22-07-2025
Weighing in on the fat-shaming debate
Doctors are once again being urged to use 'positive' language when telling patients they are overweight after 74 people in the past year complained that they were 'fat shamed'. A Freedom of Information request revealed that one person was mightily offended that the doctor told them they were effectively carrying 'two suitcases'. (Of lard, I presume, not holiday bikinis.)
Is that really all that bad? It strikes me as quite a good metaphor to describe the strain of extra weight on the body and joints. How do you tell someone they are obese in a life-enhancing way? 'The bad news, madam, is you have coronary heart disease. The good news is you'll be most popular on the chubby chasers' disco night.'
I know food addiction deserves as much sympathy as any other and that fat shaming is cruel. But it's not as if the doctor dramatically scissored his/her arms as the patient entered the room, crying, 'Stand back! Pauline the pavement-cracker coming through!' And it could have been worse. Consider the man told by his GP: 'Don't eat anything fatty.' 'You mean burgers and bacon, doctor?' the patient asked. 'No, fatty. Don't eat anything,' came the reply (OK, it's an old one). I feel more for another patient who was told the reason they couldn't see was because their 'face was too fat'. That's a boggling mental image. Was the patient a shar pei?
