Why is under-eating more demonized than overeating in society?

[Dags90]

I would prefer to think of them as far from hard-and-fast rules. The kind that don't account for variations from a mean.

You mean like a statistical tool meant to be applied to large populations where the exceptions on either side will roughly cancel each other out? Because that's sort of the whole reason it was devised, and it's pretty good at that.


I would say that it's much more socially acceptable to make comments on someone's thinness or lack of eating than it is to mention obesity or overeating. I've heard girls gossiping about the amount other girls eat as being too little way more than talking about how someone is a fatty. Maybe just because anorexia is less common and therefore more interesting.

There's also notable gender disparity. Being a little (10-20 lbs) overweight is considered no real biggie for dudes, being similarly underweight brings in a whole host of issue of manliness and gender roles.

 

[loc978]

I would prefer to think of them as far from hard-and-fast rules. The kind that don't account for variations from a mean.

You mean like a statistical tool meant to be applied to large populations where the exceptions on either side will roughly cancel each other out? Because that's sort of the whole reason it was devised, and it's pretty good at that.


I would say that it's much more socially acceptable to make comments on someone's thinness or lack of eating than it is to mention obesity or overeating. I've heard girls gossiping about the amount other girls eat as being too little way more than talking about how someone is a fatty. Maybe just because anorexia is less common and therefore more interesting.

There's also notable gender disparity. Being a little (10-20 lbs) overweight is considered no real biggie for dudes, being similarly underweight brings in a whole host of issue of manliness and gender roles.

Except that it's not just used as a statistical tool, it's used as a standard that individuals are told in no uncertain terms to stay within. I should know, in the army my leadership had to measure my neck to waist ratio every single PT test, despite my quite obvious fitness (also, that came with a mandatory "counseling statement" about being overweight despite passing by a wide margin every time. Those go into your personnel file and reflect badly on you for promotion consideration). Security, police, and various other jobs with a physical fitness requirement also judge a person's performance partly based on BMI. Works for most people, so they don't bother changing it... doesn't stop it from being bullshit.

As for social demonization... I still haven't seen it, but then, the "mean girl" thing stereotypically happens outside the view of "guys" like myself. Just because I've never encountered it doesn't mean it's not happening when I leave the room... but dudes making fun of other dudes for being skinny? I've seen it in movies from the 50s... even in the army we were just jealous of their ability to run 4-5 minute miles effortlessly and their status as a much smaller target than the rest of us. Where the fuck is that sort of shaming actually a thing?

...also, I'm aware this is probably a difference in social groups, rather than regions. I tend to avoid excessively fashionable suburban people, whom I tend to think of less-than-charitably as "vain" (or, depending on their level of flamboyance, maliciously as "useless fashion victims"). Most of my friends, male or female, are of the same mind.

 

[FalloutJack]

Is it? I don't recall anybody saying this. As I recall, both runaway obesity and not-eating (anorexia and bulimia) were both terrible conditions. Speaking as someone who IS overweight, there are some people out there who shock the hell out of me. I can carry myself, long and hard, even fast. I'm strong too. But I hear about the Katamaris rolling around Walmart and I'm like "DAYUM!". That ain't right. The trouble is that too thin is also horrifying too. You only see the flaws and you half-starve to the point where your body can't even retain heat. Neither of these is worse than the other. They're both bad, so stop doing it!

 

[Emaruse]

And also, where I'm from, it actually costs quite a lot more to buy healthy food than junk food, seeing as I can get a full meal that can last for a few days and is unhealthy to a point for $5, but that much can only get me small fruits and stuff. Actual Vegetables in good supply, healthy food choices instead of junk food substitutes, vitamin waters & super milks cost about $5 just for one of said thing, if not more money involved where I am.

Although I SERIOUSLY disagree with the person's post who you are responding to, they are largely right about the whole "healthy food is way more expensive" idea being a myth. This is probably the most reliable diet I've come across and I've been into health and fitness for 13 years:
http://gizmodo.com/5709913/4+hour-body-+-the-slow+carb-diet

Scroll about halfway down the page and you'll see that one person managed to do this diet on an average meal cost of $1.34 a meal, or about $4.02 a day. No, seriously. Now obviously this is in the states, but assuming you live in a first world country I can't imagine the difference being too extreme.

Also, all those vitamin waters, supers milks, etc. aren't necessary, and a lot of them are just complete rip-offs.

Wow, you know what's spooky? I've been doing this diet plan for the past four years to 90% Accuracy! And I personally never knew this plan existed. Only things I've been doing off, is drinking Kool-Aid, which is sugar, avoiding sodas until one day specifically in the week, and other than that, I followed this plan perfectly without ever knowing said plan at all. And you know what's really screwed up? My drinking Kool-Aid hasn't made me gain more weight, especially since I've been drinking it everyday. Matter of fact, I've been losing weight each month because of that and constant exercise each day, proving once and for all that Kool-Aid doesn't make you fat, especially if you exercise each day and eat in moderation.

