Welcome to Debate Club! Please be aware that this is a space for respectful debate, and that your ideas will be challenged here. Please remember to critique the argument, not the author.

Thoughts on the “glamourizing/normalizing” obesity vs body positivity conversations

1568101115

Replies

  • mbaker566
    mbaker566 Posts: 11,233 Member
    Theoldguy1 wrote: »
    hesn92 wrote: »
    The life insurance thing... did you shop around? The amount you have tacked on for the "FT" whatever that is, that's more than my entire yearly premium alone. Granted I'm young and had all good markers on my health exam.

    In addition to age and health, major factors in the cost of life insurance are the amount of the benefit (payout if you die) and whether it is term insurance or whole life. Without knowing these details, it's absurd to try to do comparisons.

    Several years ago, my State Farm agent suggested I apply for life insurance so I'd get a mutli-policy discount for my vehicle, so agreed. It was a whole life policy, and even though I had no existing health issues other than my weight, I was denied coverage because I did not meet requirements of the weight table.

    Granted, its been something like 14 years ago, so the policy may have changed; I've lost 90 lbs in the meantime but haven't tried again as I have a very good term life policy through my employer that remains mine even if I leave the company, and I'm perfectly happy with that - I have no significant other and no children and thus no beneficiaries that need to be cared for, and my policy is more than adequate to bury me and close out my estate, so I've never seen the need for a whole life policy.

    Congrats on the weight loss.

    You're lucky you were denied a whole life policy. One of the worst financial products out there from a consumer point of view.

    as someone who had to bury someone and deal with the mess after, i would have appreciated the financial assistance of a life insurance policy.
  • Theoldguy1
    Theoldguy1 Posts: 2,497 Member
    mbaker566 wrote: »
    Theoldguy1 wrote: »
    hesn92 wrote: »
    The life insurance thing... did you shop around? The amount you have tacked on for the "FT" whatever that is, that's more than my entire yearly premium alone. Granted I'm young and had all good markers on my health exam.

    In addition to age and health, major factors in the cost of life insurance are the amount of the benefit (payout if you die) and whether it is term insurance or whole life. Without knowing these details, it's absurd to try to do comparisons.

    Several years ago, my State Farm agent suggested I apply for life insurance so I'd get a mutli-policy discount for my vehicle, so agreed. It was a whole life policy, and even though I had no existing health issues other than my weight, I was denied coverage because I did not meet requirements of the weight table.

    Granted, its been something like 14 years ago, so the policy may have changed; I've lost 90 lbs in the meantime but haven't tried again as I have a very good term life policy through my employer that remains mine even if I leave the company, and I'm perfectly happy with that - I have no significant other and no children and thus no beneficiaries that need to be cared for, and my policy is more than adequate to bury me and close out my estate, so I've never seen the need for a whole life policy.

    Congrats on the weight loss.

    You're lucky you were denied a whole life policy. One of the worst financial products out there from a consumer point of view.

    as someone who had to bury someone and deal with the mess after, i would have appreciated the financial assistance of a life insurance policy.

    Sorry for your loss. Of course insurance is important but a term life insurance policy is much lower cost for the same death benefit.
  • CSARdiver
    CSARdiver Posts: 6,252 Member
    Theoldguy1 wrote: »
    mbaker566 wrote: »
    Theoldguy1 wrote: »
    hesn92 wrote: »
    The life insurance thing... did you shop around? The amount you have tacked on for the "FT" whatever that is, that's more than my entire yearly premium alone. Granted I'm young and had all good markers on my health exam.

    In addition to age and health, major factors in the cost of life insurance are the amount of the benefit (payout if you die) and whether it is term insurance or whole life. Without knowing these details, it's absurd to try to do comparisons.

    Several years ago, my State Farm agent suggested I apply for life insurance so I'd get a mutli-policy discount for my vehicle, so agreed. It was a whole life policy, and even though I had no existing health issues other than my weight, I was denied coverage because I did not meet requirements of the weight table.

    Granted, its been something like 14 years ago, so the policy may have changed; I've lost 90 lbs in the meantime but haven't tried again as I have a very good term life policy through my employer that remains mine even if I leave the company, and I'm perfectly happy with that - I have no significant other and no children and thus no beneficiaries that need to be cared for, and my policy is more than adequate to bury me and close out my estate, so I've never seen the need for a whole life policy.

