at People and Their Acceptance into Today’s Society

3 Pages 641 Words

Fat People and Their Acceptance into Today’s Society

With nearly twenty percent of the U.S. population falling into the category of obesity, is this country being faced with a widely spread epidemic? Or are those individuals just another facet of American society? Some see overeating as a disease that has plagued our society with no hope of being cured any time soon, while others see it as another aspect of American culture. Authors Greg Crister, Mary Ray Worley, and Hillel Schwartz touch upon these topics in their works, “Too Much of a Good Thing,” “Fat and Happy: In Defense of Fat Acceptance,” and “Fat and Happy?” respectively. Due to the recent wave of obese individuals, much of society looks down upon those who overeat. However, the general public should stop worrying about body image and learn to be happy with what they are given, particularly because such worrying can be physically and emotionally dangerous.
The current mentality of the average American is that those who are overweight are a kind of second class to those who are of ideal weight. But what is ideal weight? Ideal weight is what is portrayed in magazines and on television as being beautiful and what everyone else should look like. The slim and sexy are highly glorified in the media making those who are not exactly beauty queens feel unattractive. In addition those who are not of ideal weight are looked down upon and treated as different people, solely based on their eating habits. Author Greg Crister argues these issues, and suggests that we as a society should stigmatize overeating, while being careful to stigmatize the act of overeating, as opposed to the person. His focus is mostly directed towards obesity and its impact on children; that being the most pivotal issue of our time. Moreover, if one is going to stigmatize overeating, than one needs to begin at the source where the eating begins: with children. Eating habits are taught when a child...