4/25/19

The Battle against our Obsession with Thinness

Dieting is the main risk factor for developing an eating disorder. When someone begins a diet, they risk triggering an adaptive mechanism humans favored in times of extended famine. Those who could survive with limited food the longest persevered and their genes were passed on. So the starvation response is built into our genetic code and, when used in maladaptive ways, becomes an eating disorder.

Now, the trigger is no longer the lack of food but instead the driving force of thinness as a necessity for success in our modern culture. As long as thinness is a triumph, as long as fat bias exists, as long as the exercise, diet and food industries bombard the public with false messages, the masses will pursue thinness and diet.

Trapped in this funhouse where we are taught to see the distortion of our own bodies, people spend countless days, hours and years expending enormous mental and emotional effort on dieting and weight. We may worry about decreased productivity due to smartphones, but we ignore the endless lost time to weight preoccupation. 

The inexorable pull to thinness and weight loss is pervasive in the culture through urban and rural parts of the world, socioeconomic differences and racial and ethnic communities. At this point, no one is spared.

In addition to the personal and interpersonal changes I have written about in this blog that can help, eating disorders will not begin to decline without a decrease in the pressure for thinness. There are some signs of positive change: the body positive movement, outing of fat shaming, and varying size models for some clothing companies. These changes matter and are noticeable in the community.

But for more change to occur, the true arbiters of personal success need to speak up. Celebrities across the board need to question the overall thin bias and stop supporting the industries that benefit from our collective obsession. The medical community needs to be clearer about the true minimal link between weight and health. The government needs to crack down on industries sapping our mental wellness to live a life lost in pursuit of the number on a scale.


The effects have been long lasting and harmful. The changes that need to happen are starting. If a different way of assessing our own success begins to grow, the power—financial and emotional—of the thinness crusade can be weakened.

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