The Fat Studies Reader

40. Are We Ready to Throw Our Weight Around? Fat Studies and Political Activism

334 40 Are We Ready to Throw Our Weight Around? Fat Studies and Political Activism Deb Burgard, Elana Dykewomon, Esther Rothblum, and Pattie Thomas The authors of this volume are a force to be reckoned with. They constitute over fifty writers, researchers, and activists who are thoughtfully critiquing the status quo of fat-related practices. And they are just the tip of the iceberg. There are now over one hundred books written from a fat-affirmative perspective, including many autobiographical pieces and works of fiction for children, adolescents, and adults. They are stating that the so-called medical reality of weight is all smoke and mirrors. We can imagine a world in which body size is not particularly salient. It would not be one of the dividing lines used to define beauty/ugliness, winning/losing, health/ disease. In that world, “fat studies” might seem strange and irrelevant. But in our world, body size can determine one’s quality of life. This is, in fact, the argument used by many of the people hawking weight loss: “Use our product/service so you can escape from the stigmatized group!” So how can we organize as fat activists, and what are the barriers? The “War on Obesity” The “War on Obesity,” proclaimed by former U.S. surgeon general C. Everett Koop in 1996 (CNN, 1996), has become one of the most successful government campaigns. The micro-level battle is often fought between patient and doctor, client and insurance company, employee and employer, or student and school. But the fact that this battle is also fought in the national public policy context creates a perpetuation of this suffering and tends to solidify the construction of fatness as “bad,” thereby leading to more suffering. Stigmatization of fatness creates a catch-22 concerning health because stigma is known to damage the health of the stigmatized both directly, by creating mundane yet pervasive stress, and indirectly, through poor access to and execution of care. Understanding the role of stigmatization of fatness in this public policy debate suggests Are We Ready to Throw Our Weight Around? Fat Studies and Political Activism 335 a deeper discussion beyond the politics of fatness. What needs to change is not only the stigma of fatness itself, but also the elimination of stigma as a basis for public policy and, perhaps, even public discourse. It is not unusual for social problem constructions to rely on stigmatization to define the problem or to implement the solution. By tapping into existing cultural attitudes regarding easily identified groups, social problems can be “sold” to an audience . The “War on Obesity” relies on a social problems claim that Americans are getting fatter and that fatness is a public health issue; according to this logic, being fat is a disease called “obesity,” or fat causes or contributes to a number of illnesses that could be made better through losing weight. Fat is defined as a problem that is solvable . BMI (the ratio of height to weight, or body mass index) has been constructed as a reliable indicator of both ill health and potential premature death. The specific solution is weight loss; according to this view, lowering BMI through weight loss lowers the risk factor for premature death and ill health. Koop’s lead in declaring the “War on Obesity” gave the campaign legitimacy not only because of his medical authority, but also because of his character and prior reputation as someone who did not let political agendas get in the way of science. Although Koop made this a public announcement at a press conference, he directed his remarks at physicians. Koop’s “War on Obesity” speech was made in the service of the Shape Up America! campaign, founded two years earlier. According to a 1994 New York Times article, Shape Up America! began with one-million-dollar donations from several organizations, including Weight Watchers, the Campbell Soup Company, the Heinz Foundation, Time magazine, and the Kellogg Company (Burros, 1994). In addition, the website Integrity in Science reports that “other million-dollar original sponsors include: Jenny Craig, Slim*Fast, and a special project that was sponsored by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association” (information from Hill & Knowlton, which represents Dr. Koop, in phone call to M. Jacobson of the Center for Science in the Public Interest; CSPI, 2003). With such industry backers, the Shape Up America! campaign and its “War on Obesity” had specific economic interests from the start. No better illustration of these interests was the “Time Magazine...