A perspective on obesity

Abstract

This article represents another approach to the topic of obesity in African-American women. It will not give the usual statistical data on obesity in African American women, because as African-American women, it is known that a greater majority is at risk. Instead the article represents a historical, cultural and psychosocial journey in attempting to understand obesity in African-American women from this perspective. The following thoughts are reflective of interactions with African-American women who have struggled with their weight and who have strived to understand the dynamics of their dilemma of being overweight and/or obese in America. This article explains that obesity in African-American women is more than an alteration in ones physiological processes. For some African-American women obesity is the essence of ones being and it has had a deleterious impact on them. Obesity in the African-American woman is not as simplistic as perceived. It is more than the management of the intake of food. Obesity is also more than the type of food that African-American women prepare and consume. Obesity in this sense maybe linked to the very essence of the women's cultural, historical and psychosocial well being. Being large can be a familial characteristic bearing no connection to the consumption and preparation of food. Important to the latter concept, and essential to the understanding of obesity in African-American women, it needs to be remembered that food may have many symbolic meanings. The symbols may be of a cultural and psychological nature and could be consciously unknown to the individual. Whatever the situation, it needs to be clear that for many African-Americans, obesity is not merely a medical problem. Being obese in America, and particularly for African-American women, has a far-reaching effect. It has reek havoc on the cultural psyche of the African-American women. The popular cultural concept conveyed by all types of media, is one of being thin and/or slim.