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Is Fat a Bad Word?
Earlier this week, I wrote about a retail store in the UK that recently introduced a line of plus-sized clothing for kids as young as three. In describing this larger toddler attire, I used various adjectives including “expanded,” “husky” and “fat.” While plenty of commenters took issue with my views in general, at least one took issue with my choice of words. Isn’t it rude, she asked, to call people, especially children, fat?
For the record, I was calling the clothes fat, not the kids who wear them. But I get her point and think her question is a good one. Is fat really a bad word? And if so, why should this be?
According to Anne Milton, a former nurse and current public health minister in the UK, the word fat has become verboten and this, she says, is contributing to the obesity epidemic. She believes that doctors who avoid the F word in favor of obese are are letting overweight people off the hook by giving them the impression that their condition is something that happened to them, not something they’ve done to themselves. She believes bringing fat back into the conversation will encourage personal responsibility.
Of course, not everybody agrees with her. Professor Lindsey Davies, of the Faculty of Public Health, points out that the word obesity is used because it helps patients think about their condition as just that – a condition, not a personal indictment. “Obesity is something that happens to people rather than something they are,” she says.
But Professor Steve Field, of the Royal College of GPs, thinks Milton is on to something. He says using the term obese medicalizes the condition and makes it a third-person issue. While it may be painful to hear, he believes that a conversation about weight should include the word fat.
As a writer, I fully appreciate that words are more than just letters strung together. Words have power – both positive and negative. But I honestly don’t know where fat belongs. Clearly, there are many who find it offensive and perhaps that’s enough to make it bad word. What do you think? Is fat a bad word and is it worse when used to describe a child?
Image: I Don’t Know, Maybe./Flickr
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7 Comments
JZ commented on Jul 29 10 at 12:42 pmNow I’m all embaressed! LOL
I do think its mean when you call a child fat. Its not the childs fault they are overweight (its the parents fault). Kind of like if a child is ugly you would not call them ugly. I would hope not anyway. LOL
Also if a dr. called me obese I think it would it would get my attention more than if he said I was fat.
Just my opinion. :)
Mistress_Scorpio commented on Jul 29 10 at 12:58 pm“For the record, I was calling the *clothes* fat, not the kids who wear them.”
Sorry, this is a cop-out. Clothes cannot be fat. Yes, calling a kid “fat” is mean and quite frankly, useless. What is one hoping to gain, talking to or about a child like that? What would be the difference with referring to a child as “stupid” or “ugly” then? Shame rarely results in positive behaviors being adopted.
Kate commented on Jul 29 10 at 1:29 pmI think the problem with a doctor calling you ‘fat’ is that the word can mean different things to different people, some people consider anyone over a size 10 fat. There are different categories, overweight obese, morbidly obese etc and this can give a better indication to someone as to how serious a problem it is. At the moment the BMI is the way to measure it (not that this is that realistic) but at least it gives a scientific way of showing a patient how much at risk they are and also a marker of any weight they lose. If you go to the doctor and he/she says your fat and then you lose 3 stone and he/she says your still fat (when you have gone from Obese to overweight and significantly reduced your health risks) does not really help.
In terms of people generally using the word ‘fat’, again it means different things to different people but I would imagine that most ‘fat’ people are already aware that they have a weight issue and being mean is not going to motivate more than a few. In fact this presumes that ‘fat’ people are stupid. Some people may argue that they must be to get themselves fat in the first place but being fat is more complicated than that. Turning it on it’s head would it be useful or kind to point out to anorexics that they are too thin and then just telling them to eat more rather than looking at why they starve themselves in the first place.
Calling children ‘fat’ is a difficult one, on one hand not identifying there is a problem does not do children any favours. However playground taunting and bullying would use the word ‘fat’ and so if this came from an adult a child may not see the difference between constructive advice and the cruelty from other children. I agree with Mistress Scorpio that it is useless.
diera commented on Jul 29 10 at 4:32 pmI don’t mind the word ‘fat’. I used it myself in my comment to the other post. I’m fat. Some children are fat. I don’t personally experience it as such a negative word that the problems with it outweigh the truth of it.
But I’m getting the same feeling from this post that I got from the other one, that you (and the folks you quote) think fat people of whatever age are fat because they’re not being punished enough. They shouldn’t have cute clothes, the harshest words available should be applied to their weight, and so on, because to do anything less is to excuse their sloppy weakness in doing this to themselves. If only the world was *meaner* to them (us! me!), they’d (we’d! I’d!) be thinner. All I can say is, I really wish I lived in this world you speak of where fat people are cosseted and coddled and never ever reminded cruelly of their weight and the level of condemnation people feel about it. That’s not where I live. If misery about being fat translated directly into slenderness, there would be many fewer fat people.
jenny tries too hard commented on Jul 30 10 at 2:46 am“Fat” is a subjective term that I always think of as being, I don’t know, cosmetic, I guess. Fat is like frumpy, a look that different people and cultures define different ways. Obese and overweight are specific terms regarding one’s weight compared to height and it’s effects on health. For example, you can wear a size 8 and not be medically overweight, but still be considered fat by a shocking number of people.
e commented on Jul 30 10 at 2:54 pmWhat diera said.
Fumbles commented on Jan 27 12 at 2:50 pmSigh, it is a sad day when words are being censored. George Carlin would be having a field day. Fat is a nutrient so the word can never go away. Also who cares, stop being so worried about what other people are saying. Only fat people are sensitive about words.
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