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Is it Really Fatphobia or Just a Healthy Aversion to Obesity?
If something can kill us, shouldn’t we be scared of it?
The word “fatphobia” gets thrown around a lot these days. Like all “phobia” and “ism” words, they tend to get weaponized. It’s a way to fight back against people who have opinions you don’t like.
Some people even say that if you’re a heterosexual man who doesn’t find fat women attractive, you’re fatphobic. No, that’s nonsense. Being heterosexual doesn’t mean you have to find all people of the opposite sex attractive.
If I don’t want to have sex with a man, that doesn’t make me homophobic. If I don’t want to have sex with a fat woman, that doesn’t make me fatphobic. I’m not going to start dating obese women just to avoid being labeled fatphobic.
But we should be a bit scared of being fat, anyway. Being obese can kill you, after all.
According to the World Health Organisation, heart disease is the #1 cause of death. And according to the British Heart Foundation, obesity is one of the main risk factors.
So, being fat is a big problem — one of our biggest threats. Unfortunately, more people will die this year from being too fat than from being offended.