Thanks for showing me the origin source of my diet plan! But yeah, they are rip-offs most of the time, and I just found it best to exercise by walking 30min-1hr each day, or double/triple it on one day in particular, to keep my body focused. Eating Moderately actually saves far more money imo than going pure junk or pure healthy in my honest opinion. And before anyone asks, I was way heavier a long time ago, now I'm just skinny fat, and I love it that way. Althought, getting just a little bit more weight off wouldn't be too bad XD

 

[BNguyen]

Based on what I've seen, it seems that it's supposed to be the other way around. Most fast food places have shrunk their meal sizes, put in apples and yogurt, etc. And the recent legislation to limit the sizes of drinks that could be bought thing.
I mean, look at McDonald's happy meal fries size - they are essentially giving you five or six potato sticks, not even an actual french fry at this point.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

Fat people are regarded and depicted as gross, revolting, unattractive, unintelligent and legitimate targets for ridicule. People who under-eat are, at the very worst, pitied as victims of body image and the media.

You must come from a very different place than I come from, because where I live it is pretty much demonized if somebody has an eating disorder such as bulimia or anorexia, but obesity is more or less fine. Then again, I live in the States where everybody is fat, so this could be totally different in other countries, or even just different parts of the US. Its just from my experience people have been OK with being fat, but not eating is despicable.

I live in California and it's literally nothing like that. The vast majority of the people I know think obesity is disgusting, more so than something like anorexia. Maybe it's because we aren't taught to deep fry everything around here.

 

[Alorxico]

I think under-eating is "demonized" more than over-eating because, until recently, over-eating wasn't a problem. Under-eating, starving yourself to be beautiful, was the problem that was negatively affecting children and society is only NOW realizing that the other direction is just as bad.

I'll give you an example. When I was in high-school, this would be about 15 years ago, I remember being shown a made-for-TV movie in my Health Class about a mother who was so obsessed with being thin and having thin, beautiful daughters that she mentally abused her two daughters to the point that one had to be put in a mental institution. There were TONS of movies like that, and even dramas that weren't specifically about weight issues had that crazy, insecure girl who constantly starved herself hoping she would be popular because she was skinny or because her parents' abused her and she couldn't stand eating. The only "fat" movie I remember was "Heavy Weights", a comedy about a bunch of over-weight boys being sent to summer camp by their parents to have a "normal summer" with kids like them, but it gets bought out by an exercise guru who tries to force them to lose weight. The boys over-throw the new owner and prove that being physically fit and attractive doesn't mean you are smart when they win, hands-down, the end-of-summer games that combine athletic events and trivia games against the neighboring camp of rich, skinny kids.

The demonization of over-eating and being fat is relatively new, probably less than two or three years old. Two weeks ago, the American Medical Association declared obesity a disease that affects 1 in 3 Americans. That's insane. Being over-weight isn't any worse OR any better than being under-weight, it still negatively affects your healthy. The only reason they made it a disease is so there could be another group of people on whom they could force medication!

Sorry, but that just ticks me off to no end! Bad eating habits, be it too little or too much, can only be fixed by educating people about health and healthy eating, NOT forcing drugs down their throats!

 

[Ihateregistering1]

And also, where I'm from, it actually costs quite a lot more to buy healthy food than junk food, seeing as I can get a full meal that can last for a few days and is unhealthy to a point for $5, but that much can only get me small fruits and stuff. Actual Vegetables in good supply, healthy food choices instead of junk food substitutes, vitamin waters & super milks cost about $5 just for one of said thing, if not more money involved where I am.

Although I SERIOUSLY disagree with the person's post who you are responding to, they are largely right about the whole "healthy food is way more expensive" idea being a myth. This is probably the most reliable diet I've come across and I've been into health and fitness for 13 years:
http://gizmodo.com/5709913/4+hour-body-+-the-slow+carb-diet

Scroll about halfway down the page and you'll see that one person managed to do this diet on an average meal cost of $1.34 a meal, or about $4.02 a day. No, seriously. Now obviously this is in the states, but assuming you live in a first world country I can't imagine the difference being too extreme.

Also, all those vitamin waters, supers milks, etc. aren't necessary, and a lot of them are just complete rip-offs.

Wow, you know what's spooky? I've been doing this diet plan for the past four years to 90% Accuracy! And I personally never knew this plan existed. Only things I've been doing off, is drinking Kool-Aid, which is sugar, avoiding sodas until one day specifically in the week, and other than that, I followed this plan perfectly without ever knowing said plan at all. And you know what's really screwed up? My drinking Kool-Aid hasn't made me gain more weight, especially since I've been drinking it everyday. Matter of fact, I've been losing weight each month because of that and constant exercise each day, proving once and for all that Kool-Aid doesn't make you fat, especially if you exercise each day and eat in moderation.

Thanks for showing me the origin source of my diet plan! But yeah, they are rip-offs most of the time, and I just found it best to exercise by walking 30min-1hr each day, or double/triple it on one day in particular, to keep my body focused. Eating Moderately actually saves far more money imo than going pure junk or pure healthy in my honest opinion. And before anyone asks, I was way heavier a long time ago, now I'm just skinny fat, and I love it that way. Althought, getting just a little bit more weight off wouldn't be too bad XD

Really, the diet that I posted isn't anything particularly new, it's essentially just the South Beach diet with a greater emphasis on avoiding fruit and adding the "cheat day" once a week.

