny and extremely unhealthy but we don't bring that into light because society wants to promote you're only unhealthy if you're overweight which ignorance. Plus overweight people can be healthy as well, people with hormone problems tend to have weight problems no matter how healthy they are. They can run a mile everyday and be vegetarian and still be overweight people with different types of hormone problems literally have this problem. You can also starve yourself with hormone problems and be overweight. EDUCATE your stupid please. And not every Skinny person is healthy either so STOP promoting that LIE as well. All sizes can be healthy doesn't mean they all are.
Fat acceptance has ruined the body positivity movement. I am very "plus sized" and totally agree that you can't be overweight and healthy. Being obese has ruined a lot of things for me personally and I am now on a road to weight loss and being healthy. There is no healthy at every size! It costs more to be overweight then to be healthy.
Disappointing Bored Panda. This is fat phobia. Body Positivity is not about obesity, but embracing and loving who you are despite your shape or weight. It's pricks like these that make this difficult. The audacity of people to comment on someone's weight. What about stick thin, emaciated people. Are we concerned about their health? No, because they're not fat.
I'm fat no heart problems ,no high blood pressure, no diabetes just fat I'm comfortable in my own skin .mans opinion who give a s**t
Ps.And when morbidity obese you can't work and claim all sorts of benefits and don't pay taxes
Load More Replies... This article misses the point of body positivity complitely, It's about things like ableism, fatphobia that often results in medical negligence and generally about how people with different bodies are treated in society. Your health should never equal your worth, disabled people exist, invisible disabilities exist, chronic illnesses exist yet if you're fat your pain and suffering is seen as less, people die because we live in society that doesn't treat you like a human being if you're fat or disabled.
I totally agree and I was overweight for 10 years. Now years later after losing weight I still suffer from health issues due to that. And I wasn't even obese. Loving yourself is taking care of your health and your body. Eating healthy, exercising.. getting enough sleep. You have only one body and it's supposed to last a lifetime don't screw with it because you're addicted to sugar. That trend is unhealthy and its undeserving to women. Did you notice that we never talk about "body positivity" regarding men ?
Some of his points are entirely legitimate. It’s unfortunate that they got attention by coming from him, because his credibility is... questionable. First and most important point: Reading a lot of his posts on twitter gives me a very strong impression that he suffers from the logical fallacy “survivorship bias”. This is very common among the successful. Have a read: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivorship_bias Worse: He also uses language that is shared with online cults of entrepreneurship-personality. The modern version of toxic “positive thinking”, plus “pay for my services and you’ll be a sexy rich bro too!!” There are a bunch of “weak to strong” dude-bros presenting their “success method” with an unearned arrogance. Especially when he complains about “PC culture”: a catch-all label used by antisocial types to paint all efforts at promoting a more equitable society with the same brush. It all comes together to make him seem overconfident and... kinda douchey.
body positivity actually can help people to start feeling happy, dont feel insecure, and start to caring on theirselfs and even loose weight.... But no... every F*king people must came here and start talking abote how lazy they are, how ill they are, how is everything about them wrong.... What they did not see is, is the sirks of other people when they came out. When they go for a walk and everyone looking at them... When they came to gym to DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!!!! And everyone there be like "euuuugh, ugly fatso! They smell so wrong, they deffinetly not wash themselves properly. So disgusting!".... and nobody see the fact, that they are mabye fat, because other people bully them for it, so they have depression and compensate it with more food, which is mentall illness! Nobody see a woman, who actually trying to loose weight but no matter how she tried, here genes predicted her to be 'chubby' anyway.... I loose weight, I loose about 30kg, but no matter how I tried normally... TBC
no matter how i tried normally, I just stuck at the weight for a year. I dont want to stare myself, i dont have more money to spend on gyms etc... I too kalks, dont dring or eat sweet... But nothing happening anymore...... And also, when I start all this to loose weight, my male friend, who is my Ex, but we are still in contact, because I actually enjoy talking with him for most of the time..... I told him, that I start walking, and that I valked 9 km. And he was like "That's not something you should be proud of, that's normal. And I dont understand why you let this come so far that you was unable to walk for 9km.".... Well, no wonder he's Ex, and I dont enjouy talking with him anymore!!!... Body Positivity is not about staying fat, its about let people feel comfty, and allow them have nice, high quality clothes. Do you know how more comfty is to woking out and do some sports, when you can wear a sports-wear in your size? The ability to buy it IS BODY POSITIVITY TOO!!!!
