@ciurrb:
it doesn't mean that we have to start saying that over or under values are fine too
But conversely, our constant repeating that being overweight is "not okay," in judgemental fashion, is a huge problem.
Saying, "[X] leads to health issues," dispassionately and in a neutral context, is fine. But as far as being overweight goes, it's not news to
anyone.
Saying, "it's okay to be happy with your body when you're fat," is not medical advice—nobody
ever mistook it as such. It's about social image and self-worth. But there is a tendency to reflexively say, "you shouldn't encourage them," when telling people that they're allowed to have some self-confidence in these matters, and saying that it's medically motivated is a poor excuse. (To be clear, I'm
not saying everyone is being malicious. Often it's just simple thinking: "Fat"="Bad"! We must discourage this! See, the idea that "fat"="bad" is drilled into
everyone's brains. And so we, for instance, start talking about health even when that might have nothing to do with the subject at hand (e.g. body-image and self-confidence). And without realizing that perhaps being told unthinkingly that you're "bad," over and over again, is not necessarily
at all beneficial to the person involved.)
Crucially, the social issues around being overweight are at least on par with (i.e. same order-of-magnitude of damage to one's life), possibly even greater than, the health issues at this point, in how damaging they are.
An aside: To be clear—as it appears I wasn't, apologies—I'm not, or at least I'm not trying to, attack you for what you've said; this is more of a tirade about how in general our society goes about "feel-good fat shaming," where we claim we're being "helpful" when telling people that they shouldn't accept themselves as they are (in the same manner that a pastor trying to "help" someone out of being gay is "feel-good shaming," and yes I realize that unlike being fat there are no medical side-effects of being gay, but that's not the point). And about how what you are saying plays, wittingly or not, into that narrative. It's not an obvious thing. To grok how our system of thought is set up to coax well-meaning people into harmful fat-shaming is something that took me, myself, a long time; no pithy one-liner, no one person's explanation, has sufficed to convey it. And honestly, I'm still working on it.
