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pelosi's 'morbidly obese' comment a slur, says doctor
house speaker's comment was a dig at president trump, but also reflective of a 'fat phobic society.'
may 19 2020
3 minute read
nancy pelosi's "morbidly obese" comment is not only wrong, but also mirrors a fat phobic society. stock/getty
house speaker nancy pelosi set off a social media firestorm last night after she called president donald trump “morbidly obese ,” prompting media outlets to ask, “is he?” while some on twitter whipped themselves up in a tizzy with comments about how she was fat shaming the president on live television.
well, people, it turns out it’s way worse than that.
“what pelosi said had nothing to do with obesity,” says dr. arya sharma , professor of medicine and past-chair in obesity research and management at the university of alberta. “it was a slur that plays to the stereotype that excess fat is a character flaw. sure, it was to get at the president, but what i want to know, is why using the term obesity to refer to someone is even a slur?”
sharma, who is also the founder and scientific director of obesity canada , says that pelosi’s comment is a reminder that we live in a society that is “fat phobic,” filled with bias and discrimination against people living with obesity — even those who appear to be living with obesity but aren’t.
“there are so, so many stereotypes around people who live with obesity,” he says. “that they are lazy, not intelligent, unmotivated, that they have no willpower. none of this is true. for every fat person at home on the couch eating chips, there’s a skinny person at home on the couch eating chips.”
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the fact that pelosi was using an historical term that is around sixty years old, one that is not used anymore, also irks sharma.
“no one says ‘morbidly obese’ anymore,” he says. “it’s an ugly term.”
and while you could use “serious or complicated obesity” instead to describe someone’s condition, he says, you’d be completely incorrect coming to that conclusion about someone at a glance.
“if i look at trump, i have no idea if he has obesity, just like i don’t know if he has diabetes,” says sharma. “there are a lot of people with larger bodies who are completely healthy, just as there are a lot of people with smaller bodies who are unhealthy.”
what does bmi have to do with it?
pelosi’s statement also prompted speculation about the president’s body mass index (bmi), which is a person’s weight in kilograms divided by the square of height in meters. while a high bmi can be an indicator of high body fat, it doesn’t diagnose obesity. the only way to know for sure if you have obesity is to see a doctor.
“bmi is used as a screening tool,” says sharma. “it’s a starting point that offers clues, but obesity can only be diagnosed by a medical professional.”
he says that there are two types of fat that people have on their body. one is fat under skin which is good, the kind that keeps you warm, for example. the other is the kind you don’t see, it sits around intestines and organs — and this is the kind that causes problems. but again, a bmi calculation may or may not measure the bad fat.
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“obesity is defined as excess fat that is impairing health,” says sharma. “things like sore joints, sleep apnea, and osteoarthritis are just a few of the clues that you may have obesity.”
and don’t get him started on the use of the term “obese.”
“first, stop saying obese,” he says, calling for people-first language when referring to obesity.
“we don’t call someone who has dementia, demented or someone with cancer, cancerous. we say they have dementia, or they are living with cancer,” he says. “so let’s do the same with obesity.”
lmachado@postmedia.com | @iamlisamachado
obesity canada is the country’s leading obesity registered charity association for health professionals, researchers, trainees and students, policy makers and canadians living with obesity.
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