"Men and obesity Wheres the help with weight loss"

[HelenaDove]

www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/jul/12/men-obesity-weight-loss-help?CMP=twt_gu

I Cant Even. The support for men isnt there because the pressure on men lookswise isnt the same as it is for women.

The article states how hes had to do it all himself. Hes also moaned about how mens articles focus on how to get a six pack in six weeks FFS womens mags have been running articles like "lose 5 pounds in a week" for decades.

Im glad hes achieved the weight loss hes wanted. Speaking as a woman who has lost ten stone i know what its like.

But the situation has arisen in this way because of patriarchy and the pressure women to pass the fuckability test. It is NOT the fault of women. The article says there is more support for women but there is more pressure too.

And the article explains how a FREE weight management programme was created.

Women who go to Slimming World or Weight Watchers have to pay a joining fee and a weekly fee. In a world where women are still paid less than men.

Helena why is this a feminist issue?

I haven't been on this board a long time but in the time I've been here the main thing I've learned as a male is, I can be all for equal rights for women but there are going to be things I don't understand because of my male privilege. Therefore the opposite is true as well isnt it? as a female how do you know the pressure that mean face in modern society?

I'm not saying at all that it's as well established as body image pressure that women face but it's certainly increasing. The numbers of men with eating disorders is up, the number of men taking steroids is huge. look at male movie actors, the cover of men's health or gq magazine. They are mostly incredibly muscular men, almost certainly on muscle building drugs, dehydrated, using good lighting and still prob using photo shop.

There was a thread on here recently about domestic violence being a gendered crime because of the overwhelming numbers of women who experience I compared to men and whole don't know how true the figures are in that article it strikes me more as something that effects men. ( not as clear cut as the DV figures but according to that article men are still more likely to be fat and less likely to receive help.) if that's the case why shouldn't be requesting more help?

TBH, good on him - he's doing what we so often say, and getting off his bum to solve an issue for himself and for the male half of the population!

I think it would be better if we were all going in the other direction, with focus on looks and more on health, so I don't think it's good that this is rising in men, no matter what the current status of women.

I will say, I think he's overestimating the help women get - yes, we can pay to go to weight watchers which does play to its demographic (but then it's a commercial enterprise, so it would), but various doctors and midwives I've seen over my life have pretty much all done nothing more than thrust a leaflet at me and earnestly tell me it would be good for my health to lose weight (sometimes helpfully listening to what I've said, and telling me to move more and eat less)

GPs can give out vouchers for free membership of things like WW and SW along with local gyms. I know that SW has a special programme for men, and a separate award for them, so I'm failing to see his point.

The weight loss industry is not there to support women but to profit from the pressures on women to try to lose weight (again and again). It is a feminist issue when men complain that women are privileged by aspects of oppression especially where this gets printed in a major newspaper.

Mide 7 When i was a lot bigger i used to get shouted at and abused for it in the street. This does not happen to men on anywhere near the same scale.

Baking is correct. In fact our group awarded the Man of the Year award very recently.

Flora you have pretty much summed up what i meant in a better way than i did.

Men can (and do) pay to go to Weight Watchers and Slimming World, and the like. Which are organisations based on screwing as much money out of people as they can, anyway.

This is such a non story from the Guardian.

Quite a few men go to my local Slimming World group, and a lot of men go to the gym. There's also lots of online slimming advice sites which men can access.

I can't see how NHS helps women more than men deal with their weight, IME tier 2 and 3 services are gender neutral in their approach.

How do you know tho Helena? You've never been a man. When I was fatter I got shouted out at to.

The fitness industry is exactly the same for men tho flora. A huge ripped man selling a product which he takes and got ripped. Obviously ignoring the 10+ years of training, the diet, the steroids, the tan, the lighting. Yes I understand it's currently a bigger problem for women and also a longer standing problem but things are changing.

A couple of months ago when that protein world advert was in the news about the "are you beach ready?" thing, no one mentioned the male version that was up. A man in swimwear looking all lean and muscular with beach bodies written on it. Is that not as potentially as damaging?

