Weight-loss industry masks its economic interests with bogus health concerns
An op-ed in the San Diego Union Tribune by Esther Rothblum, co-editor of The Fat Studies Reader.
Fat studies scholars in the health and medical sciences have examined the economic interests, masquerading as health concerns, that fuel the thin-is-better industries. Americans spend about $58 billion a year on weight-loss programs, diet foods, diet cookbooks and weight-loss drugs. Are these programs working in the long run? No. People are getting fatter – and living longer. The life expectancy for Americans born in 1930 is 58 years for men and 62 years for women. Life expectancy for those born in 2004 is 75 years for men and 80 years for women. This means that we are outliving our thinner grandparents by about 20 years!
Posted: November 24th, 2009 under Cultural Studies, Gender & Sexuality.
Tags: The Fat Studies Reader
Comments
Comment from Deb
Time November 30, 2009 at 3:44 pm
Re/Dress NYC is hosting a book reading/signing for the Fat Studies Reader on Friday December 4th – 8pm
Our reading will include 4 essays from the reader. There will be time for mingling, book signing and a Q & A.
Lara Frater – Fat Heroines in Chick-Lit: The Gateway to Acceptance in the Mainstream?
Kathleen LeBesco, PhD – Quest for a Cause: The Fat Gene, The Gay Gene and the New Eugenics
Elena Andrea Escalera, PhD – Stigma Threat and the Fat Professor: Reducing Student Prejudice in the Classroom
Heather MacAllister – Embodying Fat Liberation (read by Kelli Dunham)
We will have books on hand to purchase.
Date: Friday, December 4, 2009
Time: 8:00pm – 11:00pm
Location: Re/Dress NYC
Street: 109 Boerum Place
City/Town: Brooklyn, NY
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