Load More Replies... I get what he's saying . However , there are people that are overweight for a reason completely out of their control. My grandson is super chubby. He was 2 lbs when he was born. He eats healthy and is constantly on the move , swimming , biking , climbing , running ... and he's a little chonk. A lot of medications cause weight gain as well. People who don't have the option of being thin , should still be able to feel beautiful and ok with themselves
A weight below body mass index BMI 27 has NO higher mortality in it self. In beauty standards BMI over 19-20 is “ugly” . So f**k himfor being fake concerned about health when he just hates non skinny people, and wants them to be hidden away. If he was for good health, he would advocate fun good ways to exercise and eat good nutricious food and celebrate what ever age, wrinkles, and shapes we are, and support good mental health rather than mock and shame those not worthy in his mind.
Why can´t we stay away from the extremes?? It´s a fact that being over or underweight IS unhealthy. Just by itself it causes problems to our bodies and is a risk factor by itself. Let´s not go back to the severely underweight models from the 90s/00s or put the pressure on children and teens to achieve it (like society has done before) but let´s also not tell people that highly overweight is healthy. It´s not.
Can´t we just portray different people in the healthy weight range? Shorter, taller, muscular, on the lower side of healthy weight, on the bigger side of healthy weight... There´s plenty of variety of what healthy looks like and that´s what we all should want to see portrait and seen as an "ideal" in my opinion.
Load More Replies... My husband was super healthy and fit, always exercised and ate right. He got a random kind of cancer and died young. I know of many others whose path was the same, too. I often think that the health impact of being overweight is exaggerated. It gives people an illusion of having more control than we really have. Be happy and thankful for every day that you have and don't waste time beating yourself -or others- up for superficial reasons.
Wouldn't it be great if people would stop interfering in the lives of people they don't even know.
The reason why this guy is so spiky is a reaction to the "fat acceptance" movement, which peddles truckloads of misinformation and nonsense... Fat people live longer, gaining weight whilst eating 800 cal/day, eating habits don't relate to weight gain, set points, diets don't work, intuitive eating.... on and on it goes. All so they can go on overeating and pretend it has no consequences. Check out the fatlogic sub on reddit for examples.
When you're underweight, you will be model, influencer, instagram ''object'' etc and earn money just for your look, praised by all etc. When you're overweight and you want to wear what you want, you don't want to be criticized, you want to be far from anxiety just came from others opinions and critics about your body and that's call EVIL. Thats what the body positivity is! Not just freckles, bad shaped noses, ''skinny'' fats but still be underweight!
I can understand how this makes sense to a lot of people. BUT, I think he totally missed some key points. Promoting a healthy lifestyle is good, but look, that lifestyle is not affordable or accessible to a lot of people. A nutritious meal usually cost more way money to buy and time to prepare (or learn to prepare) than fast foods. Talking about sport, as a working single person, work, transport, meal prep and chores leave me only 3-4 hours per day for "leisure activities". I still practice pilates 3-4 times a week, but that requires lots of mental effort to drag myself to the gym. People that doing 2 jobs at a time, single parents, or people with mental health issues will hardly be able to do it. So instead of targeting individuals, I would rather advocate for a shorter working day, a better health care system that treats mental health seriously and an economy that makes living-healthily more affordable.
I am a large gal and an amazing plus-size group I am in gave me the confidence to get/wear a bikini. I felt wonderful. Yet, this doesn't discourage me from trying to be healthy. I am now looking up healthy meal plans and signed up for virtual 5ks. People need positive reinforcement to be in a healthy mental space that allows them to feel safe to undertake a huge change.
Well what's the alternative? Shame and self loathing? That's always helpful.
