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CAMPOS: Fight food fascists' effrontery

By Paul Campos, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published November 19, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

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Last week I gave a talk before the Boulder Ensemble Theatre's production of Neil LaBute's play Fat Pig. The play revolves around a workplace romance between a conventionally attractive (read: slim) man and a fat woman.

In today's society this plot represents an informal taboo vaguely similar to that explored 40 years ago in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, when the suave but very black Sidney Poitier shocked the very white Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn by showing up as their daughter's dinner date.

My talk involved points I've made hundreds times over the past few years, to audiences ranging in size from a dozen high school students to a few million TV viewers.

I spoke about how the definition of "overweight" used by our public health authorities is a bunch of completely unscientific garbage, created by pharmaceutical companies eager to push the next generation of diet drugs through the regulatory pipeline.

I described the absurdity of various widely held ideas about weight: that we know how to make people thinner (we don't); that haranguing people about their weight is doing them a favor (it isn't); and that the reason there are fat kids in America is that fat kids haven't been informed that it's considered desirable in this culture to be thin.

This last bit of rampant insanity, which is at the center of the government's current response to the panic over "childhood obesity," makes about as much sense as arguing that poor people are poor because they haven't been informed it's considered desirable in this culture to be rich.

Anyway, my favorite part of these talks is usually the question-and-answer period, which gives people in the audience a chance to relate their own experiences.

On this occasion, the most memorable comment was made by a young woman, who spoke of becoming extremely ill and losing a good bit of weight as a result, and then getting complimented by people who had never noticed she was sick, but now noticed she was thin.

I've heard some variation on this story many times, and, even for someone who has spent years dealing with our social craziness over body size, it never fails to produce a certain sense of shock and awe.

"How did you do it?" people are asked (meaning how did they lose weight), when the true answer is "I got cancer" or "I became deeply depressed after my spouse left me" or "I haven't been able to enjoy food since my child died."

Unfortunately, fat people - or people who have been fat - are socialized to always be apologetic when other people ask them wildly inappropriate questions about their bodies, so it's rare that the questioners get what they deserve in these situations, which is a frank answer.

On this occasion, the young woman's story of illness and the reactions she got to it drove home the extent to which our culture's worship of emaciated female bodies is driven by a hatred of life, health, food and pleasure - that is, by a kind of logic of self-mortification similar to that practiced by medieval flagellants, but without the excuse that such behavior is pleasing to God.

At the end of the evening I tried to suggest that the best way to combat this madness is through individual acts of rebellion.

Get angry at the lies that bombard us 24 hours a day about what's supposedly wrong with our bodies.

Get angry about a culture that's dedicated to making people try to fix things about themselves that aren't broken.

Eat a doughnut and tell a food fascist it tasted pretty damn good. Light a copy of Vogue on fire.

The revolution starts one body at a time.

Paul Campos is a professor of law at the University of Colorado. He can be reached at paul.campos@colorado.edu.

Comments

  • November 19, 2008

    4:03 a.m.

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    roger44 writes:

    fact of life Paul, slim women are more attractive to men. Some prefer the heavier ones, but that percentage is low. I do agree on the point about the drug companies, they get on the bandwagon and sell stuff that they know won't work, the fat ones are looking for a miracle cure that does not involves exercise. Those ads are getting to be the same as the political ads, 98% lies.

  • November 19, 2008

    7:04 a.m.

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    VVVV writes:

    Mr. Campos, once again I think you are only scratching the surface. Take a look at the typical sitcom. A fat man has a skinny wife. You even see bald fat men in TV commercials that are bumbling idiots with models for wives. It isn't about just fat and thin. It's about the fairy tale lies we fool ourselves into believing life is like. Fantasy has washed over reality to the point that attractiveness and sex are pervading our children younger and younger. When our communal values become shallow and meaningless, our population forgoes education for sex and we effectively screw ourselves stupid. We are devolving based on the laws of natural selection, and the only end of that road is ruin.

    Sadly, changing values takes a power greater than ourselves. It takes inspiration to create a fantasy of intelligence and immortality in the absence of attractiveness that has the power to pull people away from their status quo, giving up their TV sound bites for something more substantial. In other words, short of the greatest story, roll model, or necessity in 1000 years, we are doomed.

