>> Stigma around weight is
pervasive in the U.S.
Researchers documented negative
attitudes towards overweight
bodies and children as young as
three years old.
As a new book outlines,
antitheft bias is
counterproductive.
It exasperates health
disparities.
Peter is here with intervention
efforts.
Stephanie spoke with Aubrey
Gordon, whose New York Times
bestseller aims to combat this
bias.
>> Arbery Gordon's second book,
you just need to lose weight,
and 19 other myths about fat
people leaves scientific
research and his own personal
experiences into a handbook for
people she writes are struggling
to interrupt moments of
anti-fatness.
>> Thank you for being with us.
I'm uncomfortable using the word
fat.
It feels unkind to say.
One of the things you write is
fat is a neutral descriptor for
plus size people.
Explain why you would rather
that descriptor be used than
ones who are less fraught?
I totally understand many folks
are uncomfortable with the word
fat.
Most of us have learned it is an
unkind word to use.
What it means in my daily life
as a fat person is any time I
reference my size, what ends up
happening is most people correct
me and say you are not fat, you
are beautiful, or you are fun,
you are smart.
Which is very revealing of the
biases we attach to the word
fat, and our ideas about fat
people.
Some of the more neutral words
folks will use our obese, which
the Latin origin is to have
eaten oneself fat.
It is already presuming you are
here because of gluttony, you
could not control yourself.
Personally, I prefer the word
fat, it is very straightforward.
Everyone can use whatever word
for their own bodies.
For me, that is fine.
>> Let's talk about the myth you
described.
In the medical field, one of
which is it is a myth doctors
are neutral judges of health,
that they are not bias.
In your experience and that of
others you describe is a lot of
bias in the medical field.
>> I would say health care
providers go through an immense
amount of technical training.
But they don't actually go
through is training to check and
challenge their own biases.
What we see from research is fat
patients get office visits that
are considerably shorter than
people.
They are more likely to face
misdiagnosis for things as
profound as cancer or any number
of chronic or terminal illnesses
because the recommendations they
are met with our comeback when
you have lost weight.
If that does not take care of
it, we will look into it.
Many end up postponing care,
avoiding contacting health care
providers.
Many have worse health outcomes
as a result.
>> Yet we are hearing over and
over again from the CDC, the
world health organization, the
American association of
pediatrics, obesity is a
problem.
I'm curious to ask about how you
feel about the recent guidelines
issued by the American
association of pediatrics
recommending interventions for
obesity in children as young as
two?
I know there has been pushed
back.
The medical world is still
saying we need to do something.
>> I would say it is totally
fine to talk about health risks
related to being a fat person.
The American academy of
pediatrics is recommending
dietary interventions as young
as two.
Weight loss drugs, and weight
loss surgery in permanent body
altering and life altering
lifelong surgical procedure as
young as 13.
As someone who in my teenagers
took -- considered to be a
miracle diet drug, pulled from
the market in two years because
it caused people's hearts to
stop and their lungs to fill
with fluid until they
essentially drowned.
I came to this conversation with
someone who has seen this before
who has taken these miracle
drugs.
And who now lives with the
reality of being essentially a
ticking time bomb essentially of
future health outcomes related
to my heart.
What I would love is more
curiosity and nuance.
Any interest in the quality of
life, the life experiences, and
needs of fat patients feels like
what is missing from this
conversation.
Many folks with a great deal of
clinical expertise.
They are telling folks with a
great deal of lived experience
what we ought to be aiming for
and what we really need.
>> Building off of what you are
saying, the importance of a
lived experience, people moving
through the world with a larger
frame, a larger body, and I know
you prefer me to say fat -- I'm
still not comfortable with it.
>> You say what you want.
I'm here for it.
>>>> Is the experience of
flying.
What you describe as humiliating
for people to be seated in a
plane.
Those are things that can
tangibly change.
Is it what you are hoping for
out of this book and your
podcast and the other things?
>> Absolutely.
I would love for things to
change.
It is a profoundly humiliating
experience or can be to be a fat
person on a plane.
It is part of a process we have
become comfortable with.
The small talk of being on a
plane is often how was your
flight?
It was terrible, I had to sit
next to a fat person.
We don't stop to consider what
that person's experience is, and
where the responsibility lie.
No one is mad at Boeing or
airbus after their flight.
They are upset with me and that
feels misdirected and
unproductive.
Much more measure of bias and
interest in solving a problem.
>> Arbery Gordon, the author of
you just need to lose weight,
and 19 other myths about fat
people.
Thank you so much.
>> Thank you for having me, this
is a treat.