I see too many comments saying that body positivity is about loving oneself, and it's right at some level. Yes it all started out like that, but like every principle that is politically correct, it would spread like wildfire, with misinformation, and radical movement (such as fat acceptance). I too many times see the member of this "body positivity society" bashing on reallly underweight people, calling them disgusting, or an*rexic, or telling them they would be dead if they don't change their lifestyles. And yes, I think being very thin is not healthy, but being morbidly obese is not healthy either... Binge eating is not healthy, alas we shouldn't glamorize being overweight. And no, we don't have to be shredded, we don't have to have that catwalk model body, but IT DOESN'T MEAN that we have to justify eating disorder. If you say that I'm overexaggerating, you can follow fat acceptance influencer, oh man, they love to witch hunting people who decided to go on weight loss journey!
There is so much more to say if a person is healthy or not. Weight is just a fraction of that. Just because someone seems to be 'thin and healthy,' doesn't make them healthy. There is things like blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes, mental health, things you can inherit from your family. People should not judge others by their outside appearance. I know people who most would not think of as being healthy and they are healthier than me. How many people appear to be healthy and end up having eating disorders or other health issues because they are not being healthy? More than people think I'm sure. I much rather see real men and women on magazines than the ones that are on there now. Not realistic and probably have really bad, unhealthy habits to maintain their weight.
It's not hard. People who feel good about themselves make better choices for themselves. You might find them unattractive, that's fine, but let them feel good about themselves and take care of themselves. Also, the fact that it's cheaper to buy a medium pizza than to buy veggies is something we need to address as a society. Poor people buy what they can afford, it's not always the healthiest option and that needs to change.
I think the original message of the movement is great, and while it still applies, i.e the part that tells you to love yourself, there's always room to be healthier, both mentally and physically. You don't have to focus on being a certain weight, you should focus on how you're feeling. Overall: Love yourself at every size and take care of yourself at every size. However, I do NOT like the man. He seems arrogant and cruel.
They went too far the other way. I remember telling my now-ex-husband back around 2002 that I was sick of not seeing "overweight" women in shows. He finally said, "Nobody wants to see someone who's 200 pounds overweight." (That's debatable, but in any case, I said, "No, I mean like your friend Jen!" Jen was probably 15 pounds over what doctor's would say is ideal weight. She was gorgeous. And she would have been playing the "fat girl" in a show. After that, my wasband finally started seeing what I meant. So, I hoped we'd get past that. (Us women have been hoping since the 70s when super-thing became the trend.) But now they have gone too far the other way with this type of ads. Having such women play parts in shows is awesome. Women come in all shapes and sizes, but to promote being 200-300 pounds overweight is no better than promoting anorexia.
It's 2 extremes, the fat justify it by saying oh all the anorexic super models. Well sure, that's unhealthy. Now we aren't perfect but being an obese blob is NOT what it's about, it's about saying we have wrinkles, we have sagging breasts, we have some fat...not mountains of fat = good. Bit like the gay thing, once gay =bad, now gay = trendy. My gay friend is horrified they hijacked her sexuality as a trend.....everyone jumping on the bandwagon...suddenly it's popular to be confused or bi or some such. No, you either are or you are not. It's not fashion.
yeah this guy can f off all the way to F-off land, then climb to the top of F-off mountain, and then keep Effing off until he gets to Jupiter. And then he can F off some more once he gets there. There are SO MANY poor health choices people make every single day but no one remarks on those choices if the person is thin, attractive, etc. So we need to just call out fat shaming for what it is. Jack, you don't give a single rat's patoot about my 'health' you are just offended by seeing my fat butt out in the world having an enjoyable life. When or if I die due to my choices, that's my business, same as your secret alcoholism, coke habit, smoking, STIs, sedentary life, processed food diet, bulimia, or what-have-you. Thin people get cancer, fit people get diabetes, young attractive people get sick and die all the time. In fact, ALL people die. And we all have illnesses and injuries along the way. Being bullied by other people is not helpful.
