I”m sure the headline of this post will have a number of groups of people up in arms. But I don’t care what anyone else thinks, because it’s true.
The fact is most if not all humans find excess bodyfat repulsive, and or disgusting. I’m not referring to these words in the pop culture definition, but I’m referring to them with regards to their dictionary meaning.
Whether the fat is on YOUR body or someone else, you will most likely have some sort of aversion response to it. You’ll eventually hate yourself for the extra fat if it’s on you, or you’ll start to find ways to avoid, discriminate against and steer clear of fat people.
I think there are a number of reasonable and plausible reasons why we have this kind of response to fat, and it’s quite a taboo to talk about it (which is total BS) The first step to fixing any problem is talking openly and frankly about it so here goes…
Why we find fat disgusting and repulsive:
1. It’s a signal of death (or the opposite of health): In other words as you watch some one gain excessive amounts of weight you can easily make the argument that you are literally watching them commit and slow suicide.
2. It’s a signal of unfairness (and ultimately your death because of the fat person): In other words the fat person next to you will consume more than their fair share of food and will literally be taking the food out of your mouth and putting into theirs. In other words, while they are overeating themselves to death, they are starving you to death!
3. It’s a sign of a lack of control (of ones emotions, body, and life in general): This may lead others not to trust a fat person…hence the reason there is a weight bias when employers are interviewing for jobs. All things being equal, if you are hiring a new person at your company, would you pick the fat candidate or the candidate who is in shape (if their credentials were equal)
People who put on increasing amounts of weight had to get the food from somewhere. Since food is scare that means there is less of it to go around for you if the fatties are eating up more than they need. (of course this is exactly what is happening globally, but that is a much more complicated issue)
So they are stockpiling food on their bodies in the form of fat which they don’t need, and leaving you with less food. From an evolutionary stand point it doesn’t seem fair that one person would eat more than their fair share of food while others are left with less.
Of course I’m not suggesting that a fat person actually takes food right off of your plate. Indeed there is more than enough to go around (at least in modern industrialized countries) but I think this is where our repulsion and disgust response to body fat is rooted…it’s unfair, and its unhealthy.
Ironically having more doesn’t do them any good, it actually makes them worse off.
So that is my theory. I’ve yet to talk to anyone who actually likes the look of excess fat, and considering the intense desire people have for weight loss it’s not a far stretch to suggest the desire for it is deep rooted in our primal emotional responses like disgust and repulsion.
So, there you go, I’ve put it on the table…what do you think?
John
