It was found in a study carried out by
King's College London that "80% of obese people had never talked about
their weight with their doctor." This strikes me as incredible. In the UK
we have the third highest level of obesity in Europe, that is to say that "67% of men and 57% of women are either overweight or obese." (Global Burden of Disease study)
We clearly need to tackle this problem, but with it being increasingly frowned upon to label people as fat - for fear of leading them to anorexia or similar - it is difficult to know what action it is acceptable to take. We seem to be tip-toeing
around the problem in a truly English manner. For whilst there are many causes
of obesity, for example the fact that "healthy food now costs three times
as much as junk, study shows,” (The Independent), our unwillingness to tackle
it only exacerbates the issue.
We live in a society where it has become taboo
to accuse someone of being fat, and it seems to me that we are simply ignoring
the problem and brushing it under the carpet. "Demand for
larger women’s clothes has rocketed by 47% in five years" (The Mirror
online) and I would argue that obesity is becoming more and more
normalized in our current society. Whilst on
the one hand it is obviously a positive thing to have people feeling
comfortable with their body image, and there is evidence to support the fact
that "for some people, eating in moderation is more of a
challenge"(The Week). This is only beneficial up to a certain extent, and should not be an excuse for our increasingly
overweight nation.
The fact that it is now acceptable and even
normal to be overweight is, in my opinion, only making the problem worse. In order to tackle this concern it is necessary
that we acknowledge the issue.
If we look at the modelling
industry, models suffering from eating disorders such as anorexia have
been heavily criticized, to the extent that in 2006 models deemed to be
too skinny were banned from participating in the Madrid Fashion Week (CNN.com). This
is for obvious reasons, and of course we should not be promoting eating disorders,
but those in the public eye have a responsibility to set a good example.
However surely this reasoning applies to both extremes? Why is there no such
action being taken against obese models? It could just as easily be argued that
these women (and men?) are glorifying obesity, and what is worrying is the
amount of support they have. Take plus size model Tess Munster for example, who
currently has over 70,000 followers on Instagram. The difficulty is, that there is a
fine line between making people feel more secure about their appearance, and
promoting an unhealthy, and potentially dangerous, way of life.
Furthermore, people are so reluctant to be seen
as targeting people who are overweight, that we are allowing future generations to grow up in a
country where being overweight is the norm, and where people do not take good
care of their bodies. I am all for promoting healthy body images, and I find it
troubling how many young people are worried about their weight and appearance,
however I do not think that it is justifiable or responsible for people to be
promoting obesity. Instead we should be teaching and encouraging people to look
after and value their bodies. It is there where we will reach an equilibrium without causing low self-esteem.
Written by Lili
Picture Credit: Ellen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCmulICkfGQ
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/adele-style-sees-increase-in-plus-size-691834
http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/09/13/spain.models/
Global Burden of Disease study, published in the Lancet medical journal.
http://www.nhs.uk/news/2014/10October/Pages/Healthy-food-costs-you-more-claim.aspx
'Exercise is a 'miracle cure'', The Week Magazine, 28th February 2015, Issue 1011
No comments:
Post a Comment