Fat Phobia

After reading our most current article for class, "Unbearable Lessons: Contesting Fat Phobia in Physical Education", it reminded me of a segment I saw in the news a few months ago (check out this link to the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jUoZF2By_0&feature=sh_e_se&list=SL). The report talks about a 6-year-old girl who believes that she is too fat because she gets called names at school. She says that her tummy is too big because the teacher tells her she needs to run so she isn't "that size".

I found this news story to be quite disturbing because usually when one hears of people complaining about their weight or self image, women in their teens or early 20s come to mind, NOT kindergarteners! I think that it's bad enough that women (as well as some men) critique themselves in front of the mirror every morning, but for young children to do the same shows how prevalent of a problem it really is. Most everyone will doubt themselves from time to time, but it shouldn't happen so frequently that kids are around to catch their parents. Most of their childhood is spent watching, imitating and learning from their parents and believing their parents know how to do everything.

This ties in with the article and understanding the true purpose behind physical education classes. I don't think that the focus should be "Well, this hour of your day is for you to exercise and we're going to do that by playing". To me, this makes it sound like PE's main purpose is to prevent kids from becoming obese or helping them get healthy if they are overweight which can be discouraging to kids. Some of the most fit body builders and professional athletes are toned with muscle and very little fat, but still considered obese because their BMI falls in that range due to their heavy muscles, so does this mean they are lazy/unhealthy? No, they're usually the ones people want to look like! In the end, my hope is that people will stop judging people completely; skin color, gender, body image, everything.

~Chelsea Oshimo
KIN 338I - Sec. 1