FEATURED|
Chubby man holding burgers; Andrew Poplavsky/CanvaPro
School claims extra cost of plus-sized clothing is product of ‘anti-fat bias‘
The Oregon Health & Science University and Portland State University School of Public Health hosts an initiative to combat “anti-fat bias.”
“The purpose of the Fat Justice Working Group is to engage students, faculty and staff of the OHSU-PSU School of Public Health (SPH) in learning, activities and advocacy to reduce weight stigma and anti-fat bias in ourselves, our School and society at large,” the initiative’s webpage states.
The group was formed by Dawn Richardson, associate dean for academic affairs, as a social justice project to oppose the “oppression” of overweight people, rejecting the notion that excessive weight correlates with poorer health
In an open letter addressed to the SPH, part of the working group, called the Fat Justice Journal Club, expressed its concerns with the research and healthcare at the school. The letter rejects the “obesity paradigm,” requests the expansion of “Fat Studies,” and demands the release of public statements that fight “weight stigma and structural anti-fatness.”
It includes references to works such as “Health(ism) At Every Size: The Duties of the Good Fatty,” “Thick Sistahs and Heavy Disprivileged: Black Women, Intersectionality, and Weight Stigma,” and “Fearing the Black Body: The Racial Origins of Fat Phobia.”
Some medical professionals are raising concerns about these efforts
Kurt Miceli, chief medical officer at medical watchdog group Do No Harm, told The College Fix that this ideology could harm medical education and public health.
“…because while reducing stigma is important, disregarding biological and epidemiological realities, or training professionals to do so, can ultimately harm the very people these efforts aim to help,” he said.
He said obesity is strongly correlated with increased mortality and is a major risk factor for non-communicable diseases, significant disability, and premature death. These serious consequences should not be disregarded or minimized by health professionals or educational institutions
He is concerned that “ideology leads professionals to sidestep ‘necessary truths’ about obesity to avoid giving offense.” Instead of framing obesity as an oppressed identity, it should be addressed as a treatable medical condition
Miceli also told The Fixthat obese patients deserve “dignity and compassionate care” that includes telling them the truth, not promoting social-justice narratives that suggest that “everything is okay.”
Approaches should focus on real treatments that promote longevity and health, such as lifestyle changes, pharmacological options, or surgical interventions, he said
But the Fat Justice Working Group is not focused on these things
Its webpage claims that the extra cost of plus-sized clothing is a product of anti-fat bias and financial injustice.
“The realization that larger-bodied individuals routinely face unjust financial penalties when purchasing apparel was a concern that could not be ignored,” it states
In response, the school administration drew from the Anti-Racism and Social Justice budget to give special clothing coupons to overweight students, according to its website
The SPH called the initiative a “significant step towards inclusivity and size equity.”
The Fix reached out to the current leaders of the working group as well as Kelly Malakaua, the communications and marketing director of the school, for more information on the initiative and their response to Miceli’s concerns. Neither responded
Oregon’s School of Public Health is not the first public university to embrace obesity.
Last year, a Speech First report found that top medical schools are enforcing the concept of “weight inclusivity,” The College Fix previously reported.
For example, the University of Texas at Austin Dell Medical School offers a “Developing Outstanding Clinical Skills” program that teaches students to embrace “weight inclusivity, arguing that weight-loss strategies foster a ‘culture of shame.’”
Students are also instructed to avoid terms such as “overweight” or “obese.”
