The engagement has been awesome so far! Excited to hear your thoughts on the piece, or pieces, you choose
On fat fetish
Gaining is the fetish that changes how we think about the male body
https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/lifestyle/article/gaining-fetish
Feederism: Eating, Weight Gain, and Sexual Pleasure
https://www.dropbox.com/s/plxactm1t42iy2v/Feederism%20%E2%80%93%20Eating%2C%20Weight%20Gain%2C%20and%20Sexual%20Pleasure.pdf?dl=0
On race and fat
BMI
https://elemental.medium.com/the-bizarre-and-racist-history-of-the-bmi-7d8dc2aa33bb
Fatphobia
https://www.dropbox.com/s/w3f75wpefna44p1/Fearing%20the%20Black%20Body.pdf?dl=0
On dismantling thin privilege
https://www.dropbox.com/s/r9f06lm0g8j0y1w/Reflections%20on%20Thin%20Privilege%20and%20Responsibility.pdf?dl=0
Week one - Identity
Week two - Capitalism, gender, media and health at every size
As a reminder, these fall in the area of Fat Studies and there's some norms you should be aware of:
- "fat" is taken as a neutral descriptor, think of it as reclaiming the word.
- "obese" arbitrarily medicalises fatness and Others fat people
:sankara-salute:
Not the person you're responding to, but am also fat and very skeptical of HAES. I agree with most of what /u/eduardog3000 has said so I won't retread all that. Read through some of that article you linked and it still doesn't really make sense to me. From my understanding, my obesity puts greater stress on my body. Specifically I suffer from obstructive sleep apnea, AKA things blocking my airway and preventing breathing during sleep. This developed in the same period of time as rapid weight gain. Even after having my tonsils removed to help clear the airway, I still suffer from the condition and require the use of a CPAP. I fit none of the other risk factors besides obesity. Would you say that my obesity is not contributing to this issue, and thus my obesity is unhealthy?
I get the idea of destigmatizing fatness. I've been made fun of and lost friends because of my weight, and it sucks. I don't like feeling gross or unwanted or weak-willed because of it. And ultimately, weight loss should occur as a result of healthy living, not in spite of it. But that doesn't mean being overweight is normal or good for humans, and that doesn't mean it can exacerbate or trigger conditions that directly harm quality of life.
Also there are just some weird takes in that doc, like:
Maybe because over two thirds of Americans are overweight or obese, while less than 2 percent are underweight? That isn't to disregard or devalue the problems that come with being underweight, but when a majority of the country is suffering from one condition, it makes sense that it's focused on more.
sorry for not engaging with you more, I don’t like the effect these online conversations have on my brain. I feel like I get addicted to Being Right.
I just want to say that it is a misconception that the “Health” in HAES is a noun rather than a verb. It's not saying that people can be considered healthy at any size, but that people at any size can pursue healthiness — which may or may not correlate with weight loss. HAES isn't just for fat people, which is why becoming healthier might include gaining muscle and therefore weight.