Girl, fuck you. And Dariush Mozaffarian and William Dietz and Jason Block and Marion Nestle and Robert Lustig, who contributed to this sham of an op-ed.

If this makes people uncomfortable, feel free to unfollow. There's lives on the line, so idc.

(A Thread) https://twitter.com/DrLeanaWen/status/1381592965022375936

First of all, the pandemic hasn't tempered or slowed down misplaced fearmongering about fatness or weight. Weight has been a consistent topic in discourse because it is an easy means by which to blame POC for being disproportionately impacted by covid. So "obscuring"?? Where????

2. "Obesity", which is the misguided medicalization of fatness, contributes to death by many means. Being visibly fat harms your employment and education prospects, often results in varying degrees of social isolation, and, can't forget medical fatphobia!!!!

3. In case that wasn't clear enough: fatness doesn't kill fat people. Anti-fatness kills fat people.

4. We have very little concrete understanding of how fatness alters health except by way of anti-fatness/weight stigma. We do not know what health outcomes for fat people would look like without the physical, mental, and social toll of weight stigma.

5. So when people pull out the "deaths attributed to ob*sity" bullshit, I already know they're not paying attention to anything besides their bias. Anti-fatness has been naturalized by scientists (like Dietz lol) as a way to maintain bigoted notions of health...

6. ...That are characterized by whiteness, ableism, thinness, cisheterosexism, and capitalism. If your body deviates from the norms laid out by these sources of oppression, I guarantee that public health has pathologized your existence.

7. Now, this pathologization is often "obscured" by discussion about the "economic and public policy factors" that contribute to it. In public health, "obesity" is made out to be the consequence of reduced physical activity and food insecurity caused by "inequality"...

8. ...But the sources of "inequalities", a conveniently bland and non-descript term, are not unpacked, nor is the discussion of weight bias as an injustice in and of itself (rather than as a deterrent to "health promotion") ever broached. So here it is.

9. Unlike what Block says in the article, fatness is not stigmatized because "people think of weight as a choice". Fatness is stigmatized because scientists and "intellectuals", like Wen, continue to push the narrative that fatness is a legitimate source of panic.

10. That narrative then justifies medical fatphobia which, unlike what is insinutated in this op-ed, does not mainly harm people through making fatties avoid appointments out of fear. If fucking only that were the case.

11. If you are a fat person who has ever been to the doctor for anything, you know what I mean. Indefinitely delayed treatments. Denied treatments. No one listens to anything you say. Ill-fitting medical equipment fucking with your vitals. Everything is blamed on weight.

12. For the thin people in the room: that means nothing gets treated unless you have the energy and resources to constantly challenge bigoted medical professionals who think you're the scourge of the earth. We are killed when we show up, not just bc we stay home.

13. The disproportionate death we supposedly face due to our weight (which is really bc of weight stigma, but the studies never account for that) is then used to reify the moral panic around fatness.

14. It's also used to prop up the work and livelihood of people like Wen, as well as the existence of multiple organizations and corporations that are actively invested in fat hate.

15. And since fat people are more likely to be marginalized POC who are absolutely taken advantage of by capitalist entities (scientific and not) the issue of *oppression* turns into another anti-fat rally. So convenient.

16. That means people like Wen and Dietz and Block can then talk about their anti-fatness as if its a health equity issue and not just anti-fatness.

17. ALSO, Dietz--mentioned as chairing the Lancet Commission on Ob*sity--was one of the folks (along with Ali Mokdad) who first presented ob*sity as an epidemic. EVER. He's not just part of some fucking commission. He is the architect of contemporary "obesity epidemic" panic.

18. If you don't think that mf has a LARGE stake in making sure fatness stays pathologized, then think again.

19. ANYWAY, like I said, fuck Wen, Dietz, Block, Mozaffarian, Nestle, and all those who continue to do this bullshit.

20. Last thing: Food is not medicine. Food sovereignty is a solution, not neoliberal policies. And its really fuck yall forever.