Essay 2: Argumentative Essay

 Fat Shaming: A Plus Sized Issue in 21st Century America  

From childhood, we as human beings are conditioned to believe that our bodies are flawed. Projected by the media consumed, fashion modeled during Fashion Week, or critics online, the message is clear: we commit the crime of imperfection simply by existing. Society shames us for this, for not fitting into the unrealistic mold cast upon us. One of the primary sources of this is body shaming, which is simply defined as “shaming someone for their particular body type”. Living in the 21st Century, anyone can be subjected to body shaming. However, the most prevalent example of body shaming is fat shaming, criticizing an individual for being overweight.

Recently, the topics of body and fat shaming have reached the attention of mainstream media because of a particular YouTube video. On September 3, video blogger and comedian Nicole Arbour released a video entitled “Dear Fat People”. In this six minute video, Arbour argues that the idea of fat shaming does not exist and was purely made up by fat people to be “the race card without race.” Her beliefs center around the ideology that she will “offend [fat people] until they lose weight”, claiming that she is concerned about the health problems that surround and affect obese individuals. The offensive nature of Arbour’s content shrouded under a veil of concern is defined by internet scholars as “concern trolling”. In Jonathan Bishop’s book, Transforming Politics and Policy in the Digital Age, concern trolls are defined as individuals who “post kudos in support of the opinion in the mainstream whilst having concerns that support their actual point of view”. In short, Arbour’s video perpetuates the idea that fat shaming negatively affects overweight individuals in America and plays no positive effect on their weight or perspective weight loss.

The main argument in Arbour’s video is that obese Americans negatively affect their health due to their size. While she denies the concept of obesity as a disease itself, she claims that her video is not targeted toward those who have specific medical conditions.  However, in 2013 the American Medical Association voted to classify obesity as a disease. In response to this video, Whitney Throne, another popular online content creator, uploaded her own in which she commented, “...you can’t see a person’s health by looking at them...you cannot tell a person’s health, physical or otherwise, from looking at them.” The diseases listed by Arbour, heart disease and diabetes especially do not only affect those who are obese.  The American Diabetes Association writes that while weight can be a risk factor for developing diabetes, there is no direct correlation between the two diseases. Obesity plays a similar role to that of family history or age.

Concern trolls post negative opinions that are cleverly disguised as concerned wishes. In Arbour’s case, this includes insulting fat people into feeling motivated to lose weight. She shames the body positivity hashtag, a social media movement initiated to encourage people to love their bodies regardless of body type. “If you want to be positive to your body,” she rants during the 2 and a half minute mark, “work out and eat well. Do you really think that if enough of you hashtag something bad for you, it makes it okay?” She relates this hashtag, one about accepting your body for its natural beauty, to methamphetamine and cigarette use. However, research has shown that concern trolling has no positive effect on weight loss in overweight individuals. In fact, it has been shown to cause negative damage. One study proved that “obesity stigmatization is a frequent and distressing experience that requires considerable coping effort.” (Myers) For many overweight individuals, this coping effect includes excessive eating, contributing to their weight negatively. Traci Mann and Janet Tomiyama describe it best in their paper on the subject: “If Shaming Reduced Obesity, There Would Be No Fat People”.

Nicole Arbour’s “Dear Fat People” video was more than a simple satirical routine. It was an attack on a vulnerable group of individuals who face scrutiny on a constant basis. By faking concern for these individuals, she perpetuates the fat shaming that she continuously denies throughout the video. While she has gained some support for the video, the negative outcry was so immense that the Youtube channel the video was uploaded on was temporarily shut down. The effects of fat shaming are extremely negative on overweight individuals who face a discrimination that some compare to racism. (Choices) Content such as Nicole Arbour’s “Dear Fat People”  video perpetuate this negative mindset and promote the unhealthy mindset, contrary to what they may claim  their intentions are.

Works Consulted

Arbour, Nicole. "Dear Fat People." YouTube. YouTube, 3 Sept. 2015. Web. 23 Sept. 2015.

Bishop, Jonathan. "Trolling for the Lulz?." Transforming Politics and Policy in the Digital Age

(2014): 155.

Choices, N. H. S. "Fat shaming'more damaging than racism'-Health News-NHS Choices."

(2014).

"Diabetes Myths." American Diabetes Association. American Diabetes Association, 17 Aug.

2015. Web. 23 Sept. 2015.

Myers, Anne, and James C. Rosen. "Obesity stigmatization and coping: relation to mental health

symptoms, body image, and self-esteem."International journal of obesity 23.3 (1999):

221-230.

Thorne, Whitney. "What I Want to Say to Fat People: Response to Nicole Arbour." YouTube.

YouTube, 5 Sept. 2015. Web. 23 Sept. 2015.