Is the term Morbidly Obese considered offense?

[pinkbunies 359]

I was wondering if anyone here considers the term "Morbidly Obese" offense?

I was Morbidly Obese until a few months ago. When I talk about my surgery, I don't use the F word. I say Morbidly Obese. Some people have become so offended and they aren't even large people. They are pencil stick thin and act like they are defending larger people. It irritates me because they have no idea what it is like to be Morbidly Obese your entire life and then finally slim down and see what its like to feel normal.

I think Morbidly Obese is more polite than to say... I was fat... there's the F word I try to avoid.

[Tauruslady5 154]

We were all brought up with the words Fat, Thunder Thighs, and Hippo.......

In today's world, the wording Morbidly Obese is correct. But if you go by the Fashion World, everyone is Morbidly Obese unless you are a size Zero (0).

If you look at the clothes sizes, I use to fit in an XL, but now an XL is really a Small. I have seen Smalls that would fit my 2 year old grand-daughter. It is so sad what today's society has made women feel they should look like, and a man wants a woman to look this way.

Most magazines are of beautiful women, but in reality, they are photo shopped and touched up.

So if people become upset because they are called Morbid Obese and really have never even felt what that is like, They just need to realize the FASHION INDUSTRY/MODELING INDUSTRY has done this to them.

I have a friend who is 5'7" and weights appx 130, and they say she is way overweight. How sad is that. She is a beautiful woman and looks great, but not in the eyes of SOCIETY

[pinkbunies 359]

We live in a very sad society. What concerns me more is that the US is becoming more and more obese and its not as simple as "work out" and "eat better". I had said in a discussion else where that food was addictive and its hard to get into shape. People started telling me that food was not addictive and I was full of it. I then took a picture of a loaf of bread and asked them if they knew what half of the chemicals in the bread were. They went silent. I then went on further about what MSG does and how it makes you want more more more. Let's face it, if food wasn't addictive then food companies and fast food companies would be out of business. They have to use chemicals in their food otherwise our body doesn't crave it. It's the same argument with Cigarettes.

[sweetie716 270]

To me, the only way that would be offensive is if someone used it in a non-medical sense, like if someone used it to describe me without knowing my weight or bmi. Kind of like when some of my past doctor's would assume that I had diabetes, when I never had problems with my blood sugar. I kind of felt like- if you want to test, by all means do- but please don't assume that all obese people must have diabetes, because they don't. I don't know why people would take offense to the use of 'morbidly obese'- especially if you're using it to describe yourself in a more specific and medically accurate term than just 'fat.' That's interesting.

[GEAUX SAINTS 143]

Morbidly Obese is just the clinical term.

[BLERDgirl 6,417]

Morbidly Obese is just the clinical term.

Yep, it's the medical definition of having weight above a certain BMI.

[downsizingdiva 459]

I'm not offended by it. I have referred to myself as that. I just think it means that you could die from your weight and the complications that come along with it. Not defensive at all, to me any way.

[Laydee_G 78]

Because the use of the term morbid in the UK is used to describe a very negative person the term 'morbidly obese' usually makes me think of an overwieght person person who doesn't think positively. Ironically sounds like the old me...

In seriousness, I would much rather the term morbidly obese than the F word. Right now over here there are stacks of TV shows portraying morbidly obese people with the F word in the title. The portrayals are negative to say the least and it is as if these TV shows have been made to laugh at people, not to help them or gain an understanding of the challenges of being overweight which might develop into a change of prejudicial attitudes.

[JerseyJules 862]

I would think it would be offensive if you simply walked up to someone on the street and say "wow, you're morbidly obese"... Other than that it is just a medical term.

[AlanaRN 419]

I'm not offended by it at all cause I understand it's a medical term. However, I just don't care for it.