Warning Labels On Plus-Sized Clothing? Maybe

[OhioChick]

U.K. Professor Wants Government To Fight Obesity

POSTED: 1:14 pm EST December 15, 2006

How intrusive is too intrusive?

A leading professor in the U.K. said that obese people should be warned about the health risks of their weight when buying clothes, according to The Daily Mail.

Naveed Sattar, professor of metabolic medicine at the University of Glasgow, said that oversized clothing should have obesity help line numbers sewn on them to try to reduce Britain's obesity crisis.

The professor made the recommendations in this week's issue of the British Medical Journal.

http://www.newsnet5.com/health/10546326/detail.html

<snip> The suggestion would be to put the label on all clothes with waist sizes over 37 inches for boys or 31 inches for girls. Women's clothes over size 16 would also get a label.

Britain's obesity problem could bankrupt its health system if nothing is done to stop it, according to Sattar. The British Medical Journal reported that more than half of the U.K.'s population is overweight and more than one in five adults is obese.

[Kagemusha]

1. Great if it'd work. But would it...?

I wonder if buyers would just find it to be an insult and would tune it out in such overwhelming numbers that it'd actually be counter-productive.

[aquart]

2. What an effing pig. What's he sewing into size Zero?

[fudge stripe cookays]

39. "Your mother called....

she said, 'For God's sake! Eat something!' "

[diamidue]

43. Please do not use this as an excuse to bash small women.

They had nothing to do with this stupid labeling business.

If they are going to put ANY labels on clothing, it should be to warn people of all the chemicals that go into their wrinkle-resistant, stain-resistant clothes.

[fudge stripe cookays]

47. wtf?

I'm not bashing anyone. If it went close to having fun at anyone's expense, it might be Jewish or Italian mothers, as this is often how they are portrayed.

Geez. Lighten up. No wonder people poke fun at us for being humorless twits.

[Redstone]

3. Another stark staring nutbar who gets his 15 minutes of fame by being a loud lunatic.

One comes along every day.

Redstone

[southerncrone]

4. The overweight are reminded of their "problem" ESPECIALLY

WHEN THEY BUY CLOTHES! They don't need a label to tell them!
For crying out loud, maybe if the labels were put on ice cream, or chips, or soda....... jez

[novalib]

8. I'd FAVOR THAT, Too!!!!

Warning labels on HIGH-CALORIE, HIGH-FAT (especially HIGH TRANSFAT) food!!!

I'd be in FAVOR of that!!!!!

[NorthernSpy]

37. Would you support warning labels on interracial couples' marriage license applications?

WARNING: interracial marriage has been linked to higher rates of social stigma, ostracism, and divorce. Children from such a marriage may be rejected by one or both sets of relatives. This may result in family dysfunction and increased psychological problems, blah, blah, blah...

The thing is, nosy bigots are often able to come up with some half-assed rationale for meddling in our lives on the grounds that it's all for our own good.

But their real motives are obvious, and they have nothing to do with our wellbeing. They really want just one thing: control. They are intolerant fanatics who wish to force everyone to conform to their values, and they seek the power to humiliate, stigmatize and punish those who don't. And to that end, they distort facts and cry wolf about the supposed "threat" -- hoping to generate a wave of panic that will make society more willing to turn to them for guidance and to cede to them the control that they crave.


A person who would stamp a warning on an interracial couple's marriage license application is really just a racist who happens to have chosen the "concern troll" tactic instead of burning a cross on the couple's lawn. Naveed Sattar is a nanny-state diet fascist who has chosen to stigmatize the objects of his intolerance with poisonous "concern" labels on their clothes, rather than just hurling insults and chucking penny candy at the fatties on the street.

[REP]

38. "For Your Own Good" = Prepare To Be Insulted

I have often noticed that the formula "I'm jyst being honest" or "I'm just saying this for your won good" and similar formulas are simply ways to let the target know an insult is coming, and it better be appreciated. I have recently introduced my friends of all sizes to my favorite reply to this forumla: kiss the fattest part of my ass.

Did it never occur to this 'professor' that a person buying clothes in the Big Men's or Women's Plus Size department may actually know that they are fat? Does he think that being over a certain weight makes a person unable to notice what size clothing they are buying to wear? Perhaps what these poor, deluded fatasses need is someone super-smart like Sattar to follow them around and remind them just how fat they really are.

Or perhaps Sattar just needs tenure, and is jumping on the latest bandwagon because he can't think of anything on his own.

[Feron]

26. Exactly

When I was a size 22, I didn't need a label to tell me I was fat. When the only place you can buy pants is Lane Bryant, that's a clue.

