Obesity Acceptance: Recipe For A Pandemic

Abstract

Despite the well-publicized media coverage of the escalating rates of obesity and its co-morbidities, the American public seems largely unconcerned. While the reasons for societal inaction to this health dilemma are complex and interdependent, one factor seems particularly salient: obesity acceptance. This article will examine how and why this notion has devolved from acceptance of the person with obesity to acceptance (and in some cases outright celebration) of the condition obesity. Until such melding is separated, real progress in advancing public health in this arena will continue to founder.