    Congrats on the weight loss.

    You're lucky you were denied a whole life policy. One of the worst financial products out there from a consumer point of view.

    as someone who had to bury someone and deal with the mess after, i would have appreciated the financial assistance of a life insurance policy.

    Sorry for your loss. Of course insurance is important but a term life insurance policy is much lower cost for the same death benefit.

    Precisely.

    The cost savings is substantial and one could use the funds to invest into anything else and get a better rate of return.
  • bmeadows380
    bmeadows380 Posts: 2,981 Member
    CSARdiver wrote: »
    Theoldguy1 wrote: »
    mbaker566 wrote: »
    Theoldguy1 wrote: »
    hesn92 wrote: »
    The life insurance thing... did you shop around? The amount you have tacked on for the "FT" whatever that is, that's more than my entire yearly premium alone. Granted I'm young and had all good markers on my health exam.

    In addition to age and health, major factors in the cost of life insurance are the amount of the benefit (payout if you die) and whether it is term insurance or whole life. Without knowing these details, it's absurd to try to do comparisons.

    Several years ago, my State Farm agent suggested I apply for life insurance so I'd get a mutli-policy discount for my vehicle, so agreed. It was a whole life policy, and even though I had no existing health issues other than my weight, I was denied coverage because I did not meet requirements of the weight table.

    Granted, its been something like 14 years ago, so the policy may have changed; I've lost 90 lbs in the meantime but haven't tried again as I have a very good term life policy through my employer that remains mine even if I leave the company, and I'm perfectly happy with that - I have no significant other and no children and thus no beneficiaries that need to be cared for, and my policy is more than adequate to bury me and close out my estate, so I've never seen the need for a whole life policy.

    Congrats on the weight loss.

    You're lucky you were denied a whole life policy. One of the worst financial products out there from a consumer point of view.

    as someone who had to bury someone and deal with the mess after, i would have appreciated the financial assistance of a life insurance policy.

    Sorry for your loss. Of course insurance is important but a term life insurance policy is much lower cost for the same death benefit.

    Precisely.

    The cost savings is substantial and one could use the funds to invest into anything else and get a better rate of return.

    I'm glad to hear that - gives me more reason for why I chose to stick with the term instead of pushing for whole life. My aunt works for State Farm and said earlier this year that I ought to have whole life but I never really saw the benefit. I once had a whole life policy through modern woodmen, but when I changed agents when I moved out on my own and she looked at the policy, she told me that the way it was set up, it was actually going to be losing money over time and not making it.

    I think I'd rather continue to use the difference to sock into my 401k.

    Course, I'm single with no dependents, so all I really need is enough to close out my estate and bury me. I'm sure its a different thing all together if you have family you'll be leaving behind.

    In any case, my post was just to say that I understand what the person above was talking about in saying that because of their weight, they were paying a higher rate or being denied coverage - I've experienced the same.
  • This content has been removed.
  • syeda2007
    syeda2007 Posts: 23 Member
    There is something or some things we are not doing right if we have the time and energy to promote glamourising being the victim. We are playing at the hands of big pharma, food industries.
    We know those models of body positivity are a cry for help, but after you wipe the tears and talk about your hardships in your journey, isn’t the next step to try and be healthy again?
  • nitalieben
    nitalieben Posts: 681 Member
    The diet industry is pretty big, multibillion-dollar. I've never seen ads for products that promise to make you fat, there are thousands of products and services promising to make people skinny. If society really was glamorizing obesity, everybody would want to become obese like the glamourous people.

    I'm not really adding anything useful here. I just read this and remembered an old advert I once saw:

    https://www.huffpost.com/entry/vintage-weight-gain-ads_n_1119044

    Or what claims to be an old advert anyway.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,616 Member
    edited October 2020
    nitalieben wrote: »
    The diet industry is pretty big, multibillion-dollar. I've never seen ads for products that promise to make you fat, there are thousands of products and services promising to make people skinny. If society really was glamorizing obesity, everybody would want to become obese like the glamourous people.

