weight and social factors

8/17/2019 Weight and Social Factors

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Weight and Social Factors

Health pandemics and epidemics, like (SARS, meningitis, avian influenza and ebola) are taking their

toll in society. besity, defined by the !orld Health rganization as "a comple# condition, one $ithserious social and psychological dimensions, that affects virtually all age and socioeconomic groups

and threatens to over$helm both developed and developing countries (!orld Health rganization,n.d.), is one of them.% &here are many social factors connected to obesity.

ne of them is social class. Adam 're$no$ski pointed out in his presentation that people from lo$er

social classes are more likely to be obese than those from the middle class and the higher social classes.

sing data from *A enter for Health +olicy Research, he said that there is a connection bet$een poverty and diabetes deaths in alifornia (--).

Another factor is the affordability and access to healthy produce like fruits and vegetables. A studyinvolving /0,--- children and teenagers in alifornia published in 1ebruary -/ sho$ed that there

$as "no relationship bet$een $hat type of food students said they ate, $hat they $eighed, and the type

of food $ithin a mile and a half of their homes% $hile another study involving ,--- children andteenagers in the nited States say that "+oor neighborhoods 234 had nearly t$ice as many fast food

restaurants and convenience stores as $ealthier ones, and they had more than three times as many

corner stores per s5uare mile 2.67 s5uare kilometers4. 8ut they also had nearly t$ice as many

supermarkets and large9scale grocers per s5uare mile% (:olata, -/). Ho$ever, a report from the ;e$ven concerns from their friends and

family regarding their $eight or body issues are either being disregarded or taken in a negative light.

!orse, they claim that "daring to be fat% $ould put them in a disadvantageous position $hen it comes

to dating and some of them lie about their $eight to be more attractive to $ould9be suitors. (:ageShinma, -/?). ;ot only that, some fat people $ho should have heeded the advice of people $ho offer

them advice, tips and help to lose $eight see the latter@s efforts in a negative light and claim that they

are bullied by those $ho $anted to help. &hose $ho $ant to help are forced to apologize, especially ifthe ones $ho needed that advice has considerable clout like ne$s reporters (*ittle, -/0). Ho$ever,

their actions brought more harm than good.

;o matter ho$ they mask it through $ords of encouragement, self9taken shots of obese people $ithaccompanying 5uotes andor fansigns and other things, it cannot hide the ugly truth. Regardless $here

they came from, ho$ much they earn, ho$ much melanin they got in their body, obesity can fatal to the

point that / percent of deaths from Americans aged ?- to 6 percent bet$een /7B and --B are

caused by it (>d$ards, -/0). !hat happened to Cs. *ionel Shriver@s brother is one out of many tragice#amples of obesity claiming lives. She $rote on Standpoint Cagazine that "she could not accept Dfat

rightsD nor could she simply accept her brother@s obesity, as if there $as nothing anyone could do about

it.% As mentioned by 8ro$n (--7), her brother died after filing that story. He then subse5uentlymentioned on fat people not needing acceptance, suggesting that "they need moral support and


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gentle nudging from friends and family to build a healthier relationship with food”.He condemned those who advocate for fat acceptance since they are encouragingother fat people to kill themselves through overeating and practicing otherunhealthy lifestyles (Brown !""#$.


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%eferences

8ro$n, A. C. (--7, 'ecember /). @1at rights@ allo$ obese people to eat themselves to death. The

Telegraph. Retrieved from httpEblogs.telegraph.co.ukne$sandre$mcfbro$n/---/?F-fat9rights9allo$9people9to9eat9themselves9to9death on ;ovember 6, -/?.

're$no$ski, A. (--, Cay). Relation entre obGsitG et classes sociales dans les pays dGveloppGs.Retrieved from

httpEdepts.$ashington.eduu$cphnne$spresentations're$no$ski1ISobesityandS>S.pdf on

;ovember ?, -/?.

>d$ards, A. (-/0, August /B). &ating themselves to death' How obesity could be the cause

of a fth of all deaths ) and *+%& among women. Daily Mail Online. Retrieved fromhttpE$$$.dailymail.co.ukne$sarticle907607F>ating9death9Ho$9obesity9cause9fifth9deaths.html

on ;ovember 6, -/?.

Jranderson, *. (-/, =une ). +oor and fatE &he real class $ar. CNN.com. Retrieved fromhttpEedition.cnn.com-/-B-6opiniongranderson9poverty9health on ;ovember 6, -/?.

:age Shinma. (1ebruary /6, -/?). Tumblrisms 2: Thin Privilege (mirror) 2video file4. Retrieved fromhttpE$$$.youtube.com$atchKvL/7m*l8zv> on ;ovember ?, -/?.

:olata, J. (-/, April /F). Food eser!s and Obesi!y "ole Challenged . ;e$

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