You’re too fat.
Think your employees want to hear that? Is that really what you want to say to them in your wellness messaging? Maybe you should read Hello, I Am Fat to find out the effect it has on people. Writer Lindy West says:
I get that you think you’re actually helping people and society by contributing to the fucking Alp of shame that crushes every fat person every day of their lives—the same shame that makes it a radical act for me to post a picture of my body and tell you how much it weighs. But you’re not helping. Shame doesn’t work. Diets don’t work. Shame is a tool of oppression, not change.
And she points out that maybe, just for a second, we might want to step back and think about how that You’re Too Fat message is going over with your employees. She pokes a hole in the fake altruism:
You are not concerned about my health. Because if you were concerned about my health, you would also be concerned about my mental health, which has spent the past 28 years being slowly eroded by statements like the above. Also, you don’t know anything about my health. You do happen to be the boss of me, but you are not the doctor of me. You have no idea what I eat, how much I exercise, what my blood pressure is, or whether or not I’m going to get diabetes. Not that any of that matters, because it is entirely none of your business.
“But but but my insurance premiums!!!” Bullshit. You live in a society with other people. I don’t have kids, but I pay taxes that fund schools. The idea that we can somehow escape affecting each other is deeply conservative. Barbarous, even. Is that really what you’re going for? Good old-fashioned American individualism? Please.
Something to think about when you’re writing your wellness messages. Want diversity? Get a fat person and a smoker together and have them write your wellness messages. My guess is that they’d think more about root causes. And they’d focus on underlying elements of poor health, like the accumulation of stress over a lifetime.
Chew on that.
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
I’m totally with you and Lindy West on the positioning… “You’re fat” isn’t going to motivate most people to live differently, just like telling employees their performance sucked will often not bring real, long-term performance changes.
That said, I’m as troubled by this bubbling culture of “being fat is ok” that seems to have formed as a direct polar opposite to the “skinny as a rail” culture you see with models and in magazines. Neither is healthy. Neither is ideal.
Is weight correlated to health? Not really. But body fat percentage is. Smoking is. And the argument about school taxes is illogical. Quality education benefits society as a whole, elevating all. Paying higher insurance costs on otherwise preventable illnesses does not.
Where I think Lindy is spot on, though, is around the messaging and culture of wellness at many organizations. The focus on weight instead of overall health. The scare tactics. The push for exercise while simultaneously overworking people and not providing opportunities for work-life balance.
Thin does not equal healthy. There’s a difference between being large and being fat, I think (and I understand that the distinction between those words is largely semantic). I know numerous people who have a greater body fat percentage ratio than I do and are also far more fit.
But let’s not champion obesity as, “Hey, it’s not big deal” either.
Hey, Chris…thanks for the response.
Just to be clear, I’m not championing obesity. Far from it. And I don’t think Lindy is either. What I think she’s saying is that the issue is far more complex than a catch phrase. And underlying causes are a large part of that. If you’ve ever tuned into The Biggest Loser, you can see this in spades. Sure, the people work out all day. Get fed good food. But underneath all of it is psych counseling. Getting at root causes. Removing stress.
I think being healthy is okay…and I think that’s the message of responsible HR. But there’s messaging…and then there’s systemic change. Think people will lose weight because we tell them it’s preventible? That’s it’s costing others? My sense is no or it would be that simple. That’s why she brings up the shared thing…
I think it’s important, as I’m sure you do, to look at things from varied viewpoints. I like to get out of the HR echo chamber. I like to poke and prod a little bit. And I like to chew the fat. Maybe I should chew less of it, but I like to all the same.
Absolutely, and I wouldn’t have found this otherwise, so thanks for sharing it!
best read of the day… both the post and comments… thanks for sharing…
Wow, man, you don’t know how much I appreciate that….she really hit the nail on the head with that article…cheers, brother.
A thin worker says, “Hear, hear!” I’m tired wellness advice aimed at people who were born yesterday. If you’re overweight, under-exercised, lack sleep, have a cold, are stressed, or whatever, you know it and you’re doing your best to deal with it. Colorful posters with bright-eyed suggestions that could have been written by a child are annoying. A workplace wellness effort would be more welcomed and save the company more money if it addressed long hours, lack of breaks, difficulty getting approval for doctor visits, and stressful working cultures.