Human Sexuality

Human Sexuality
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Virgie Tovar’s TED Talk entitled Lose Hate Not weight exposes the deeply entrenched habit of body shaming in the American society and other parts of the world. She notes that fat people face the largest criticism for their big bodies. Fat people are considered less successful, and they are expected to achieve a certain body shape/size before going out on a date, getting married or even going on vacation. Tovar gives an account of her own struggles with her weight and ends by advocating for an end to body shaming (Tovar, 2017).
While body shaming is still a common practice I agree with Tovar that this habit is as a result of cultural socialization. From a young age, young children are taught that being fat is not desirable (Tovar, 2017). However, I think that this societal perception is wrong because it is based on wrong assumptions. First, most people think that fat people are fat because of their habits such as eating junk food or being lazy. The truth is that some people are or become fat due to factors beyond their control key among them genes. For instance, Tovar confirms that she was born fat and has been fat throughout her life, which shows that her big body is as a result of family genes. For this reason, I think that fat people should be empowered to accept themselves for whom they are. More programs such as the one run by Tovar should be also encouraged. In fact, society should be educated to accommodate people of all sizes since the issue of the perfect body size is subjective.

For example, as evident in the video, some societies actually prefer their women to be fat because to them being fat is being beautiful.
Reference
Tovar, V. (2017, July 19). Lose Hate Not Weight | Virgie Tovar | TEDxSoMa [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZnsamRfxtY