In academic news:

Says the website of the University Heath Service:

Much like fatness, in fact.

Weight stigma in athletics. I’d better write that one down. The site also stresses the importance of “body positivity,” which is,

Well, losing some of that excess weight would probably help on that front. Less crippling self-consciousness. Less sweating and wheezing, too. We also learn that “weight stigma” is perpetuated by language. Not, say, by being massively fat and the problems that so often follow from that.

At which point, sharp-eyed readers will notice that the direction of all this effort is away from the actual problem.

Well, again, obesity will do that. Best, then, to keep oneself in some reasonable proportion. Rather than faffing about with five-dollar bits of cardboard that make it clear just how neurotic you’ve become. As a result of being fat.

Update, via the comments:

Svh quotes this from the university’s website:

And adds,

Well, quite. And it has to be said, if you’re unwell and are avoiding going to the doctor because you can’t bear the prospect of being asked how much you weigh, this doesn’t sound like “body positivity.” Indeed, the very notion of “body positivity” will likely be of interest only to people who very much don’t feel “positive” about their bodies.

Say, on account of being fat.

And then there’s this, from the College Fix article:

Because – and I say this will love – you’re too fat for the chairs.

So, at risk of sounding insensitive, a choice comes to mind. You can either try to reorganise your every interaction with the universe – every encounter with chairs, mirrors, small spaces, stairs, and so forth – and drag everyone else into some never-ending drama in an attempt to ease your hangups – or you can, you know, dial back on the carbs and sugar and take a brisk walk.

I mean, the thing you can hope to control is not other people.

Update 2:

This seems apposite. Luana Maroja, a professor of biology at Williams College, ventures into the belly of “fat studies” and reports on what she finds:

There follows much to chew on. Including claims by supposed educators that “a healthy diet is [whatever] you like to eat,” that fat people are oppressed by dieting and by other people not wishing to be fat, and that such preferences are a form of “white supremacy.” Oh, and the desire not to be fat oneself – dubbed “fat fascism” – is all about racism and the “subjugation” of Palestinians.

Also, chairs are discriminatory and a cause of health problems. Unlike being fat.

Among the educators in question, there was, inevitably, a lot of pretending not to understand things.

Update 3:

Commenter Chow Bag quotes this,

And adds,

The participants do seem to be devoting an awful lot of effort to their word salad and contrivance – and blatant lies – all geared towards avoidance and displacement. Again, the direction of the rhetoric is away from the actual problem. They seem willing to perform almost any mental contortion in order to avoid acknowledging the obvious about themselves and their behaviour.

And so, for instance, we’re told that very fat cancer patients shouldn’t be advised to lose weight, as this is “discrimination,” an outrageous emotional injury, even though their obesity has numerous, quite serious, well-documented consequences in terms of treatment options, complications, likelihood of recovery, long-term survival, etc.

It’s not politics. It’s psychodrama. Albeit in bad political drag.

It’s tempting to invert the scenario and to imagine some gathering of the Anorexics Liberation Front. A roomful of alarmingly cadaverous young women complaining about the alienating vastness of chairs, and about how anyone concerned by the attendees’ self-harming behaviour – say, parents, spouses or children – is being oppressive and racist.

Consider this an open thread. Share ye links and bicker.

Pies and cakes available on request.