One of the hardest things that the Fat Acceptance movement has to overcome is the hype and fear that the mainstream media puts into the minds of their viewers when it comes to the so called ‘Obesity Epidemic’. Over the past few months talk about how internal fat that surrounds vital organs is the fat people should worry more about than the fat under the skin.

Experts have long known that fat, active people can be healthier than their skinny, inactive counterparts. "Normal-weight persons who are sedentary and unfit are at much higher risk for mortality than obese persons who are active and fit," said Dr. Steven Blair, an obesity expert at the University of South Carolina.
For example, despite their ripples of fat, super-sized Sumo wrestlers probably have a better metabolic profile than some of their slim, sedentary spectators, Bell said. That's because the wrestlers' fat is primarily stored under the skin, not streaking throughout their vital organs and muscles.Source

Then I saw a commercial for this,

In TLC's new series BIG MEDICINE, a father and son physician team fight the obesity epidemic one bariatric surgery at a time.

BIG MEDICINE premieres Monday, May 28, at 9 PM (ET/PT) and follows the personal stories of severely obese patients who turn to Houston's Methodist Weight Management Center as a life-changing last resort. One of the most innovative bariatric surgery practices, Methodist adheres to a long-term, multidisciplinary approach that includes a plan for lifelong follow-up. At the heart of the operation is passionate father and son surgeon team Robert and Garth Davis, a pair who have dedicated their professional lives to raising awareness about obesity. Source

What began as a tasteful commercial turned into something very bad making me wonder why I would even watch TLC. Leaving aside the fact that bariatric surgery as a whole leads to life long health problems which makes most health insurance companies not cover the procedure. They have for the longest time exploited the lives of the morbidly obese and having numerous specials about fat people just to show the extremes the body type. Shows like this one, along side Inside Brookhaven Obesity Clinic and Honey We're Killing the Kids! just further the impression that fat people are ‘oddities’ and ‘abnormal’. Instead of making ground breaking television they go for the ‘Shock and Awe’ that so many other channels have already done.

In the words of Stephen Colbert, your ‘Dead to me’ TLC.

1 Comment

1. violet_yoshi on 2:47 AM

   TLC is a very bad offender, when it comes to sizeism. I mean just generally, they are very ignorant about it.