Upset a liberal, and they happily ditch their rules to insult you as ‘morbidly obese’. It’s why body positivity will never work

Can somebody please explain the rules around fatness to me because I’m struggling: Is being ludicrously overweight a lifestyle choice to be celebrated, or is it a serious medical condition that should be called out?

An unlikely duo have caused me to wonder how one is supposed to approach the delicate subject of the tubbier members of our society. This troublesome twosome are Adele and President Trump. The singer’s weight has skyfallen by 100lbs and, instinctively, I thought this was something to be celebrated. I’ve never been obese, but on occasions (usually around Christmas), I’ve flirted with being the wrong side of chunky, and when, after swapping the turkey for 10k runs for a while and I slim back down, it’s a real confidence boost.

But for some reason Adele’s astonishing display of self-discipline (she shed the average weight of a 13-year-old boy) wasn’t met with celebration, but a slew of articles penned by “plus size” bloggers and journalists, chastising her for an act of treason against the portly. This would lead someone to conclude, being fat is a good thing. 

READ MORE: What happened to 'body positivity'? Adele's weight loss ignites plague of body-shaming hypocrisy amid Covid-19 pandemic

As a result, you can imagine my shock when Nancy Pelosi this week lambasted Donald Trump as “morbidly obese” while feigning concern for the president’s health after he revealed he was taking hydroxychloroquine as a precaution against Covid-19. This prompted liberal Twitter to lavish praise on the Democrat Leader of the House of Representatives for the “sick burn” she had doled out on POTUS.

“Morbidly obese,” #PresidentPlump and #GirtherMovement all started trending on Twitter as the leader of the free world was mercilessly mocked for his corpulence. What happened to body positivity and fat-shaming being a bad thing? Is it only a bad thing if it is done to liberals? To women? To large liberal women? And having a go at someone for slimming down is fine if what exactly? That their drive and effort makes you feel inadequate? 

All this proves is that “body positivity” is a lie. Most people always knew this, but the woke left kept pushing the plus-size envelope, constantly telling people that “big is beautiful” and putting the likes of Tess Holiday on the cover of Cosmopolitan. More recently, the Washington Post said the not exactly slight figure of Democrat Stacey Abrams “moved like a supermodel,” coupled with a ludicrous photograph that was immediately memed to within an inch of its life.

Can you imagine the outcry if someone termed Abrams “morbidly obese”? Yet when it’s a Republican president on the receiving end of a fat jibe, the fat-shamer is lauded with fawning “you go, girl” and “slay all day” tweets. 

Let me be clear, being fat is objectively a bad thing, No one would choose to be fat if being slim were as easy an option. Anyone who has been fat and is now thin will attest to this, as would the more honest people whose waistlines have gone in the other direction. Obesity and illnesses linked to it have proved to be one of the biggest comorbidities with Covid-19. 

In this respect, Pelosi is right: Trump’s heft does make him more vulnerable to being seriously ill should he catch the virus. Though, according to the president's doctor, he is technically at the cut-off point of being obese, with a body mass index of just over 30 (a BMI of 40 or above is considered “severe” obesity).

However, Pelosi doesn’t get to dole out personal insults and then cry foul if they come back her way in some shape or form. Excessive abuse of botox, perhaps? Illiberal fat-shaming that drives obesity stigma? Definitely.

Let’s face fats, Nancy: the misguided liberal notion of “body positivity” promoted by you and your ilk is hypocritical, unhealthy and deserves to be consigned to the dustbin of history (along with last night’s take-away containers).

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