    I'm not really adding anything useful here. I just read this and remembered an old advert I once saw:

    https://www.huffpost.com/entry/vintage-weight-gain-ads_n_1119044

    Or what claims to be an old advert anyway.

    Real ads. (I'm almost that old, b. 1955 - old enough to have seen those ads in real life but I can't remember whether in current publications of my childhood, or older ones that would've been old but not yet then quaintly antique).

    Keep in mind that the period of time mentioned (1920s-50s) included difficult times for a lot of people: Depression, wartime rationing, etc. So, truly skinny was an indicator of poverty or deprivation, maybe non-robust health. Also, if you look at the ads targeting women, it's obvious that part of what they're talking about is breasts . . . from a time when ads didn't really quite as much talk about breast enhancement explicitly. (For much of my childhood, menstrual products were marketed in ways that didn't give much clue what they were for, which is kind of hilarious. Breast enhancement would've been something that would be more discreetly alluded to, also, generally.)

    ETA: Even today, there are "hard gainers", people who find it difficult to gain weight but want to do so. (There's a forum area here where you can see some of those posts.) There are products marketed to that segment, even today. But - as NorthCascades says - it isn't mass-marketed for *everyone* now . . . nor was it mass-marketed to all back in the era you were talking about, even though average body weight was quite a bit lower. It was more an "ads in the back of magazines" low-key thing.
  • lauriekallis
    lauriekallis Posts: 4,794 Member
    kdbulger wrote: »
    And on a personal note: when I finally made the changes in my life to eat better and get fit (and was no longer obese as a result) - it was because I LOVED myself exactly as I was and wanted to give myself the best first and foremost. No amount of fat shaming could have gotten me there.

    This rings so true for me too.

  • sal10851
    sal10851 Posts: 171 Member
    Most of my family is overweight or obese and I have personally seen the devastation it's causing. I weigh 219 pounds and I'm the "skinny" guy in the family. That's how bad it is. I'm focusing on a normal weight for my height to waist ratio and I'm still about 30 to 40 pounds from my goal. It's become so normalized we are coming up with terms such as "healthy", "husky", "big-boned", "chubby", "curvy". All in the effort to normalize fat.
  • fat2thingirl
    fat2thingirl Posts: 41 Member
    shana7999 wrote: »
    I think what needs to be encouraged and high-lighted in society is loving yourself NO MATTER what size you are. Life is a precious gift, and it needs to be cherished and respected. Care should be given to our bodies, but this obsession with body image is unhealthy. Should we strive for health? Yes!!! does this look the same for everyone?? No!! Stop judging everyone else and focus on your own happiness and gift of life. ✨💪🏻✨

    My perspective.

    I hope it resonates with others!

    I agree, that was really well put :):) have a great day!

  • Theoldguy1
    Theoldguy1 Posts: 2,497 Member
    sal10851 wrote: »
    Most of my family is overweight or obese and I have personally seen the devastation it's causing. I weigh 219 pounds and I'm the "skinny" guy in the family. That's how bad it is. I'm focusing on a normal weight for my height to waist ratio and I'm still about 30 to 40 pounds from my goal. It's become so normalized we are coming up with terms such as "healthy", "husky", "big-boned", "chubby", "curvy". All in the effort to normalize fat.

    Best of luck on your journey.

    To be honest the terms have been around for years. I remember back in college I worked a part time job at a mall. The store across the way from my place was Catherine's Stout Shop.

    Nobody was kidding anyone regarding the target market.
  • evilokc
    evilokc Posts: 263 Member
    when i see a person who is over weight i immediately see them as being weak willed and lazy even though i know thats not always the case. no one would choose to be heavy when it is socially unattractive and doesn't feel well. while i was never obese i was heavy enough to be sporting a double chin and i disliked everything about it. i dont think everyone needs to have a beach body but i do believe people need to strive for a healthy bmi
  • Slacker16
    Slacker16 Posts: 1,184 Member
    Mellouk89 wrote: »
    East Asian countries have a real culture of fat shaming, yet obesity rates are very low. I don't agree with the premise that fat shaming leads to more obesity problem.

    Does it also, statistically speaking, result in a healthier relationship with food?