The headline is not only bait but also wrong

At best, they could claim that AI-generated images are fueled by societal associations of negative attributes with obesity

And surely the use of the word phobia in an academic context should be more rigorous

The term fatphobia in general always irked me, it’s a co-opting of phobias usage with homophobia and feels like it’s trying to elevate itself to that level.

I’m a little done holding space for people trying to argue that being overweight/obese is not a serious health issue. Like, we need to treat it like smoking: no, you’re not a bad person for smoking, but smoking is bad for your health and quitting is good.

I honestly think there’s a lack of personal responsibility among folks—particularly online—who simply refuse to see anything wrong with themselves and think all lifestyles are equally valid no matter what.

Idk, as someone who’s struggled with being overweight since childhood, it really bugs me to try to reframe obesity as something that’s not a serious health problem and that society needs to accommodate certain unhealthy life choices. Again comparing with smoking, I’m very very VERY glad that stores/restaurants now ban smoking indoors. Sucks for the smokers, sure, but society does not need to accommodate all ways of life—particularly those that are straight up unhealthy. If you want to adopt unhealthy behaviors, that’s on you; don’t make it my problem.

Agreed, AI just like all media, has the biggest question of "is it fueling bias's, or just reflecting them". It's drawing what people think of when they see something.

It isn't racist for me to say, getting pulled over for no reason is far more likely if your skin is darker, it's just what society is.

and that's of course before we talk about the general discussion of actually effective ways to deal with obesity in society... which is more complicated. Obviously directly shaming, has a negative impact. Making someone with an eating disorder feel shitty about themselves, makes it harder to overcome the disorder. At the same time saying it's not a problem for them to face at all is also not going to help them want to change.

It wouldn't surprise me if 'fatphobia' turned out to be a psyop, like the corporate-funded research into nutrition whose aim is to plant a particular meme in the public conscience ('don't give up soda kids, just exercise to lose all that weight!')

50 years of high-fructose food ubiquity doesn't negate millennia of evolutionary conditioning that expects us to be on foot most of the day, consuming high protein diets and covering 10+km distances

The notion that we can out-social engineer physical reality is a doggedly persistent one

Fatphobia energy should be redirected into carbohydrate education. We ban cigarettes not smokers. Teach overweight people their problem is all the carbs in their diet (sugar, soda, pizza, candy, etc).

There are definitely folk who see obese people as an acceptable target because they can hide behind (valid) health claims, and then justify their moral superiority because they don't have those "personal failures".

The litmus test is if they think Semaglutide/GLP-1 is "legitimate" or obese people using it are "cheating".