Criticism
The fat acceptance movement has been criticized for adding no value to the debate over human health, with some critics going so far as to accuse the movement of "promoting a lifestyle that can have dire health consequences".
Proponents of fat acceptance in response often point to studies which show that being fat in and of itself is not a health problem and that long-term weight-loss is not possible in the majority of cases. They also point out that fat shaming does not lead to better health, rather it leads to psychological issues like eating disorders. They point out that the criticism cuts to the heart of the debate. Whether or not modern culture's concern with healthy weight loss has a foundation in scientific research, or whether science is used as an medium to control deviance, it is a part of society's attempt to deal with something within it that it finds disturbing.
Read more about this topic: Fat Acceptance Movement
Famous quotes containing the word criticism:
“A tailor can adapt to any medium, be it poetry, be it criticism. As a poet, he can mend, and with the scissors of criticism he can divide.”
—Franz Grillparzer (1791–1872)
“The critic lives at second hand. He writes about. The poem, the novel, or the play must be given to him; criticism exists by the grace of other men’s genius. By virtue of style, criticism can itself become literature. But usually this occurs only when the writer is acting as critic of his own work or as outrider to his own poetics, when the criticism of Coleridge is work in progress or that of T.S. Eliot propaganda.”
—George Steiner (b. 1929)
“Parents sometimes feel that if they don’t criticize their child, their child will never learn. Criticism doesn’t make people want to change; it makes them defensive.”
—Laurence Steinberg (20th century)