A Critique on Fat Acceptance

â€Å"Fat Acceptance: A Basic Primer† by the Vancouver-based author Cynara Geissler is a remonstration against the relentless pursuit of conforming to the socially approved body structure by paining one’s body and soul (3). Appearing in Geez Magazine for the first time this essay germinates new energy in the fat-acceptance movement in 21 st century. The author in this essay heavily protests against food moralizing and idealizing a certain parameter for body dimension. It has been an important issue indeed in the contemporary world, where everything including human body is being precariously rhapsodized under the influence of glamour industry. The author precisely points out the perils of blindly following the ideal of a thin body pleasing to the eyes of society and presents her argument on how this vain pursuit has been affecting the overall physical and mental health of the people. Geissler happens to be a staunch supporter of fat acceptance movement since she herself has experienced the consequences of hazardous dieting due to the plight of mind body shaming caused to her. She describes how people crossing the limit of size and weight dictated by the fashion magazines or movies become victims of society’s pre-conceived notions. They are often termed as â€Å"lazy, undisciplined, incapable and out of control† for no good reason (Geissler 2). Ironically, this adverse pressure comes from the health and diet industry itself who oblivion of the fact that health is to be fit and strong and not conforming to a particular body shape consistently tends to criticize the term fat. This has made the stigma of fat so ingrained in the minds of people that they forget to be tolerant of even normal sized people, â€Å"The West, especially the U.S., operates under gendered ideas of beauty that emphasize thinness as the ideal body type† (Williams 15). Apart from people in the society, this obsession also works in the persons who look at themselves with the eyes of established norms and start condemning their own body. Thus begins the relentless process of dieting and losing of weight without caring about the very idea of health. This compelling pressure comes from the very circle of â€Å"misinformed friends, relatives and health care professionals† who try to fit the non-conforming people into the size boxes which glamour industry has created over the years (Clair et al. 230). Sometimes this vain pursuit results in deadly consequence to the body or if not that leaves the mind in a dispirited state. The inevitable reaction that they develop for their body is self-denigration and an intense revulsion for their own self, which arise out of the rejection they face in their social existence (Bombak 15). This increases an inclination to the falsely advertised solutions claiming to fix one’s body; undoubtedly, this busines s trend capitalizing on the degrading approach to human body is harmful beyond imagination. The fat acceptance movement has, therefore, immense importance in this context since it primarily teaches people to be tolerant of all body sizes and weight as well as rejects all myths that make people suffer in the name of diet. The movement, which includes all successful professionals from different fields, questions about â€Å"efficacy of shame as a motivational tool†; quoting Allison it can be said â€Å"that suffering does not ennoble; it destroys†. It shatters not only the necessity of the compelling act of repentance in food and working habits but denies the efficacy of self-sacrifice to achieve the self-styled success of possessing a ‘perfect’ body (Geissler 2). We can fairly agree to the idea of accepting fat because undoubtedly it is a noble initiative. Fat shaming does not really do anything positive for one’s body rather only builds up hostility and aversion between the obese person and the rest of the society. By the virtue of the move ment, people have relearned to live their life without being worried about the social fixity- â€Å"thinner is better†. It entitles body autonomy to a person and reaffirms the fact that the concept of health is not necessarily affixed to any specific size or weight. In addition, fat acceptance endows a person with all the gratification about oneself and grants access to an enjoyable life. Probably the most important reason for agreeing to Geissler’s idea of fat acceptance is that it formulates acceptance to ‘Health at Every Size’ (Geissler 3). Besides, the movement has always emphasized liberty in the choice of food, personal presentation and physical activity that gives forth the need of that person and mere imitation of body shaming views. While we can agree to the most part of Geissler’s views, there remains some domains in her essay that are likely to catch objections. She takes body autonomy to another level where she has almost denied the necessity of having healthy food at times. According to her experience, having healthy food and working out has been a punishment whereas it cannot be denied that these things are intrinsic to a fit and healthy body. The autonomy of food may catalyze the peril of obesity but surprisingly the author evades such a significant relevant issue in this context. On the other hand, the idea of ‘Health at Every Size’ seems to be very vague in the essay. While it proclaims that, having anorexia cannot be considered as a sign of health and that it is damage for the body, it continues to maintain the idea of an extremely obese person being capable of leading an active life despite the diseased physical condition. In fact, both the extreme poles of weight scale are equally dangerous and the essay has missed to profess this vital medical truth. Apart from this, food addiction often leads to serious medical problems, which the fat acceptant people either consciously or unconsciously do not admit. Thinking that one’s own body is his or her own business and the person can feed it to any extent is entirely a misconception for it really cannot be approved to feed oneself to ill health. This is especially applicable to the rapidly increasing child obesity problem all over the world and the major cause aggravating the problem is the arbitrary food habit among children. It should not be that the fat acceptance movement carries any wrong message to them making them ailing and sedentary. The movement of fat liberation, therefore, must not give opportunity to people to be unapologetic and remain gratified despite their excess weight. Having discussed all the aspects of the essay, both that have been explored and those of the possible approaches that have been missed by the author it can be concluded that approving fat is not the goal but accepting the fat ones as equal is. The author successfully holds up the idea that it is high time the fat people accept their body image in a positive light instead of constantly living in the shadow of a fat-fearing culture. The concept of ‘Health at Every Size’ necessarily involves spontaneous yet conscious eating while regulating weight at the same time. Therefore, while acknowledging the words of Geissler, it can be stated that there is nothing indecent and degrading in a fat body that should be associated with shame and subjected to agonizing diet and excruciating physical exercise. Rather, as the author conveys, fat acceptance is that one revolutionary idea that advocates tolerance, size acceptance, equality for all body types, weight neutrality and most signi ficantly body positivity. Bombak, Andrea E. "The Contribution Of Applied Social Sciences To Obesity Stigma-Related Public Health Approaches". 2014. Clair, Matthew, Caitlin Daniel, and Michà ¨le Lamont. "Destigmatization and health: Cultural constructions and the long-term reduction of stigma."  Social Science & Medicine  165 (2016): 223-232. Geissler, Cynara. "Fat Acceptance: A Basic Primer". Geezmagazine.Org, 2010, https://geezmagazine.org/magazine/article/fat-acceptance-a-basic-primer/. Williams, Apryl A. "Fat People of Color: Emergent Intersectional Discourse Online."  Social Sciences  6.1 (2017): 15.