AMEN! Had a uncle struggle with obesity that caused his early death at 38. Love yourself sure, but don't use that as a crutch to not improve your quality of life.
Er, why is low libido a problem? Also, I'm part of the "plus size" women and while I know it's not healthy, loving myself as I am would be a huge help with my stress and low self estime
Because almost nobody wants a low libido. And it’s usually a sign of other things being wrong mentally and physically. And because sex is a healthy part of life as well.
Load More Replies... I kind of get what this guy is saying . I remember body positivity was about loving yourself and self-care . Now it’s about being obese . And to modern standards , obese people have a higher chance dying from COVID . And higher risk to heart disease. But still , love yourself people . But don’t change it to the matter of what today body positivity means . 😊
Okay, I did a school presentation on this exact topic, so I'm gonna say this like the unprofessional professional. It's really simple; you are beautiful. Just because you're overweight/plus-size/mid-size/obese doesn't mean you're less than someone who's skinny/straight-size. And what this man fails to notice is that a lot of the body-positive movement goes to those you are disabled/different other than size wise. IIRC, there's a body-positive organization who donates their money to research about vitiligo and other skin conditions. So, my man, are you saying people who are getting help through the body positive movement (i.e. research, awareness), or finally feeling confident and happy, are being toxic?
Well, are you really surprised that the fashion industry jumped on that wagon? It was never about obese people and their health. It was always about taking advantage of a real issue. This is in the same category as those smoking articles and “studies” sponsored by the cigarette companies that say smoking is actually not that bad.
This raises a good point. It's so easy to go from one extreme to another. It's true that you don't have to be ridiculously magazine model skinny to be healthy, but it also isn't healthy to be obese. However, we still need to remember that while being overweight or obese isn't a good thing, it doesn't make a person any less of a person or any less deserving of basic human decency and respect. We shouldn't act like it's normal and ok for people to be obese, but people deserve to be treated like people, not treated as less than human because of their body. Your right to exist should not be based on your beauty.
I completey agree: Body positivity should be about feeling comfortable in normal, healthy bodies. It should never be about Instagram model/sporty/Look-at-me-I-am-so-healthy, nor obese bodies. It should never be about all of us looking the same like some dolls made in a factory. Clinging onto an unhealthy amount of fat that acts like a disability in your life and calling it body positivity is not self-love, but self-hatred. Keeping yourself so skinny and without fat and muscle to be strong for daily tasks is also not self-love, but self-hatred. At the same time, not everyone of us needs to have a six pack and look like an athlete to be healthy, or fit, or strong. :-)
His first mistake was to trying to discuss this on Twitter - just another plattform for all sorts of lunatics to shout around. The critics show the current trend on the site. When Rebel Wilson (Pitch Perfect) lost weight they went crazy and called her all kind of bad names for it
I think the nuance of the point is unfortunately getting lost by knee-jerk reactions. It's not ok to judge oneself or other people for their body shapes and sizes. What's important is to understand one's medical situation and resolving issues that can and need to be addressed: that target isn't necessarily (and not likely to be) defined by "size 6". But Toxic body positivity dials it to 11 and implies that appropriate and needed changes to bad habits don't need to be addressed either. Ironically resulting in a completely reverse result of its initial intent. It started as a constructive "it's ok to be larger and healthy" to a perpetually destructive "you do you, boo".
Yeah but who gives a shît. Fat people are fat, smokers smoke, alcoholics drink, life can just be whatever you do. Who cares.
Load More Replies... See, what happened was this all started as a movement to not shame and abuse overweight people, but keeping the notion that losing the weight is a good thing. That morphed quickly into body positivity, which is very unhealthy, anti-science, and straight up dangerous.
'"you need to invest in a coach," he put it simply that the support of a professional helps immensely.' I'll bet it does! That's great advice for the lucky few who can spend money on a coach. My question is why is anybody paying attention to this out of touch bozo?
of course someone threw out the race card. they always throw the race card
Obese people don't need to be told, we know. We are obese not stupid. Being told just brings feelings of shame to many people, which often makes things worse, not better. You aren't really doing your friends any favours.
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