Who Wants a Fat Child?: Care for Obese Children in Weight Obsessed Societies

Abstract

The treatment of obese people in our society, especially fat children gives rise to much indignation ("Fat", "fatness" - rather than "obese, obesity" - are preferred terms among groups and individuals protesting societal and traditional public health treatment of large persons.) Not all obese individuals are poor; but being excessively overweight tends to be inversely related to socio economic status among women and their children in post industrial societies. Poor children who are fat often have the hardest experiences because they are large, are in poverty, and are dependent on parents and others for their welfare. Fat people are not protected from discrimination in most jurisdictions. Human rights laws should be amended to shield obese individuals from prejudicial actions. In addition, activism, public health models, and various legal interventions, to be discussed, need to focus on people, especially children, eating/drinking nutritiously and being physically active - with their weight being a secondary consideration. These issues are illustrated by discussing programs in the United States designed to assist poor families to eat and drink more nutritiously. El tratamiento de las personas obesas en nuestra sociedad, especialmente en el caso de los ni&ntilde;os, da lugar a mucha indignaci&oacute;n (se usan t&eacute;rminos como "gordo", "gordura", en lugar de "obeso, obesidad", entre los grupos e individuos que protestan por el tratamiento social y la sanidad p&uacute;bica tradicional para tratar a las personas grandes). No todas las personas obesas son pobres; pero en las sociedades postindustriales, entre mujeres y sus hijos tener un sobrepeso excesivo tiende a estar inversamente relacionado con la posici&oacute;n socioecon&oacute;mico. Los ni&ntilde;os pobres que est&aacute;n gordos sufren, a menudo, las experiencias m&aacute;s duras, porque son grandes, est&aacute;n en situaci&oacute;n de pobreza, y su bienestar depende de sus padres y otras personas. En la mayor&iacute;a de jurisdicciones, las personas gordas no est&aacute;n protegidas contra la discriminaci&oacute;n. Las leyes de derechos humanos deber&iacute;an modificarse para proteger a las personas obesas frente a acciones lesivas. Adem&aacute;s, se analizar&aacute;n el activismo, los modelos de salud p&uacute;blica, y diversas intervenciones legales. Todos ellos necesitan centrarse en las personas, especialmente los ni&ntilde;os, que comen y beben de forma equilibrada, y que realizan actividad f&iacute;sica, siendo el peso una consideraci&oacute;n secundaria. Estos temas se ilustran mediante el an&aacute;lisis de programas estadounidenses destinados a ayudar a que familias pobres coman y beban de forma m&aacute;s nutritiva. DOWNLOAD THIS PAPER FROM SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2559676</p