Letters to the Editor
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no they should be REQUIRED to adopt and be PROHIBITED
from passing on those genes.
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Why shouldn't obese poeple be able to adopt?
They still let smokers adopt, don't they?
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I'm not sure that they do
I do know that parents who smoke around kids with respiratory problems have been held to be unfit and/or criminal.
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Obesity is not the problem: it's the beauty standards which are all wrong
Surely, as we are always reminded on Broadsheet, our society pressures women into being TOO THIN and anorexia is therefore the bigger problem. Right?
I mean, whenever you walk down the street you see plenty of skeletal, emaciated women falling-over from Patriarchy-imposed self-starvation. Isn't that how it's supposed to work in the feminist universe?
Isn't a slim, attractive figure just a sign of malevolent Patriarchal brainwashing? Isn't being a dugong-like monstrosity just a refreshing rebellion against phallocentric beauty norms?
So confusing...
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funny
You're saying it's a genetic thing when that's convenient...but usually the standard argument around here is that it's just a lack of self-discipline. Make up your mind.
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Australia
Australia has a not-so-happy history regarding the government making decisions about who is fit to be a mother.
Not so long ago, children with white fathers were forcibly removed from their aboriginal mothers. The government said the mothers were unfit simply because they were not "civilized" -- i.e., white. The government policy was to try to force mixed-race children to forget their mothers and cut themselves entirely from their mothers' culture. You can imagine how traumatic this was for mothers and their children.
At first blush, this governmental heavy hand (no pun intended) on the would-be overweight adoptive mother seems reminiscent of past, shameful policies.
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"right" to be a mother
Nobody has a God given right to be a mother, nor a government/Constitutionally given right, as far as I'm aware.
The focus here should be the good of the child, not the imagined rights of a prospective parent.
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big mommas
There is a degree of heritable propensity or risk for essentially every trait, behavioral or otherwise, and “genetics” (or germ theory) alone no more explains obesity than schizophrenia or alcoholism. It does usefully distract from environmental forces that drive these and other disorders.
Beyond basic physical safety and physiological needs, what the young child needs most, and invariably suffers from lack of, is the secure, nurturing attachment provided by a primary caretaker who can consistently respond with touch, holding, eye contact, and engagement. Obesity that restricts movement or causes lethargy can be an effective barrier to a young child’s needs being met, as in the case of a child (who had developed a childhood anxiety disorder) recently observed clinically to approach her obese mother to be picked up and held – “I can’t, I’m too big.”
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Better a fat mother. . .
than no mother.
As for the good of the child, I can't imagine that children are better off languishing in orphanages than with loving parents. Even if those loving parents are fat.
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Hating fat people
I loved my fat drinker and smoker of an aunt more than I loved my own mother. Why? Aunt Rose was easy going and didn't mind what I did, mostly, so I grew up with an easygoing personality that she modeled for me. My own parents were uptight about food, money, etc. etc.
Of course none of this current discussion has much to do with kids, really. It's more about punishing women (especially) for being fat.
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fatness, controlled or uncontrolled?
I think the underlying issue here is a question about to what degree a person who is obese has choosen to be so.
Are prospective parents in wheelchairs allowed to adopt? Are parents who have inhereted Type 1 diabetes allowed to adopt? Are colourblind parents allowed to adopt? Where do we draw the line between who should be allowed to adopt and who shouldnt when it comes to physical attributes?
You mention that: "To make things worse, Lannigan suffers from polycystic ovarian syndrome, a disease that can cause both fertility problems and weight gain."
In this case it appears that she is obese because of an underlying medical condition. How is that any different from a woman who was born without her right leg adopting? Both are physical handicaps resulting from inhereted medical conditions.
However, when it comes to 'fat people' we seem to be unable to decide if we should have sympathy for someone who has been handed the short-stick in the genetics lottery, or whether we should group them with smokers and alcholics.
Is being fat Lannigan's FAULT? Should she be punished by refusing her adoption request because she is fat as a result of her polycycstic ovarian syndrome? Or maybe she's just fat because she eats at McDonalds all the time.
Either way, it seems a bit rich to tell a prospective parent they can not adopt because of their weight, when millions of 'genetic' parents who are overweight are allowed to procreate at will.
And as a total sidenote to the poster above regarding Australia's history of the 'stolen generation': this issue is hardly related, and comparing the two seems completely irrelevant. Many countries have past or ongoing histories of removing indigenous children from their parents and putting them into state-run institutions, not just Australia. Just as many countries have laws relating to the weight of potential adoptive parents.
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It's too bad
You know the usual troll morons here are gonna be ripping into her at any moment, but she looks like a sweet, kind person.
I've heard that PCOS has to be dealt with before weight loss is possible, no matter what kind of diet and exercise plan the person adopts. How difficult it is to overcome PCOS itself, I have no idea.
Perhaps they could evaluate her on an individual level...if she can lose some of the weight, and demonstrate fitness by being able to get around, carry a child, etc. There are people in wheelchairs with kids, after all. If the agency has healthy thin people lined up to adopt, then that's great, but if this is one of those hard-to-adopt older/handicapped/whatever kids, they should seriously be thinking of what's best for the child.
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Are you kidding me?
Does a fat woman have the right to be a mother? It's not a question with any easy answers
Actually, it's a question with one very easy answer: yes.
If you have any more questions about fat women, feel free to ask.