Fat shaming advocated as needed approach to weight loss

Most researchers are against fat shaming, but one bioethicist, Daniel Callahan, favors a much harder, even shaming approach to weight loss.

In a report published by the Hastings Center, Callahan claims that people don’t hate being fat enough to do something about it. He also suggests that fat people are indulged by society. After all, smokers get banned from restaurants and social functions. Tobacco products are highly taxed. In essence, tobacco addicts are punished, banned and financially penalized.

Overweight people are not penalized in these ways. In fact, quite the opposite is true. Fattening foods are cheap, convenient and uber-popular. While the smoker is forced to go outside to smoke, the obese person is encouraged to stick around and eat more.

Callahan, an ex-smoker, claims that being ostracized by society and punished for his habit was the motivation he ultimately needed to quit.

As far as weight loss goes, he doesn’t necessarily advocate the same “blame the victim” approach. Yet he does state that we need more “mildly coercive” tactics to motivate obese people to cut back on food.

For example, you might stand naked in front of the mirror and ask yourself the following questions:

Are you pleased with the way you look?

Are you happy that your added weight has made many ordinary activities, such as walking up a long fight of stairs, harder?

Would you prefer to lessen your risk of heart disease and diabetes?

Are you aware that, once you gain a significant amount of weight, your chances of taking that weight back off and keeping it off are poor?

Are you pleased when your obese children are called “fatty” or otherwise teased at school?

Fair or not, do you know that many people look down upon those excessively overweight or obese, often in fact discriminating against them and making fun of them or calling them lazy and lacking in self-control?

Basically, Callahan is suggesting a self-confrontive approach that involves facing your self-criticism around your weight. The web is alive with criticism of Callahan for his tough approach. The questions above, however, seem benign. You can answer them truthfully without shaming yourself. Shame is a different issue entirely that involves deeper psychological attachments.

Slender.news will investigate the issue of fat shaming (which we would never condone) in future posts. So much more goes into obesity issues than most people realize. If shaming were to be a viable approach, however, it should begin with the giant food corporations that make deadly, addictive junk food available to the masses in the first place.

Shame on you, big food corporations!

Sources:

TheAtlantic.com

TheHastingsCenter.org