Did Nancy Pelosi Fat Shame Donald Trump and Is That OK?
So is fat-shaming now OK if House Speaker Nancy Pelosi does it and it's directed at Donald J. Trump?
For those who follow me here and other social media platforms, you'll notice that I've been posting almost exclusively about COVID_19, which makes sense since it's virtually the only story in the daily news cycle.
I'm also a pulmonologist and board-certified in critical care medicine, which means that I treat critically ill patients who have, are at risk of, or are recovering from often life-threatening conditions.
COVID is primarily, but not exclusively a respiratory illness, and there's a segment of the patient population that contracts the virus that gets very sick. I've seen my share of patients with this illness.
It was my work as a pulmonologist and critical medicine doc that led me to take an interest in obesity, a co-morbidity I see in many of my COVID patients. I fact, I'm working on a book about obesity.
Available evidence suggests that obesity is associated with an increased risk of developing severe symptoms and complications of COVID_19, independent of other illnesses. A large study of over 4,000 patients with COVID-19 in New York City found that severe obesity was a significant risk factor for hospitalization, second only to age
One of many unfortunate consequences of obesity, and there are too many to list here, has been an increase in fat-shaming, which you might think would be trending down as the size of the average American has gone up.
Yet, the opposite is true; weight bias is rising.
According to a University Connecticut study, it's now even more common among women than racial discrimination.
A majority of Americans still see weight as a matter of personal choice and willpower—and people with larger bodies as undisciplined and lazy.
Of course, nothing could be further from the truth, which I've explained in great detail in other posts, and I write about in my forthcoming book.
The purpose of today's post isn't about proving that obesity is more than a matter of willpower or personal choice. Instead, I want to raise the specter of fat-shaming since the subject made headlines this week after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi referred to President Donald Trump as "morbidity obese."
Contrary to some media reports, he isn't morbidity obese. For that classification, a person must be 100 pounds over his/her ideal body weight, have a BMI of 40 or more, or 35 or more and experiencing obesity-related health conditions, such as high blood pressure or diabetes.
The President is 6'3" and weighs about 243 pounds, which translates to a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 31. Anything over 30 is considered obese, so the President needs to lose weight, and I would advise him as such.
However, does he need to be fat-shamed by the Speaker of the House?
While weight stigma raises the average person's risk of being bullied and impairs his prospects in education, careers, and successful relationships, these are not things with which the President needs to concern himself. But it's worth asking whether it's acceptable for Nancy Pelosi to call out President Trump for being overweight.
If we tell others that fat-shaming is wrong under any circumstances, why should it be OK?
It's not OK for Nancy Pelosi or anyone else to use weight as a bludgeon to stigmatize, humiliate and make someone feel bad about themselves.
It's fine and appropriate to critique the President's policies, behavior, and character. However, maybe the Speaker, as well as everyone else, should leave his weight out of it.
It's fine and appropriate to critique the President's policies, behavior, and character. However, maybe the Speaker, as well as everyone else, should leave his weight out of it.
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