My health is what spurred me to lose the weight, not busybody health "experts" trying to guilt me into dieting. A person will lose the weight when he or she is ready and not because of some idiotic pant label. Nagging doesn't work!!

People who are overweight often feel like dieting is hopeless and already feel like crap from the abuse they get from society. Instead of scapegoating overweight people, fitness and nutrition should be emphasized for everyone. Fat causing illness isn't exclusive to the visibly overweight individuals: skinny people who don't exercise can have fat around their organs which in turn will cause health problems.

Isn't a size 16 UK a size 14 US? I wear a 14-16 US in pants and I'm not fat. Certainly I'm not a bikini model, but I'm healthy, active, and fit. Fitness and health are what matter, not pant size. Some women, like me, have wide hips and will never wear clothing in the single digits no matter how much we diet or workout.

And what is a size 14 or 16 anyway?! Every manufacturer seems to abide by their own different set of measurements. Not to mention that if the labels actually became law, clothing manufacturers would vanity size clothes even more making the labels for most nonexistant. Nobody is going to buy pants with a label saying "you're fat".

[zalinda]

34. Here is the general size guide

The more expensive the clothing, the smaller the size. Translation, if you buy a dress from Walmart, it will be labeled a size 16, buy it from Macy's and it will be labeled a size 14, buy it from Saks and it will be labeled a size 12, and buy it from a designer, it will be labeled a size 10. Same dimensions, different labels, different prices........the theory, women will go to the store where a smaller size will fit her.

zalinda

[Pushed To The Left]

42. Exactly. Unfortunately, some people need to put other people down in order to feel good about

themselves.

[NMMNG]

5. Like that would do anything

Labels can easily be cut out.

[novalib]

6. TERRIFIC IDEA!!!!

What a GREAT IDEA!!!

Nothing JUDGMENTAL -- just an "OBESITY HELP LINE NUMBER" sewn into clothes of certain sizes!!

It would provide HELP to people who MIGHT need it!!!

[Redstone]

10. Oh, and that would NOT be judgemental, would it?

"Hey, you fat pig, call this number and get some help!"

That's not judgemental at all, is it?

How about if the government leaves people the fuck alone? Think that's an option, maybe?

Redstone

[BlackVelvet04]

35. Oh, God, NO.....

we wouldn't be able to survive without the nanny government protecting us.


Gheesh, I am truly learning to hate people like this.

There are so many warnings everywhere we look that we actually just tune them out.



Sign Sign everywhere a sign
Blocking out the scenery breaking my mind
Do this, don't do that, can't you read the sign
(Signs Lyrics- Five Man Electrical Band)

[Bitwit1234]

7. Why not warning labels on all the extremely small sizes

Have you ever seen those women whose ribs show thru they embarass me to look at them. Talk about obese, yes they need to slim down but the stick people are sick.

[HockeyMom]

9. Hot line for anorexics?

Well, I just bought my first pair of size 0 jeans, as I sit here typing away, eating a bag pizza flavored chips.

Beats me, but it seems that whenever I am experiencing a lot of stress in my life, my weight just goes down naturally. It doesn't matter what I eat.

I used to joke way back when that at this rate, I will be shopping in the kids department when I am a Senior. Close, very close.

[iamjoy]

13. And Many Overweight People

Eat about as much as you probably do (or possibly less), but have a naturally slow metabolism.

These labels would be an insult to them.

[diamidue]

45. absolutely.

I'm tiny, but my sister is big and I can eat her under the table any day of the week, and never gain a pound. It all has SO much to do with metabolism.

[sam sarrha]

20. maybe if they are reall skinny and buy a burger they make em eat 2 or 3 if really skinny

[Scout]

11. stupid, stupid idea

as if fat people don't know we're fat, until we READ IT ON A LABEL in our plus size clothes ... what a fucking idiot this guy is.

i'm fat ... if people don't like it, they can go fuck themselves.

[Radio_Lady]

12. I cut all labels out of my clothes -- at least the ones at the neckline of

a blouse or the waistline of a skirt. They scratch, or crumble, or start to unravel anyway -- or the printing gets so light that you can't read it anymore.

I don't wear a size 16 -- not that big -- and am fighting like hell to get more exercise and eat less.

I put little notes around my house, on the refrigerator door, in the car, etc. -- and I have a cute little pig statue at my desk as a reminder.

This wouldn't bother me a bit, but it seems like too much intrusion for a government.

[gr8dane_daddy]

14. I've got a label they can put on my underwear...

it says, "Kiss my Big Ass!".