  • November 19, 2008

    7:24 a.m.

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    RJS07 writes:

    I'm honestly reeling in shock that this came from the pen of Campos. I actually agree with him.

  • November 19, 2008

    7:34 a.m.

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    Mike_In_Hartsel writes:

    RJS07 - I agree. Mr Campos, very good article.

  • November 19, 2008

    8:03 a.m.

    RS writes:

    (This comment was removed by the site staff.)

  • November 19, 2008

    5:52 p.m.

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    NerdyHistoryGirl writes:

    I think that we need to move away from the misunderstanding that overweight automatically equals unhealthy and skinny automatically equals healthy. A skinny person who eats nothing but junk food and only exercises one or twice a week is not better off than an overweight person with the same lifestyle. Statistical associations between obesity and a variety of diseases is not the same thing as causation. We have become so afraid of obesity that we have stopped looking at it critically.

    In addition, we need to separate the body ideal from a healthy lifestyle. Just because someone is not thin does not mean that they are living a healthy lifestyle. And the reverse can also be true.

  • November 19, 2008

    5:55 p.m.

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    Buckshot_Magee writes:

    Anyone remember the comedian Redd Foxx ? He was the junk dealer Sanford on the 70's sitcom Sanford and Son. Anyway, he also did shows in Vegas. One of his most memorable lines was "see a fat kid - follow him home, and a fat parent will let him in the house - everytime". Sage observation...

  • November 19, 2008

    7:48 p.m.

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    Mike846 writes:

    I see some of our typicially liberal posters are off on another "cry wolf" crusade. Maybe if parents fed their kids right, sent them out to play in the sun, and maybe if the schools emphasized physical education instead of advanced condom application methods, and maybe if the schools took the vending machines out of the buildings, we might begin to see a few less fatties. Oh. What was I thinking? That would mean people taking personal responsibility for things! Obviously, I need sent to a re-education camp and given a little red book to waive. Mike

  • November 19, 2008

    11:04 p.m.

    dougers writes:

    (This comment was removed by the site staff.)

  • November 20, 2008

    11:26 a.m.

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    ThisFatLady writes:

    To Mike846: My child takes PE 5 days per week. She eats fruits and vegetables, rarely drinks soda, and the only vending machines in her school dispense bottled water. I take full responsibility for her dietary habits and lifestyle and believe both will stand up to any scrutiny. Guess what? She's still fat. Where, in your rush to accuse and point fingers, is there room for the idea that people naturally come in all shapes and sizes?

  • November 20, 2008

    11:31 a.m.

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    ThisFatLady writes:

    Buckshot_Magee: It doesn't sound like a particularly sage observation to me, but rather simply stating the obvious. Follow a red-headed kid home, chances are a red-headed parent will open the door, too. Tall kid, tall parent; kid with a big nose, parent with a big nose, and so forth. Fat kid/fat parent, it's no different. It doesn't take a geneticist to figure this one out.

  • November 21, 2008

    9:43 a.m.

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    SlouchingTowardBoulder writes:

    10 to 1 that Mr. Campos was a fat little toadie growing up and continues to smart from that.

  • November 21, 2008

    12:55 p.m.

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    rambam1776 writes:

    A couple of (you would think!) obvious comments need to be made:

    1 – Barring unusual medical conditions or similar disqualifiers, the FACT remains that if the average person eats intelligently in proper proportions from the appropriate food groups and takes an adequate amount of intelligent exercise, that person should generically be healthy and thinner. Notice the ‘er’ on thin. Body types and so forth make a difference. However, unless a person has an odd condition, being hugely overweight and jiggley-fat means you eat garbage in large amounts and sit on your butt. I should know!