World Water Wars Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

World Water Wars - Essay Example It all starts with rain pouring down on soil, the soil soaking some of it to replenish the plants and trees and some to replenish the ground water supply. The leftover rain water is drained back into the sea which again is heated by the sun creating water vapors which again turn into heavy clouds that provide rain. So where did it all go wrong? Why the never ending cycle is not enough to supply famine regions of Africa with fresh drinking water? These are the questions that actually change our perception about water because now water is not a natural resource available for one and all by God but a valuable commodity, privately owned and exploited for corporate profit. Further on, the perception that building more and more dams would solve our problem after watching the documentary is completely reversed. Dams are nothing but elements choking the river nutrients from flowing further. 2) Blue Gold: World Water Wars The documentary (Bozzo, â€Å"Blue Gold: World Water Wars†), ske tches a realistic picture of what the world is beneath the veil of glamour, advance technology and looming structures of corporations. It creates awareness regarding the importance of water and the depletion of it as our most important resource. Not visible to the common eye, water is going to be the reason of potential conflicts and the United States has already created a new world map defining the conflict regions. These conflicts will turn into World Water Wars. Ninety seven percent of our planets water is salt water and only three percent of it is fresh. The conflict is between those regions who own that three percent and those who wished that they could own it. Wishes do come true. The government decides to privatize water and in the process creates giant water firms that are now influencing from water prices to foreign policies. The documentary (Bozzo, Blue Gold: World Water Wars†) is a wakeup call for all of us who are still under the illusion that water is the last thi ng that could trouble us, since we have all the pools, fountains and lakes around; how could we possibly be having a water crisis? 3) The crisis At first like in the Mayan civilization, civilizations prospered around water and strategically populated around areas that would fulfill their water requirements. However, as the world advanced the system was reversed and water was adjusted to according to where we lived instead of us adjusting to where it was. This has developed a huge problem for us and for the generations to come. We have polluted the water to such an extent that no matter what huge water corporations say; even the bottled water that we drink is polluted. Poisonous water of Mexico full of wastage flows to landscapes that grow crops sold back to us; in short our daily food intake includes the poisonous water whether we like it or not. Increasingly, dangerous water diseases are more deadly than any other disease. The fact that our fresh water source is depleting at a fast er pace has forced us into obtaining ground water at a faster rate not giving it enough time to be replenished. Natural disasters are also a reason of our increasing dependency on aquifers. Excessive pumping of aquifers may lead to disastrous events such as giant sinkholes forming in Florida. The fact that we pump billions of gallons of water every day is decreasing our ground water reserves and is putting more pressure on sea; the result of it is tsunami and earthquakes. Also now more rain does not permeate in the ground because it is covered with paved roads therefore again creating pressure on the ocean. 4) Creation of water company giants Suez, Veolia, RWE, Thames, Coca Cola, and Nestle are powerful water companies who have privatized vast volumes of water that was at first a

Strategic Management Analysis Managing change Essay

Strategic Management Analysis Managing change - Essay Example In the case studies under consideration, we will look at two types of organizations - one local public sector organization and the other a private one. Both these organizations have been facing issues on account of the changing environment based on the factors discussed earlier. Let us have a macro level picture of the issues faced by each. In our later sections we will also discuss the various theories related to change management and analyze the two organizations and their strategies in the light of these theories. The public sector organization under discussion is the Haram Commune. A commune is the basic level of the local government in Norway. Haram is an area of one of the counties of Norway, which is faced with a changing demographic profile of its population. As the area does not have sufficient career opportunities, it is faced with the exodus of young population seeking better career prospects outside Haram resulting in shortage of young, highly educated and skilled manpower. The future local job market is expected to be more knowledge-based and hence requires highly educated workforce. The commune, which was so far a public service organization, needed to change its way of functioning to make Haram an attractive business destination. We will analyze the various strategies and their outcomes in our later discussion. Our second organization, Marks and Spencer, had been very successful till 1998. However since then it started facing losses on account of increased competition, lack of abil ity to change with time and risk avoidance strategies. The case later analyses the various strategies employed by two CEOs, Holmes and Rose, with the aim of turning the company around. We will analyze the various strategies in our later sections and also try to see what could be a sustainable change management approach. Literature review Looking at the importance of change for today’s organizations, change management has been an important subject of study and a lot of research has been done in this regard. Some researchers suggest a transition change model whereby â€Å"four interlocking management processes lead to† implementation of sustainable change in an organization (Paton, Paton and McCalman 2008). These processes are described as – trigger layer, vision layer, conversion layer and maintenance and renewal layer (Paton, Paton and McCalman 2008). Sustainable change management requires organizations to identify and open for change to encash upon opportunitie s rather than to overcome crises. They need to have leadership with a vision which establishes and tracks the future course of an organization. (Pettigrew and Whipp 1991). This vision should be converted to actual actions by gathering support within the organization. And