You're right, having a little bit of sugar once a day is fine, avoiding carbs is really the most important thing of all unless you're someone who works out a huge amount.

 

[Vegosiux]

You're right, having a little bit of sugar once a day is fine, avoiding carbs is really the most important thing of all unless you're someone who works out a huge amount.

Or unless you're some lucky git like me, with metabolism like a cheetah that's high on energy drinks.

But yes, I'll join in with the crowd that points out that overweight people have a lot more vitriol flung their way.

 

[Charli]

...Pardon? Okay everyone has pretty much summed up what I already know

Anorexic and Bulimic people are far more widely pitied and offered help... or envied by utterly stupid people.

Fatter people are often more reviled and given abusive treatment...

And I think that's true everywhere or you live in a rather backward community.

 

[Resetti's_Replicas]

I think you've got your antennae twisted up, because you're comparing apples to oranges. Lost of people undereat to get thin, but very few overeat with the intention of getting fat. I'm not sure if you're referring to everyone who's conscientious about their calorie intake, or just those who starve themselves, but the latter is "demonized" because it's very unhealthy and could kill you.

 

[DementedSheep]

In general its not as many people have already pointed out.

It is with some of the Polynesian cultures though. Many seem to view obese as being healthy and being skinny as not healthy. If your not piling up your plate they either think your sick or you don't like their food.

 

[Hagi]

While I do think overeating is demonized way more. There are a few situations where under-eating can make people angry. Some people take it as a personal insult if you turn down offered food, especially if they were the ones who cooked it.

I would add to that that at least in the case of men (not sure about women) under-eating does come with mockery during meals itself, especially meals where you're expected to indulge. Not eating much at say a large BBQ definitely will get you mocked, and not just in 'friendly' ways, as well as your manliness questioned (whatever exactly that may be...) and sometimes straight-up insults and anger.

Definitely not more than overeating though, but at least where I come from it's not made anywhere as glorious as some other posters are claiming.

 

[Use_Imagination_here]

Fur realz? Where I come from (Finland) neither group has any serious attention payed to them most of the time, much less negative attention. The government puts more taxes on sweets and soda because people eat too much of them, expecially candy (Finland probably has the larger collection of different sweets in an average market than another country would have in a candy store). But overall no ones going to comment either way, or particularly care.

Of course obesity isn't as large a problem here, according to statistics or my personal experience, I feel that a whole bunch of people are overweight, but hardly anyone is obese to the point of being a health danger (its still a problem of course). But that also means that the kids who actually are obese can be isolated more, since there aren't that many of them but that's a whole nother can of worms.

 

[CrystalShadow]

I should think any body type beyond "average" gets demonized one way or the other these days.

And isn't that the crux of it, what the fuck is "average"?

By World Health Organization standards, any weight that results in a Body Mass Index higher than 18.5 and lower than 25. Apparently if you have a BMI lower than 18.5 you're underweight, if you're higher than 25 you're overweight (physically unhealthy) and higher than 30 is diagnosed as morbid obesity. If you're anywhere between 18.5 and 25, science declares you "average" - or healthy, which I think is a prettier word.

Yeah, but that's from political pressure in and of itself.

25 is actually the midpoint. below 25 is 'underweight', above 25 is 'overweight', because 25 is the exact 'ideal' weight according to BMI calculations.

Incedentally, original definitions put anything between 20 and 30 as healthy, but the whole 'overweight' stigma seems to have killed that, and the extension down to 18.5 still being considered healthy is entirely due to the fact that most models would otherwise be classed as severely underweight.

Are you sure about this? Because I'm well below 25 and hardly model material. If you were to gather everybody I know into one room (it's doable) and repeat this to the point where you conclude I'm underweight because I have a 22 BMI, they would die laughing and I with them.

You're misunderstanding what I said. - I have a BMI in the region of 20-21, and even I still look a little pudgy in places.

What I said is, 20-30 is 'healthy', but above 25 is 'overweight', and below '25' is 'underweight'. - That doesn't mean that being 'underweight' makes you skinny, or even that you'd look good. (looks are not what BMI defines in the first place). Merely that your weight is below the 'ideal'.

That should be obvious from defining 25 EXACTLY as 'ideal'. If you define a single value as ideal, then by definition anything that varies from that point will be under or over-weight.

That's not really a particularly important point beyond the fact that generally anything between 20 and 30 is not something to worry about.

(besides, if you were a model, your BMI would probably be in the region of 15-20 or less even. XD - I did say it was lowered to 18.5 just to avoid having a whole heap of models declared as dangerously underweight didn't it? )

BMI should be taken with a grain of salt regardless. It's a ridiculously simple calculation.


That reminds me...

I have an incredibly unhealthy diet by all accounts, and have a BMI that hovers around the 21 mark, and has at times dropped into the 19 area... My 'ideal weight' according to BMI calculations would require me to gain well over 10 kg, which is quite ridiculous when you think about it, and I certainly doubt I'd be any healthier for it...

Eh. Seems like a pointless measure to base anything off...