Item

Is ‘fat positivity’ healthy or dangerous? COVID puts the question in stark relief

Title (Dublin Core)

Is ‘fat positivity’ healthy or dangerous? COVID puts the question in stark relief

Description (Dublin Core)

This is a news story from New York Daily News by Cathy Young. This is an opinion piece questioning what body positive activists have been claiming about obesity and COVID, with many claiming weight has little to no effect on recovering from COVID. Quoting the CDC, Young says that obesity puts people at greater risk of dying from COVID than those of normal weight.

Other parts of this opinion piece deal with the language surrounding the body positive movement, and how there is no distinction made between listening to medical advice and getting harassed. The author says that this is a major issue because it makes it so people reject sound medical advice at the expense of their own health. She says that while outright harassment is cruel, genuine concern and wanting people to improve their well-being is not.

There is also criticism towards feminist writers in this article, such as Kate Manne, a philosophy professor from Cornell University, that claims all dieting is "morally bad." Young acknowledges that dieting can be unhealthy, but it is not unhealthy in and of itself. She thinks that if you have realistic goals, maintaining a healthy weight is not impossible.

At the end, Young explains that this body positivity movement is destructive towards people, and that those struggling with weight issues should be met with compassion, but not "acceptance."

This essay shows some of the social impacts of COVID. With some people reporting weight gain during lockdowns, it is easy to see why body positivity would be encouraged as a result. Though, since obesity puts one at higher risk for more complications with COVID, or any other disease for that matter, it should not be encouraged, in my own opinion. It is one thing to be shaped differently, it is quite another to accept being obese when it poses many health risks.

Date (Dublin Core)

January 18, 2022

Creator (Dublin Core)

Cathy Young

Event Identifier (Dublin Core)

HST580

Partner (Dublin Core)

Arizona State University

Type (Dublin Core)

Text story

Link (Bibliographic Ontology)

https://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/ny-oped-fat-positivity-20220118-patw33s5vvbchm4tq36zf5wyli-story.html
https://web.archive.org/web/20220430014651/https://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/ny-oped-fat-positivity-20220118-patw33s5vvbchm4tq36zf5wyli-story.html

Controlled Vocabulary (Dublin Core)

English Health & Wellness
English Science
English Social Issues

Curator's Tags (Omeka Classic)

fat positivity
risk factor
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
criticism
New York Daily News
compassion

Contributor's Tags (a true folksonomy) (Friend of a Friend)

obesity
health
dieting
CDC
opinion piece
weight gain
body positivity
body positivity movement
COVID

Linked Data (Dublin Core)

HST 580 Professional Experience/Archives course

Date Submitted (Dublin Core)

04/16/2022

Date Modified (Dublin Core)

04/17/2022
04/26/2022
04/29/2022
08/02/2022
04/28/2023

Date Created (Dublin Core)

01/18/2022

Item sets

Covid 19

This item was submitted on April 16, 2022 by [anonymous user] using the form “Share Your Story” on the site “A Journal of the Plague Year”: https://www.covid-19archive.org/s/archive

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