"Corpulence"

The "Bodies Out of Bounds" article raises many interesting points regarding the way the United States views individuals that are heavier than what is considered the "norm." The authors challenge the notion that an individual's weight is a characteristic that individuals have full control over and the current societal perceptions with being overweight.

The authors brought up a very interesting point how the obsession with staying "skinny" and losing weight has overtaken the mentality of society to the point that they take synthetic products that may help lose weight, but at the same time cause other potential health issues. This is perplexing to me, since it is very clear that individuals are losing weight for materialistic reasons as opposed to health reasons, demonstrating the impact of society on an individual's perception of weight. But still, I feel that an individual's health has priority over their image. What's the point of being skinnier when the things being taken to lose weight is just as detrimental to an individual's health?

As discussed in class, the article argues that the "concept of obesity is historical, not ahistorical or universal." This is clearly supported in the class discussions held, regarding how societies in the past have often viewed individuals that have more weight to them to be of higher social status. It is interesting to note now the perspective of society today has switched completely. The majority of the social elite today spend money to hire trainers and the like to maintain this image of being "fit." It is clear that some negative connotations with being heavier is a product of society.
I personally feel that this is true only to an extent though. There is definitely a line that is drawn when an individual's weight becomes a detriment to the individual's health and when the individual's themselves would not want to celebrate their "corpulence". But that idea, with the combination with the belief that individual's have full control over their weight is responsible for the negative image of being overweight. Even then, I agree with the sentiments of the authors, that weight cannot be used to represent an individual's character. The other night watching TLC, there was a documentary titled, "Inside Brookhaven Obesity Clinic." Although the documentary deals with individuals that have extreme issues with their weight, it is an example of how individuals do not have full control over their weight. The documentary portrayed extreme cases of obesity as a cause of an addiction that some of the individuals continued to struggle with even while in the clinic. A few of the members of the clinic broke rules and ordered take out food, while others fully committed to sticking to the program looked down upon these "cheaters" a term that was used by the documentary. Perhaps illustrating how difficult it was to manage their addictions, these cheaters, individuals who had enrolled themselves into the clinic, could not fully commit themselves to the program. Although the article viewed weight from a more moderate viewpoint, the TLC show highlighted how difficult it is for individuals to manage their weight as a fault not of their own in the traditional sense since many of these individuals were dealing with an addiction. For individuals with addictions that cause their weight to increase, it would not be right to judge them. In addition, although many of these individuals that had enrolled themselves into the clinic did so with improving their health as the number one priority, they also wanted to decrease their weight to allow themselves to get a job and fit into society, demonstrating the authors' views of how "corpulence" is viewed so negatively that these individuals cannot lead normal lives.