Brown University’s pre-college program is offering a course about fatphobia in which students will discuss “the social, medical, and cultural implications of fatness” in an introduction to the emerging academic field of “Fat Studies.” You can’t make this stuff up.
The weeklong class, titled “The F-Word: Examining the Science, Culture, and Politics of Fatness,” will apply “major theoretical lenses to the study of fatness, including the feminist/gender lens, reader-response lens, historical lens, and race lens.” There are no required prerequisites (phew!), but enrolled students should arrive “open-minded and prepared to engage respectfully with others,” according to the course description.
Brown isn’t the only Ivy League university to feature courses such as this. Cornell University has offered a freshman seminar titled “Have You Eaten Yet? QTBIPOC Care,” and Princeton University held a course titled “FAT: The F-Word and the Public Body.”
These courses hit all the classic leftist talking points in a manner that is equal parts humorous and predictable. Phrases such as “systems of oppression,” an overt emphasis on intersectional identities, and anti-capitalist rhetoric are ubiquitous in the humanities departments of universities.
When Harvard University unironically offers a class studying Taylor Swift and “Fat Studies” is the hottest new discipline on the block, it’s difficult to look at our most “prestigious” universities and still view them as such.
The humanities, philosophy, literature, journalism, history, sociology, etc., have been thoroughly taken over by the Marxist and postmodern perspectives that now yield courses exploring “the pathologization of fatness in the medical community.”
The market forces underlying academia’s incentive structure and the nature of intellectualism are to blame.
The reality is that there are only so many philosophical questions to ponder, perspectives through which to view history, and papers to publish about Paradise Lost. Academics have, to some extent, run out of things to talk about.
Yet, by nature of their occupation, they’re compelled to continue conducting research, carrying out studies, and producing scholarly work. That’s their job, and they’ll lose it if they don’t.
Leftism and its theoretical pursuit of egalitarianism extend a lifeline to the uninspired academic sitting up in his or her ivory tower. There is an infinite supply of social justice-oriented matters to explore, and academics in the humanities exploit this reality by disproportionately studying such topics.
Further incentivizing left-leaning academics is the fact that such scholarly work yields moral praise. To be on the side of the oppressed is to be a good person in their eyes. That’s undeniably an admirable endeavor, and there aren’t many qualms to be had with it. The problem is that the manner through which they achieve their ends hurts more than it helps.
The far Left is so often well-meaning but severely misguided.
Brown’s new course perfectly represents this unfortunate predisposition and the detrimental effects it has.
The course description features the sentence, “Furthermore, while thousands of dietitians and even the CDC continue to speak of the so-called ‘obesity epidemic,’ several recent sociological publications have gained recognition detailing the racial origins of fatphobia, condemning the anti-fat sentiment of so many authorities.”
The following question is then begged: “Is this a public health problem or a social justice one?”
Nearly 40% of Americans are obese. Obesity increases one’s risk of diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and certain cancers. It can shave almost fourteen years off someone’s life.
No, the “so-called obesity epidemic” is not a social justice problem.
To say that it is to actively disrespect those suffering from the disease and their families.
Should we take steps to be more accepting of people with various body types and work to ensure their mental well-being? Of course, but it’s necessary to also give people the medical care they need so that they can live longer and healthier lives. Those two concepts are not mutually exclusive, and to imply that they are shows not only an embarrassing lack of self-awareness but an offensive amount of performative virtue signaling.
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Denizens of the far Left care significantly more about making themselves feel good and one-upping the rest of us than they ever will about actually helping people.
Remember when Michelle Obama tried to fight childhood obesity? According to these new course offerings, that’s racist!