[Kolesar]

15. This is really bad messaging. There is nothing positive about it

Make people with a bad self image feel even worse about themselves.

[Generic Brad]

33. Do not automatically assume large people feel bad about themselves

I personally have a ton of self confidence.

[NashVegas]

49. Don't Worry, We Can Beat That Out of You

A couple of years ago, one of the TV news mags had a segment on overweight black women, and "isn't it horrible that they're so overweight and have barely a fraction of the esteem problems, related to weight, that white women have?"

"Yes, Barbara, there needs to be a national PR campaign to better alarm black women of the dangers of being overweight, and raise their concern." (paraphrasing)

[Dastard Stepchild]

16. Are there really any people left...

that have not been hammered in the head with the notion that obesity is a bad, bad thing for their health and wellbeing? I can't turn on the TV or read the newspaper without having at least one reference to the perils of obesity delivered to me.

I imagine that most people in the U.K., quite like in the U.S., don't live under a rock, so I'm not sure how beneficial this would really be.

[rucky]

17. Isn't it stigmatizing enough to have to buy "plus sizes"?

sheez.

[Cleita]

18. With that reasoning, they should be sewing warnings about

anorexia into all size 0 to 6 clothes. That too is a health problem, except those skinny models look better in the Victoria's Secret catalog.

[Clark2008]

21. Size six is anorexic?

I think that's fairly normal for a woman of my stature - 5'1". I wear between a six and an eight when I'm not full of a fetus like I am right now.

[Cleita]

27. No, not for your height, but those tall ladies who try to

squeeze into those small sizes, really shouldn't. I am thinking of models here.

[treestar]

24. Well exactly!

Wasn't another one of the girls who actually DIED of anorexia in the news?

[sam sarrha]

19. over 30% is due to a Virus... poverty is another cause..

[jgraz]

22. Can we also put warning labels on really slutty clothes?

How about ones that are just plain ugly, or really really overpriced?

What a fucking stupid idea.

[Cleita]

30. That would be fun!

"Wearing this will turn you into a $2 whore!"

[treestar]

23. Oh, yeah, like in the UK or US anybody needs that!

It's the only topic of conversation all day!

We really are obsessed with this subject in both countries - really, such a thing is so not necessary!

[piedmont]

25. Great way to cause or aggravate depression...

lousy way to treat obesity. There's a reason folks point to the U.K. when they want to illustrate a "nanny state."

[Warpy]

28. Just what obese people need, more humiliation

Yeah, that'll work. Besides, it'll make all the people who are naturally thin feel righteous in their bigotry.

[BlueStorm]

29. What a fricking pig!!!

Like I would need another reminder that I am fat. I get depressed enough as it is going clothes shopping, whenever I go to Max 10's, the whole store has all these cutesy, tiny clothes but if you go in the back, there's a small, postage stamp sized area of "plus sized" clothes.

Blue

[jgraz]

31. People should bring warning labels to this guy's class

Something like 'Warning, your professor is an asshole".

[kedrys]

32. A f*cked -up idea if I ever heard of one

Like I need to be reminded...

[NorthernSpy]

36. the article says that just 9% of the healthcare budget is spent on the 20% who are obese...

That constitutes a budget-busting crisis? The fact that only NINE percent of the money spent on healthcare goes to the fattest TWENTY percent of the population is what's finally going to leave ol' Britain drowned in a sea of red ink?

In other words, the heaviest one-fifth of Britons get less than half their share of healthcare funds percentagewise -- and they're the ones bankrupting the country? Fuckin' HUH?


And now we're all supposed to give serious consideration to the opinions of a diet nazi who can't even do basic math?

[gollygee]

40. The CLOTHES aren't what's dangerous

it isn't like cigarettes where the actual act of smoking cigarettes is dangerous. It makes sense to put warning labels on them because they are what cause the problem.

But clothes don't cause health problems. What would make more sense would be to put warning labels on foods that contain high fructose corn syrup and other very unhealthy and fattening substances.

[Rosemary2205]

48. HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP!!!!!!!

Amen Amen and Amen. If the British or anyone else really wants to do something about obesity they will outlaw the manufacture and sale of high fructose corn syrup. That crap has probably killed more people than wars and smoking combined.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

41. This guy has obviously never had a thyroid problem.....n/t

[undeterred]

44. Guess what: Fat people know that they're fat.

This is more about somebody's need to bash others and feel superior than any effort to really help people.

[uppityperson]

46. Just make them carry signs "I am FAT" instead.

That way everyone else will notice and give them a hard time and eventually they will just give up and get thinner.

Not the way to do it.