Don't Police Female Identified Bodies In The Name Of Health

There has been a recent recommendation in the news that "Primary care doctors are advised to talk to women between 40 to 60 who have a normal or overweight body mass index, or BMI, about maintaining their weight or limiting it to prevent obesity." 

This recommendation bugs me for a whole host of reasons:

• This recommendation is unnecessarily gendered. If this was really about health and not just policing female identified bodies the recommendation would be for all people not just women.

• This recommendation minimizing female identified bodies' agency. This recommendation suggests that women are not aware of their own bodies and have no idea of their own weight.

• This recommendation is for all female identified bodies disregarding if the person is actually considered overweight or is in anyway actually suffering from a health issue. 

• This recommendation is based on BMI which has been shown to be problematic for a long time. BMI is not an all encompassing indicator of health. While it can be useful in a big picture way there is a lot of variability in body composition. 

• This recommendation makes it even more likely that doctors will be judgmental of anyone who happens to have a different body shape. 

Personal example of why all this matters:

Last fall I went to a new doctor for an annual physical because I had different insurance. 

I had gained a few pounds between about 9 months before COVID (and before I left a job where I was on my feet for 8 hours a day to now being a freelance writer which involves more sitting) to last fall and my BMI now was considered overweight. 

While I had not gotten to a primary care doctor in a few years I had gotten to several health clinics over the 3-6 months before my new primary care doctor's visit. These clinics had included blood pressure, full cholesterol panels, fasting blood sugar, A1C etc. which all came back fine so I had a basic understanding of where I was health wise. I also brought all this data to the new doctor for their reference.

Instead of actually listening to me the doctor started diagnosing me with a wide range of issues right off the bat, which she even listed in my chart, everything from hormonal imbalances (which she even said what she was seeing was not actually in line with but was the only possible reason I had gained any weight during COVID), to calling in prescriptions to the local pharmacy I would need to take. 

This was all before she did any blood work of her own and while totally dismissing all the other results because she did not think those tests were as good as her test. (Again I can understand some tests might be more sensitive than others so doing your own makes sense, having blood work done was not an issue for me, but assuming my numbers would be horrible and tell me thus despite the others being fine feels like a leap) 

This was also without me having any symptoms so I was not sure why she was so determined that I was sick. In the moment I was overwhelmed at being diagnosed with various lifelong conditions but after both all my blood work came back fine and some time had passed I realized part of the doctor's sureness I had tons of aliments was probably because my BMI was slightly high. 

This whole situation taught me that doctors can end up being intentionally or not, very judgmental when it comes to weight and health especially in women. I was seen as a woman with slightly high BMI and therefore seen as someone clearly with a whole host of health issues without having to check if I actually had those health issues. 

And this all meant I felt even less willing to ever go back and see a doctor again for a physical (I found someone new who hopefully will be better this year.) This is why the recommendation that all women's weight be talked about by doctors feels like it could both go wrong and could keep women away from the doctor's even if they do have health issues because they don't want to deal with the judgment.