We always have to bear in mind when reading media and the scientific literature on body shape and health (e.g. abdominal fat and insulin resistance) that science is ideologically embedded, and in the global north that means embedded in imperialist white supremacist capitalist patriarchy. Anti-fat biases are racialized, gendered, and classed. While itβs true that there are some risks associated with certain bodiesβnot only people who are larger in the abdomen (which is natural for many populations from the global south) but also shorter life span in tall people, skin cancer in redheads, osteoporosis in thin people, and so onβthe risks and bodies that become stigmatized, that are used to fearmonger and to manipulate peopleβs behavior, are the bodies of the oppressed. We donβt want to dismiss research data out of hand but we do want to remember that prevailing biases shape Science and serve ruling class interests, and we perpetuate harm by collaborating in that
Loading...
