“Health” is something that I struggle to define. I don’t always think that I am a healthy person according to society’s standards; however, I look like I am because I fall into the category of “a “slothful [person] who happen[s] to be thin” that Kathleen Lebesco mentions in “Fat Panic and the New Morality,” (75). Some foods are nutritious and needed by our bodies. We occasionally indulge in things that make us feel good like chocolate, ice cream, or wine. People must find the right mix of nutritious and indulgences for their bodies to find their version of health. However, everyone doesn’t need to follow the same diet or workout plan to be healthy. Anything can be good for you in moderation. My definition is “healthy” could be vastly different
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Health magazines like Shape and Self are marketed towards women. Inside the magazines, there are images of women that are models with no body diversity. This can cause women to believe their bodies are not good enough because they are focusing on what means “healthy” to others. This can cause frustration, body hatred, fat shaming, and more. By marketing health in the way that the media does, it allows the blame to be focused on the individual. In Against Health, Kathleen Lebesco writes, “Contemporary neoliberal ideologies incite good citizens to take care of their own health; they punish those who fail to live up to this socially constructed moral obligation” (78). Fat shaming is one of the ways people are punished. Feminism and health are also interrelated when it comes to reproductive health because they have moved from the private sphere to the public one. Lawmakers have been attempting and sometimes, successfully, passing laws that dictate what a woman can and cannot do, instead of letting it be a private …show more content…
In “Introduction: Why ‘Against Health’?”, Jonathan Metzel explains why the authors that contributed their writing for this book are against health: “We instead claim that individual strivings for health are, in some instances, rendered more difficult by the ways in which health is culturally configured and socially sustained” (9). Being healthy has become more difficult for people because they believe that health standards are based on appearances. The “healthy” bodies that are seen as desirable are often unattainable. Health is no longer just about well-being. Therefore, the issue that I believe that is most overlooked when it comes to health is happiness. People believe that they will be happy when they look like the bodies in the health magazines like Shape and Men’s Health. However, these bodies are usually unattainable even with diets and exercise. Happiness is important to health. People should find workouts that make them happy rather than suffering through workouts to try and see results. Following fad diets like juice cleanses, the paleo diet, and the raw food diet also don’t help people create their own definition of health. Just like with working out, people need to find the meal plan that matches with their version of healthy. Health should have a different meaning for everyone. Our
Health magazines like Shape and Self are marketed towards women. Inside the magazines, there are images of women that are models with no body diversity. This can cause women to believe their bodies are not good enough because they are focusing on what means “healthy” to others. This can cause frustration, body hatred, fat shaming, and more. By marketing health in the way that the media does, it allows the blame to be focused on the individual. In Against Health, Kathleen Lebesco writes, “Contemporary neoliberal ideologies incite good citizens to take care of their own health; they punish those who fail to live up to this socially constructed moral obligation” (78). Fat shaming is one of the ways people are punished. Feminism and health are also interrelated when it comes to reproductive health because they have moved from the private sphere to the public one. Lawmakers have been attempting and sometimes, successfully, passing laws that dictate what a woman can and cannot do, instead of letting it be a private …show more content…
In “Introduction: Why ‘Against Health’?”, Jonathan Metzel explains why the authors that contributed their writing for this book are against health: “We instead claim that individual strivings for health are, in some instances, rendered more difficult by the ways in which health is culturally configured and socially sustained” (9). Being healthy has become more difficult for people because they believe that health standards are based on appearances. The “healthy” bodies that are seen as desirable are often unattainable. Health is no longer just about well-being. Therefore, the issue that I believe that is most overlooked when it comes to health is happiness. People believe that they will be happy when they look like the bodies in the health magazines like Shape and Men’s Health. However, these bodies are usually unattainable even with diets and exercise. Happiness is important to health. People should find workouts that make them happy rather than suffering through workouts to try and see results. Following fad diets like juice cleanses, the paleo diet, and the raw food diet also don’t help people create their own definition of health. Just like with working out, people need to find the meal plan that matches with their version of healthy. Health should have a different meaning for everyone. Our