Dal, I appreciate the response.
I don't know what the quality of American parenting rates in comparison to other folks from around the world and since I have only lived in America, I can only speak for Americans regardless of whether they are parents or not. Americans in aggregate are fat and like most articles on this subject state, Americans are wholly rotund in comparison to the rest of the world. But not only are my fellow Americans obese but they have all sorts of medical and physical complications as a result of their obesity.
Of course. Obesity is a huge huge hurdle for American society, moreso than probably any other nation on Earth right now.
That being said, I completely agree with you. Ignoring systemic and societal factors IS 100% naive and foolish. The food system in this country is horrendous and the medical establishment has been giving us the wrong information for years when it's come to diet.
This simply cannot be understated. One of the best examples of this is the faulty food-pyramid which fat consumption was discouraged, and carb-consumption was encouraged. This sky-rocketed obesity even more. There are quite literally too many examples to list. It's exhausting.
Though at the end of the day, personal choice trumps all and what we put into our collective fat mouths is ultimately a personal choice. And as others have mentioned in this thread, they know their choices are poor and they know they might be slightly overweight or in Log's case, "huggable."
You are conflating those who are overweight with those who are obese. There is a massive, massive difference between the two. Those who argue for obesity-acceptance make up a miniscule minority in the fat-acceptance movement, which at large argues for the expansion of the (predominately female) conception of the acceptable female figure.
All of this changes though, when we, you or I decide to have children because we are no longer living and making decisions for ourselves. Once we have children, we are instantly arbriters of what is good or bad for our children and if we have fat children, children whose metabolism allows them to burn through most everything you feed them, we are not doing a good job. Most fat kids are probably being fed complete garbage and if you're a "parent" who is feeding their child soda, candy, fast food, then, yes, you are a bad parent.
Unfortunately, having full agency and access to healthy diets and lifestyles and exercise routines across entire families is a privilege that most Americans simply will never possess.
Id' be more than interested in seeing these comparisons and how they affect some of the folks that have been part of the images I've posted in this thread...those folks that celebrate their fat even while knowing they are being unhealthy.
There is no scientific evidence from robust, longitudinal studies that show that the fat-acceptance movement has lead to spikes in obesity (and it is rather foolish to even think otherwise, out of pure logic). Feel free to try to prove otherwise.
What do other nations do? I think you're abroad right? How the weight issue in your home country?
They address systemic factors, undertake numerous actions to limit access to seriously harmful food whilst simultaneously providing most of their populations with the means of accessing fresh produce, non-processed foods, and the time/means for incorporating some activity into their sedentary lifestyles. There is a laundry list of actions that are not difficult to find.
Should fat acceptance be encouraged? Or met with science and information?
First off, again, you need to stop conflating obesity with 'overweight', because it shows a lack of intellectual sophistication in your arguments.
One is a medical condition. The second is a socially-constructed label. Fat acceptance isnt a movement enabling illness. It's a movement recognizing overweight as a loose term based on perpetuated and created societal standards of what 'proper weight' is deemed to be-- something which has had different definitions in the past (as One Brow mentioned) as they do now. And they will continue to change.
The ideals of those fighting for fat acceptance need to be encouraged while social determinants of obesity need to be encouraged as well. A two-pronged solution that will stop this crisis.
