by Rebecca Stussman ‘12

Obesity is not healthy. According to WebMD, someone who is 40 percent overweight is twice as likely to die prematurely than a person of average weight. Obesity is the second most prevalent cause of cancer, lesser only to smoking. Obese people can be accomplished and skilled, productive and sexy, popular and loved. They can be doctors, lawyers, athletes and leaders. But obesity is not healthy.

Obesity kills. It burdens the healthcare system and severely burdens society. And yet our hesitancy to take action against it, due largely to fear of wounding citizens’ self-esteem, keeps the government from launching the full-scale health campaign essential to a productive America. We place so much emphasis on the psychological effects of obesity yet neglect its physical consequences.

According to the American Heart Association, 73.4 percent of adult male citizens and 67.4 percent of women are overweight or obese. Yet when first lady Michelle Obama initiated her “Let’s Move” campaign in 2009 to counteract childhood obesity through nutrition education and exercise campaigns, she faced outcry from many who claimed the cause infringes on individuals’ independence and damages children’s confidence.

Maintaining a healthy weight is not easy. We live in a society of enclosed spaces and glowing screens; we check our smart phones compulsively and graze Facebook rather than walk outside or play sports with friends. Endless sugary snacks line our stores, and organic, low-calorie foods are often the most expensive. Society needs to encourage healthy decisions to improve self-esteem and ultimately create an enriched, productive nation. Health campaigns will not disrespect obese citizens but rather support the near-entirety of Americans, myself included, who struggle with weight problems.

Precedents of widespread government health campaigns demonstrate the potential effectiveness of an anti-obesity movement. In 1971, in an effort to counteract the prevalence of cigarette smoking, Congress banned the advertisement of cigarettes and initiated other policies to counteract dangerous tobacco use. These efforts were successful, dropping the total percentage of Americans who smoke cigarettes from 41 percent in 1944 to 21 percent in 2007. With education programs, exercise initiatives in schools, public service announcements and regulations on food products, we can save our country from the epidemic that is obesity. Yet opposition lingers. Self-titled “Fat Pride” movements lobby against policies such as exercise initiatives and government-set standards of food products. Marilyn Wann, a leader in these movements and author of the book Fat! So?, proudly flaunts her 285 pound, 5’4’’ figure, claiming it unnecessary for her to even attempt to lose weight and proudly carrying her title as an overweight woman despite undeniable discrimination.

We all deserve to feel comfortable with our appearance, and obese people are capable, talented, valuable individuals just like everyone else. But they are victims of an unfortunate physical condition. Obesity should be attacked because it is dangerous, not skirted around because it prompts low self-esteem.

Obesity causes death, saturates the health care system, and makes the country fall behind in international productivity. The government needs a more proactive approach that it has used with past crises such as cigarettes and drugs to acknowledge the prevalence of obesity and to fight its devastating effects.