    2 – As to what is attractive, while it IS true that culture and individuality come into play, numerous studies have shown that symmetry and litheness (almost always equals a degree of thinness) are universally recognized to be attractive. Keep in mind that we have been human for perhaps 150,000 years, and been living in huge citied societies for about 3-5 thousand. Our instincts are for the jungle, and the jungle promotes health as equal to attractiveness. Hence; red lips, chest size, proper proportions, child bearing hips, lustrous hair, etc. Any woman or man who possesses symmetry and the typical old empirical beauty aspects will be seen as attractive. The fat or disfigured hit the lizard section of the observer’s brain and register as unattractive. You can pretend anything else you want for any reason you want, but human attractiveness is based on the reproductive instinct. Anything else is simply an individual fetish. Stop wasting my time with your PC fantasies. Sex is so simple a caveman could do it.

  • November 22, 2008

    10:33 p.m.

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    hoopoe36 writes:

    So Campos wants us to get angry about reality. Fat kills. Fat drives up health care costs for all of us. Fat is not attractive. Fat people don't get laid as much. Excess fat is not justified by the epidemic of anorexia/bulimia. They're both dysfunctional. And by the way, the media couldn't sell the public on non-fat bodies as the ideal if there weren't an underlying, naturally-selected bias for 'normal' body weight as rambam1776 rightly points out.

    Campos thinking derives, I think, from the supremacy of the nurture over nature thinking which peaked in academia in the 60s through 80s. Nothing was thought to be determined by biology and the human being was thought to be a blank slate. Scientific research has proven this mindset to be ideological, not empirical. How inconvenient for mal-educated folks like Campos. Not that they pay any attention to science that doesn't agree with their preconceptions.

  • November 23, 2008

    6:15 p.m.

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    FatNSassy writes:

    I totally agree with Mr. Campos. We should rebel against the food police. As a sociologist who has researched the issue myself, I can tell you the real reason behind all the health scares are profit. Weight obsession is one way billions get transferred from the middle class to the corporate elite. Lets see, they drive our country to the ground, they bring our economy to ruin and then ask for tax payer money, they diminish quality of life for future generations, but they have the nerve to complain the average worker may be enjoying a meal or two! Maybe some folks out there like being serfs, but I have had enough. It is time Americans look up from their scales to see all the ways in which they have been duped! And YES, go ahead and enjoy your holiday food. Because in the hard times ahead, we may once again be grateful for some extra padding.

  • November 24, 2008

    10:11 a.m.

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    WestminsterJ writes:

    Campos is right about the unrealistic and unhealthy body images for women, but he's wrong on everything else. The truth is, we are largely a nation of gluttons. Of course we don't think that's a serious thing, but in traditional Christian ethics gluttony was one of the seven deadly sins. But we modern Americans know so much better than that.

  • November 24, 2008

    5:12 p.m.

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    Dixie8 writes:

    YAY Campos! As someone who has lived in all but 5 states in the US & in many countries outside the US, I can say that it's time to evolve out of the jungle. Red lips, big chests=shallow monkey brain. Surely intelligence, kindness, shared laughter counts for more than rambam's jungle-ism. Until age 45 (when I suffered serious health issues), I was always 20 lbs. underweight without being anorexic or bulemic. I was highly active, 5'10 & 118 lbs. from age 18-45. Men found me outrageously attractive & it was a pain to have guys following me around. I got a good MD, good meds & put on weight. I'm now 56, 185 lbs. and very healthy. When I was young & slim, I was always sick with strep throat, shingles, flu etc. I haven't had a cold in 10 years. My BP is 110/65. My HDL is low. My husband tells me every day how gorgeous I am (22 years of marriage). Our Romantic life is Wild. We have friends in Germany & Scotland. Many are "fat" & in their 80s, still climbing mountains & coming down to enjoy bratwurst, beer & dancing. Americans are insane about weight. Get out & LIVE. Welcome to the New Jungle: Free to be happy. Gotta go, that fresh baked bread is ready to come out of the oven & be slathered with French cheese, artichokes are done to a "T" and my husband is saying "YUM," ready for dinner & for Love!

  • November 25, 2008

    5:39 p.m.

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    HopiMedicineMan writes:

    This is the best column ever written by Campos. He totally found himself. The obesity epidemic is because there's too much food. Soon there will be too little food and we'll have a lot of skinny people. We'll complain about that too. And the phamceutical companies will sell concentrated fat in pill form, paid for by universal healthcare.

    Personally, I like big, fat, round, jiggly women.