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When I contact Fatima Cody Stanford, a leading obesity expert at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital, one of the first things she does is gently correct my use of obese person, redirecting me to the most neutral person suffering from obesity instead (and demonstrating, in the process, that fat people are very capable of playing into the culture of fatphobia). “When we call a person obese, it ignores the fact that there is an actual disease process controlled and regulated by the hypothalamus in the brain that causes each of us to regulate our weight differently,” Stanford explains. “When people look at patients who are suffering from obesity – whether mild, moderate, or severe – they assume, ‘Oh, that’s something they’ve done on their own, and they came from this. way because of something they did. ‘ We don’t put the same thought treatment or blame on people with cancer.
Stanford agrees that physicians, in general, are one of the “worst groups” in terms of perpetuating fatphobia, but she is determined to set a different level of attention for her patients. She is careful to place obesity in its larger socio-cultural context, noting that racial minorities are more likely to suffer from obesity in addition to being already at higher risk of contracting COVID-19. “When obese patients come to me and ask me if they need to be vaccinated, I give them a statement that is an unequivocal yes because the data shows that the results of COVID-19 are significantly worse for obese patients. I will give them all the advice I can to make sure they are better protected against this virulent disease that has affected all of our lives, ”says Stanford.
While medical stigma is a risk factor for many, if not most, fat people, our own internalized fatphobia and self-judgment can be just as damaging psychologically. “At first I thought [my BMI qualifying me for the vaccine] was ironic because I might not have qualified if I hadn’t gained the weight I have during the pandemic, ”says Catherine, 24, who will soon receive her first dose of vaccine in Brooklyn. “I already dread some of the things people might say or think about my vaccine, not only because I gained weight, but also because I am unemployed. It’s really hard not to feel like being both fat and unemployed means I’m worthless or lazy. Catherine is happy to receive the BMI-based vaccine, but she is also aware of the dissonance that a society deeply anguished by the food culture has instilled in her: “It’s strange that I am being overtly rewarded for my failure.
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