Episode 23: The BMI Chart is a SCAM!

What The F*ck Is Going On?

*TW* (This episodes discusses eating disorders and topics that may be triggering to some). We haven't done a Scam episode in a while, so we felt like bringing to you one of the dumbest, outdated, and embarrassingly inaccurate scams: THE BMI SCALE. And as I'm sure you'll hear from our tone in this episode, we are coming in hot, pissed the fuck off about it! It's something we've all heard of, and probably subconsciously hate thinking about. It's something that tries to define our health and force us into a certain view and perspective of our bodies, our health, and even our self image.
This scale is older than electricity in homes, the invention of cars, airplanes, Einstein's Theory of Relativity, bottle caps (...) I could go on. The BMI scale was made before we were able to keep meat cold. Let that sink in. So why the FUCK is this scale still being used 200 years later when we have changed and developed, and made so many drastic advancements in technology as a society. We think this is really fucking embarrassing we're still using this scale as a measurement of health. We're here to start forcing the narrative that the BMI Scale should not be used as a definitive measurement of someone's health in comparison to their weight, when it doesn't account for different ethnicities, genders, or lifestyles. You'll be (not) surprised to find out, it was created by a white European man, and the original formula to create it was based off of? You guessed it: white men!
The dire implications this stupid scale can have on the most vulnerable of people is so upsetting. Being told you're "overweight", as it's a negative thing, even when you may be at a weight thats healthy for YOU, or even having to think of your body and weight in this type of way is dangerously inaccurate and highly toxic. Your weight does not define you, in any way. One of the reasons we are so passionate about this topic is because of how many young women and men are affected by these narratives pushed by the media and this outdated scale, that you should look a certain way. This is a direct cause of why eating disorders are so common today, and one of the biggest reasons we are so passionate about this topic.
Sources:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2930234/
https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=106268439
https://www.eatingdisorderhope.com/information/eating-disorder/bmi
https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/downloads/bmiforpactitioners.pdf

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