Thursday, February 11, 2010

Hey, Hey, Hey, It's...

I keep putting things here that I didn't think I'd put here, but this caught my eye today, and it really hit me hard.  Michelle Obama is starting a campaign to fight childhood obesity:

Childhood Schmobesity

These are all laudable goals in and of themselves, but it’s a terrible mistake to pursue them  in the name of getting rid of fat kids. First, numerous studies indicate that, just as with adults, improving children’s nutrition and activity levels is beneficial to their health, but usually produces little or no weight loss (which is all the more reason to focus on health rather than weight). Nor are thin children in any less need of good food and healthy activities than fat ones. Indeed, over the past 20 years, extensive research has demonstrated that, when studies control for factors such as physical activity levels, weight simply ceases to have any meaningful correlation with health. 
Second, a rich literature on stigmatization shows that the health costs of social stigma are high. I don’t believe Michelle Obama wants to stigmatize fat kids, but a campaign dedicated to eliminating them is guaranteed to do so in a profound way.

I'm not a skinny girl.  The last time I was thin, I think I was six.  There are a lot of reasons for it, and a lot of the blame can (and should) be placed on me.  But I was made uncomfortable by news of this latest crusade against fat kids, and this article pinpointed the reason why.

Sure, I'm all for getting kids moving, teaching them nutrition, getting them healthy.  Type 2 Diabetes is up in kids, heart disease still kills more people in this country than we can count, and obesity has been tangentially linked (correlation, not causation) to many health issues.  But healthy may or may not equal thin.  Thin is dangerous, both for the kids who strive to be thin so badly they end up with eating disorders, and for the kids who are healthy kids who might even play soccer on the side and enjoy their veggies, but for whom (for any number of reasons) they will always tip a little heavier on the BMI scale.

Maybe I am carrying years of metaphoric weight from a culture based around looking thinner and thinner, or from school years where I felt marginalized for my size, but seeing the first lady telling chubby kids it's not okay to be what they are makes me sad in a deep, kind of profound way.

2 comments:

  1. Crap. Internet ate my comment.

    Okay. Again. The short version: I agree.

    Also, Ikea rocks. I want to do dirty things to their furniture. Also, to live in their store.

    Lastly, have you looked into blog carnivals as a way to find your audience? They are good promotional tools. Just google blog carnival.

    Cheers
    Michelle

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  2. Ah, there you are! I haven't been able to get a browser open on my computer for days, and I couldn't remember which bloody site you're hosted on, so here I have finally found you (after many detours.)

    Okay, I've tried to write and rewrite my point about six times. What it boils down to is that I hope policy-makers are actually going after the more rational goal of producing *healthy* children rather than aesthetically *thin* children, as you are of course correct in saying that chubby is not the same thing as unhealthy. Also, please god don't ever let my grandmother see this post (which could happen!), she already hates Michelle Obama with an unwavering and fiery conviction.

    ReplyDelete