A couple of months ago when that protein world advert was in the news about the "are you beach ready?" thing, no one mentioned the male version that was up. A man in swimwear looking all lean and muscular with beach bodies written on it. Is that not as potentially as damaging?

Are men not capable of protesting about such things, if they find them offensive, Mide7? Are you really saying you expect other people to fight your battles for you?

No I'm saying there as much damaging images and misinformation out there for men as there are women. Just because people didn't complain doesn't make it not potentially damaging.

Im getting a sense of deja vu here. Men have used the same arguments before regarding domestic abuse.

Wheres the support Why arent people fighting for us. When they say people they mean women.

Surely if this really affected men on the same scale as women more men would be doing something about it instead of asking why arent women doing it for them.

Yes, it's potentially damaging. So, why were the people to whom it was damaging not making a noise about it? But, as you state, "no one mentioned the male version". Perhaps these people should organise themselves to ensure that society's notice is drawn to the damage such images might cause them? Instead of expecting others to do so?

Is that not one the article is doing Helena? Trying to raise awareness of a issues that is affecting men ( obviously it affects women to).

Then you say
"I Cant Even. The support for men isnt there because the pressure on men lookswise isnt the same as it is for women. " minimising his experiences. Look at the stats he's provides, 67% of men are overweight or obsese but your 277% more likely to get weight lose help it your a woman.

Who's expecting others to do it?

That is because of societys expectations Mide. I sometimes read the dating threads on the Relationships board and there are countless times women have seen "nothing over a size 12" written on mens profiles.

Its because there is 277% more profit to be made because of these pressures.

Did you complain about the male version Mide?

Well, you note there was no publicity surrounding the damaging image of a man, but there was plenty surrounding the damaging image of a woman, because someone was concerned enough about it to start a petition, and the media picked up on that. Where was the petition started by people concerned about the damaging image of a man? Who's job was it to start one?

mide7 do you usually say to women that X isn't a feminist issue and happens as much to men?

Women's role as the passive object of male gaze is a feminist issue. The weight loss industry feeds off it. Men's health and fitness industries are totally different in what they feed off and in turn perpetuate societally.

You've said your piece now mide that you don't think weight loss is a feminist issue and men have it bad too. I hope you're not going to keep banging on about it. It's a pretty basic point.

*Whose

Ok Helena but what's who those men are attracted to got to do with anything? Do men not see things about big biceps and six packs on dating profiles?

So weight loss companies are ignoring 67% of overweight men because there isn't a pressure on men? What about the £91m sports supplement industry? Are they not pressuring men? Or the fact that there has been a rise of 645% of steroid users who attended needle exchanges.

I'm not arguing about the pressure women face, it's horrible and it scares me because of what my daughter will face but being overweight isn't a female problem. It's a modern society problem.

Sorry missed aloud of posts ( I know you are all dying to hear my views). No I didn't complain about the advert, I couldn't care less what a supplement company think I should look like to go on a beach.

I'll happily butt out of this thread if that's what you want. All I'm saying is if I came hear and tried to tell you how you should think about something which I haven't experience you'd quite rightly tell me I don't know what I'm talking about because I haven't experience it. Well that's what you are doing to this man and his article. He isn't minimising the struggle that women face, he is just highlighting a male issue. That's what the advise is on DV threads isn't it? If you've got a problem then men should do something about it. This journalist is trying not to highlight and issue.

Supplement companies are exactly the same as weight lose companies IMO. They both feed off people's insecurities, the promote a look which is largely unattainable or heavily doctored or highly genetic.

It is not the fault of women.
He's not blaming women as far as I can see. He's not asking that women provide the support that he feels is needed to tackle obesity in men.

I'm not sure why this article is a feminist issue.

Of course obesity is a problem of modern society. In fact, a higher proportion of men in our society are obese than women.

So why is most of the advertising for the weight loss industry directed at women? You can't really believe that this is because women get more support to lose weight. It's because more women are suckered into shelling out money to these companies because of the pressures placed on us by society to be attractive to men.

The real disgrace is that the NHS is wasting money giving weight watchers vouchers to obese patients, as all the evidence shows that it is a statistically unsuccessful weight loss program, in the long term.