And another thing!
One thing I have seen a lot of lately is the general acceptance that BMI is crap. However, the idea comes attached to logic that goes like this:
“The BMI says I am fat but I am totally not fat so it is crap!”
The problem with this is that it still stigmatizes fat. And that just pisses me right off.
The BMI is crap because it proports to make a connection between a truly arbitrary number and the health of an individual with no regard for individuals. It is crap for all people – fat people, thin people, underweight people.
Not everyone has the ability to resculpt their body. It is not a matter of finding the secret and correct combination of foods. And, more importantly, acknowledging that it isn’t possible for everyone is a useful thing. It doesn’t minimize the accomplishment of anyone who HAS been able to set physical goals and succeed with them. And the reasons why not everyone can accomplish these goals don’t even matter. It is irrelevant whether someone can’t do it because of genetics, illness, or mental exhaustion. Totally not important.
The BMI is crap for all of us, muscled or fat or thin or whatever. accepting that BMI is crap does not need to come with a fat-shame rider attached.
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SO TRUE.
i have been feeling the same way about that new tv show, “how to look good naked” (or whatever). in some ways, it’s encouraging, but it also spends energy proving to women that they are less fat than they thought they were, thus reinforcing the old anti-fat prejudice.
So very true. I am tall, muscular, and maybe 30 pounds above my best-feeling-best-looking weight. But my BMI is a point short of “obese.”
I don’t care if the BMI or even people say that I’m fat, but I’m annoyed that it’s used as the be all end all number for determining health. Because of that number, I’ve had doctors decide there’s no way I could be regularly working out and fairly careful about what I eat, and feel justified in focusing on “fat” as my main “problem.” It’s a diagnostic tool that’s worst than useless, clouding the whole process with body shame.
I hear you. Fair enough.
The shocking realization that someone we consider to be only pleasingly squeezy is “morbidly obese,” or someone we consider to be slender is “overweight” is often the first step toward dismantling faith in numbers altogether. It certainly was for me when I was still wrapping my head around the whole thing. I saw that the BMI wasn’t accurate for myself, and that made me question why, and so I learned more about it. In doing so I discovered ALL the reasons it’s totally screwed up, and became even more outraged. That visual hook, though, was the stumbling block I couldn’t get past.
We’ve discussed people’s idea of what weight actually looks like before; many people have no idea what 200 pounds looks like, let alone anything above that.
I think if we can discuss these things and illustrate them without getting into fat = bad territory, then it’s of great benefit, because it helps people to see that the numbers and categories they use to make and justify their judgments do not actually represent the things they thought they did.
The illustrated BMI project, and the various illustrated weight projects and posts, shock people. A lot. And that’s good. Anything that dismantles an entrenched untruth, anything that helps to take apart the elaborate cage of lies surrounding the truth, that shows people that what they assume to be true is false, has potential to be useful.
We should absolutely call people on it, though, when they are using that sort of thing to reinforce a negative view of fat, or when what they are saying appears to reinforce it.
Used properly, this sort of thing is good for killing faith in numbers and arbitrary standards of measurement. Used improperly, it can simultaneously reinforce the need for good-bad categorization in the first place.
I hope any of that made sense.
My B and I had this discussion recently. Somehow we got on the topic of “obesity crisis” and weights going up and whatnot, and I pointed out to him that he is obese. He was like “no I’m not,” and since I once calculated my BMI and knowing his weight and height I was like, no really, your BMI is over 30, you’re obese. He’s muscular and also has a tummy. So he thinks the BMI is crap for him because of his musculature and bone structure, but my point was, since his BMI is over 30 he’s part of the “obesity crisis.” I don’t think he’d thought about that before.
It makes me wonder about all the other people out there who bemoan the obesity crisis and don’t realize that according to the measure used to create the statistics that say we’re all going to hell in a handbasket, they themselves are obese or at least overweight. They might say the BMI is crap for them but do they realize that it’s crap for everyone?
The BMI is just the old height-weight chart. You can square and divide your height and weight to make a new number with a clever name, but it’s still a height-weight chart. No information about percentage body fat, resting heartbeat, age, activity level, insulin resistance, cholesterol, etc–it’s not a measure of health in any way, shape or form. Packaging it as one is a major disservice to both the people who think they’re fine AND the people concerned about their health. You can be dreadfully unhealthy at a “normal” BMI and normally healthy at a “dreadful” BMI (see also professional athletes in their prime, considered “obese” by the height-weight chart)
But it’s not about health. I assume it’s about control, since I can’t figure out what else it would be about.
(Sorry to post a few days late, just found you via the NYT)
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