The Dark History of BMI & Fatphobia

<p>Dark ideas and stigma around different body sizes really took hold in the Enlightenment.</p><br><p>Very unenlightened, if you ask us.</p><br><p>This started all sorts of awful movements, and one result was BMI - or Body Mass Index - which is still used as a measure of health by doctors today.</p><br><p>What even <em>is</em> the BMI? Why are women and people of colour particularly affected by these harmful ideas? And what's the future of fatphobia and BMI?</p><br><p>Joining Kate is the fantastic Amy Farrell, professor of women’s, gender and sexuality studies at Dickinson College and author of <a href="https://nyupress.org/9780814727690/fat-shame/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Fat Shame: Stigma and the Fat Body in American Culture</em></a><em>, </em>to take us back to the dark origins of BMI and fatphobia.</p><br><p>This episode was edited by Tom Delargy and produced by Stuart Beckwith. The senior producer was Charlotte Long.</p><br><p>Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at <a href="https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><u>https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe</u></a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><br><p><u>You can take part in our listener survey</u><a href="https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/6FFT7MK" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><u> here</u></a><u>.</u></p><br><p>All music from Epidemic Sounds.</p><br><p>Betwixt the Sheets: History of Sex, Scandal & Society is a History Hit podcast.</p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>