Weight is Not an Indication of Value. Because Health is Not an Indication of Value.
Basics
The range of healthy body sizes is much larger than Hollywood depicts.
Some people are above and below what is a healthy body weight for them.
Weight gain is often the result of other underlying health conditions.
Health is not an indication of value.
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A simple argument
Health is not an indication of value.
Arguments that being overweight makes you less valuable rely on the assumptions that
1.) Being unhealthy makes you less valuable
2.) I can tell someone is unhealthy if they look fat.
Straight away the first assumption is a contradiction of the fact that health is not an indication of value.
Thus being overweight does not make you less valuable because even if your weight is impacting your health, health is not a mark of value.
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You can't see health
The second premise of anti-fat arguments is also false. Not because weight is not one indicator of health but because it is only one small factor.
Phrases like "But you don't look sick" and "you don't look disabled" are the other side of this coin. Obesity is comorbidity. But it is a relatively minor one in isolation. You wouldn't go up to someone who has slightly high blood pressure or mild arthritis and tell them "how concerned" you are. In contrast, most serious diseases like cancer, MS, MECFS, Alzheimers, Lupus, etc are invisible. Just by looking you really have zero way of assessing someone's health. So please stop trying to!
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When weight does indicate health
Weight does indicate health in the sense that many health conditions will result in gaining or losing weight and above an extreme level increased weight can itself become a disability.
The problem is when people say "weight indicates health" they often mean "being overweight makes you unhealthy" something false. While some overweight people are unhealthy, just being overweight does not make you automatically unhealthy. Additionally "weight indicates health" is often used by doctors to mean "being overweight is the explanation for your symptoms" which leads to the misdiagnosis and medical neglect of fat people, particularly women.
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On health indicates value
The reason my argument targets this premise is because unlike the relationship between weight and health which is a nuanced discussion, this premise is just straight-up ableism. We apply "health indicates value" erratically and primarily to those we already aim to devalue. For example, you rarely hear of a kid with cancer being devalued because of their illness. But it is common to devalue those with type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, autoimmune disease, obesity and PTSD, all illnesses more prevalent in BIPOC and impoverished communities. We do not need obesity to be separated out from other chronic health conditions to know that all chronic illness does not make you less valuable.
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Healthcare as a human right
One reason we shouldn't separate out obesity from other health conditions when it is significant enough to be comorbidity is that we need to better acknowledge the systemic factors that go into health in general. Obesity is an excellent case study. Obesity is frequently due to societal factors like lack of access to nutrient-dense foods and heavy reliance on pharmaceuticals many of which cause weight gain.* These are societal issues with corporate beneficiaries. One reason obesity is more heavily judged comorbidity is we separate obesity out from other health conditions as a "personal" or "behavioral" issue or choice as opposed to a health problem we ignore that providing access to affordable fresh food and non-pharmaceutical treatment options* should be part of providing basic healthcare and human rights.
*it is a particularly horrible yet common occurrence in my opinion that doctors prescribe weight gain-inducing medication and then blame their patient's health conditions on gaining weight.
*including accomodating patients need to take time off work and disability payments to reduce financial stress
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Summary
Obesity in isolation is a minor health complication.
You cannot see major health complications by looking at someone.
Therefore you cannot judge someone's health by their weight.
You should never judge someone's value by their health.
Therefore even in the case where someone's weight is a consequence or cause of major health issues, this does not devalue them.
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Pretty privilege vs fat phobia
One thing that is rarely addressed in these discussions is the difference between being within a healthy weight range and being conventionally attractive. So often this discussion turns into a focus on unrealistic beauty standards and healthy weight people society deems unattractive.
To me, this overlooks the struggles of medically deemed obese people who suffer not just from a lack of pretty privilege but clear discrimination and medical malpractice. Health at every size starts with the right to healthcare regardless of size. Sure beauty standards are toxic but I think the bigger problem is when fat people are denied medical testing, healthcare, and basic respect and consideration.
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Internalized ableism
I think there is a lot of internalized ableism at play in seeking to defend only fat people whose weight is clearly not impacting their health. When in reality, whether their weight impacts their health should not matter when fighting for equal treatment and respect.
Disabled people often also harbor resentment (conscious or unconscious) towards people they see as "not taking care of their health." (Ie. Fat people, Type 2 diabetes VS Type 1 diabetes, Paralysis, Autoimmune disease) This often comes out of wanting to distance ourselves as much as possible from the idea that we could fix or prevent our disability. The reality is no one becomes disabled on purpose. Whether there are societal factors, traumatic factors, mental health, or purely physical factors at play in a person's disability should not change how we value them.
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Weight is not an indication of value regardless of your health.
As someone who has gained weight due to medication and illness, it can sometimes be frustrating to see most body positivity centered around how you can be healthy at any size.
Yes, you can. But being healthy should not be the end all be all of existence. Your worth is not determined by your health. Even if your weight gain is a direct consequence of or cause of health issues, you still deserve to love yourself and be valued.
This post hits on a sensitive and nuanced topic so here's some clarity intent.
Intended:
-Presenting different approaches to the argument of why anti-fatness is discriminatory and wrong
-Showing intersection of anti-fatness and ableism
-Highlighting the struggles of weight gain related to chronic illness and poor health
-Help encourage body neutrality in people who struggle with chronic illness and weight gain
Does not intend:
-To undermine or devalue existing arguments around body positivity and health at any size (these arguments work great for the majority of people where weight does not impact health)
-To minimize struggles related to healthy people who struggle with body positivity due to weight (they just aren't the focus of this post)
In short, I do not have a problem with body positivity or health at every size. In fact, these are very necessary movements that do a great job representing the majority of healthy fat people.
But I would love to see more representation of this second argument which illustrates the ableism that underscores anti-fatness and clearly defends those of us whose weight is directly linked to health issues.
With all chronic illnesses, I advocate for accepting our bodies as they are. This doesn't mean we aren't allowed to improve. It means we don't base our self-worth on factors outside our control. When weight gain is part of chronic illness that same self-acceptance applies to health complications of weight. There is a lot of new research that increasingly shows minimal harm in being overweight in general. However, that does not mean some people do not have personal health complications related to weight gain. For example, weight can be an issue in arthritis and fibro patients in terms of joint strain. Because this post is specifically targeting body positivity for overweight people where poor health is involved I found it useful to draw attention to weight as a complicating factor in an overall health picture. Please don't take this case study of specific times when weight is a health complication to mean increased weight is always a health issue.
Healing & weight loss
When health and weight are connected weight loss may come up in the context of health. Given that over 90% of weight loss attempts fail it is much more practical for chronically ill patients to focus on other ways of improving health. This is also why it is impractical and discriminatory for doctors to expect a patient to lose weight to "qualify" for other treatments. However, patients of course have the right to choose any course of treatment that could potentially help them regardless of the odds of success.
Body Neutrality
While body positivity is great for healthy people for whom their bodies are not generally an obstacle in day-to-day life it can be tricky for those of us whose bodies are greatly constraining. This doesn't mean we shouldn't love ourselves. But our bodies might not be the main target of that love. Body neutrality can then be an important tool where we can acknowledge the difficulties our bodies make for us in terms of pain, mobility, fatigue, social acceptance, etc. But still also appreciate that they give us life and allow us to exist. I think body positivity and body neutrality can coexist well and offer complimentary options for people depending on where they are coming from.
