On the radio news this morning the BBC reported n a new treatment for vitiligo, but the report focused heavily on its alleged "controversial" aspect. It suggested that, rather than risking side-effects, many people believed that their skin should be embraced as it is, in the spirit of body positivity.

Of course, very many people do chose to live with dermatological conditions like this, rather than face the hassle, the constant disappointment and the various side effects that treatments can present. There is nothing new in that. Many effective treatments involve steriods, for example, which have nasty side effects.

But it surprised me how much the news item foregrounding this issue of 'body positivity'. I felt they were treating a medical condition almost as an issue of 'identity politics', and it brought home to me how much this whole tiresome ritual of 'celebrating identity' is partially displacing all the many other concerns and approaches in life.

I'm speaking as someone with mild vitiligo and severe alopecia universalis, which often teams up with vitiligo and is another condition that is painless and "only cosmetic". Of course, since treatments for alopecia are often ineffective and/or come with side effects, it is often the right thing to stop seeking treatment (an this is,in fact, the point I amat now),. But that is an evidence-based medical decision. If anyone had suggested it to me on the basis of this current saccharine trend of self-celebration and 'pride-in-identity' I would have felt like telling them to fuck the fuck right off.

Writing this because I am sick of identity politcs, I guess.

Here is a link to the same story that the radio news featured: www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-64809406