Adipose delusion & the moralization of health issues
From http://thisisthinprivilege.tumblr.com/post/94441877938/this-is-not-strictly-tied-to-the-topic-of-your-blog#notes
This is not strictly tied to the topic of your blog, but I wish people would stop preaching eating "right" everywhere. It implies that food can be right or wrong (usually, it's "right" because it helps you lose/maintain weight, as opposed to being more or less beneficial to our body). As someone who's suffered from ED for 6 years, I find it not only triggering, but I also know how dangerous having this idea can be. Or the idea that eating certain types of food is a sin b/c you need to be thin.
This is actually something that is noticeable in the Fat Acceptance / HAES / Thin Privilege movement: that a fat person will take an attitude held by the general public and completely moralize it when it wasn't particularly moral before. (Note how the poster used the word "sin")
Doctor says: "Your weight is very high on the BMI; I think we need to look into diet changes."
FA patient hears: "You are a bad person and not worthy of anything indulgent. I will now force you to eat foods viewed by society as righteous."
Mother says: "I prepared vegetables to help you with your diet."
FA child hears: "If you weren't fat, I wouldn't force you to eat vegetables. Too bad you are not as self-controlled as your brother."
Friend says: "Sorry, I'm hanging out with Maya tonight."
Fat person hears: "Sorry, I'm hanging out with someone who is more successful and hard-working than you."
Sales associate says: "The plus-size clothing rack is over here in this section."
FA person hears: "You aren't normal or good enough, so we put your section in the back so that you'd be motivated to lose weight so you can shop in the same sections as good, regular people."
Do some people look down on others for eating unhealthily? Sure. But then you can always find someone who will look down on you for almost anything you do. And if you get to the point in your life where you are being cut out of your bedroom and lifted by a machine to get to the hospital, yes, you will likely hear others saying, "Why didn't s/he stop before this point?" Because they understand that your size represents a lifetime of excessive habits.
But the truth is that most of the non-fat population doesn't wander around casting disapproving side-glances at larger people minding their own business. Most of us aren't glaring at a fat person who sits near us to eat. We congratulate an overweight person for weight loss, but not because we thought they were an immoral degenerate before; it's mostly because seeing another person achieve good health is pleasing.
Adipose delusion is moralizing others' views of health issues in order to better play the victim card.
