As soon as President Obama announced Dr. Regina Benjamin as his pick for surgeon general last July she came under fire for—can you believe it?—her weight!
Dr Benjamin’s figure has received more scrutiny and bashing from bloggers and commentators than her exemplary qualifications and achievements.
Last Monday, on Dr. Benjamin’s swearing-in date, she gave an interview to Good Morning America, in which she honestly responded to the comments about her figure. “Most women want to be attractive,” she said. “You don’t want to see negative things, people calling you names. So it was very hurtful.” Such straightforwardness and openness is refreshing.
I have two things I have to say about this:
First: Where are our manners?
Aren’t we the nation of political correctness? I don’t support euphemisms and practices that empty language of all meaning, but there’s something to be said for good manners: Language is the expression of thought, and suppressing language that might offend people not only spares these people’s feelings, but hinders the social acceptance of what’s ultimately bad manners.
It seems obesity is one of the final frontiers of out-in-the-open social marginalization and stigmatization--obesity bias is still socially acceptable and regularly expressed without any shame.
Strange that in a nation in which the majority of the population is overweight—and one in three adults is obese—where talking about a person’s color, ethnic background or religion can get you into major trouble, criticizing body fat is considered just fine.
And second: What does weight have to do with being a good surgeon general?
Our celebrity-obsessed culture confuses us into thinking that one’s appearance and personal story are major qualifications for any job.
Nothing can be further from the truth, certainly in most professional roles, and especially in science- based disciplines.
The Surgeon General is the leading spokesperson on matters of public health in the federal government. Quoting from the Office of the Surgeon General’s website, “The Surgeon General serves as America's chief health educator by providing Americans the best scientific information available on how to improve their health and reduce the risk of illness and injury.”
The key words here are “best scientific information.” The Surgeon General is a physician. She practices a discipline in which evidence and scientific inquiry are the main tools. A doctor’s personal opinion about most subjects hardly matters. When you consult a doctor what you’re supposed to get is what medicine knows about your condition, and hopefully, a treatment plan that has been proven to work. Doctors aren’t supposed to draw from their anecdotal personal experience or gut feeling when they’re on the job; they should be looking at evidence, referencing clinical studies and applying the gathered experience of many other trained professionals.
That’s why a male physician can be an excellent obstetrician, a pediatrician needn’t be a parent, and psychiatrists don’t need first-hand experience with overcoming mental illness. You follow a doctor’s advice (and the guidance of any other expert) because he knows his stuff and has sound clinical judgment, not because he’s a role model.
The Surgeon General is the country’s head doctor, not a health celebrity. She’s a professional, dispensing advice based on evidence, science and the consensus of peers in order to promote our national health.
Criticism that Dr. Benjamin might have a credibility problem when talking about obesity and can’t lead a national discussion on the subject is as absurd as insisting that a male physician couldn’t guide the delivery of a baby.
A weight-loss guru, touting a miracle diet that’s a quick cure-all for obesity, has a credibility problem if he’s overweight. (Actually, he’d have a credibility problem even if he’s skinny, because we should all know better and question whether such a fix could actually work.)
Prevention and public health are at the top of Dr. Benjamin’s to-do list and obesity is the number one public health issue facing America right now. Regardless of the Surgeon General’s personal experience with weight, her office would be looking at the same studies referenced by physicians and nutrition experts all around the world.
The data shows that obesity is multifactorial, isn’t easy to solve, isn’t a failure of personal will-power, and that telling people to lose weight—whether this comes from a thin or a fat person—is hardly an effective enough solution to this complex problem.
One of the most important roles of the Surgeon General is to influence public policies. In the case of obesity and the very sorry state of our country’s eating habits, a major effort is needed in order to change our obesogenic environment so that one won’t need such enormous self-control in order to be fit and thin.
I have no idea why we’re looking so hard for role models, and why we seem to expect no less than perfection from public figures.
Competency, wisdom and honesty from real people seem like plenty to me; and we’re fortunate that there’s so much more to admire in our new Surgeon General.
Most people can’t name many—or any—previous Surgeons General, have no idea what they did, and certainly don’t know their size. I hope Dr. Benjamin attracts more public attention than her recent predecessors did, and when she speaks it's the message--not the messenger--we should be paying most attention to.
I’m looking forward to a heated discussion on this topic.
Dr. Ayala
Read more from Dr. Ayala at http://herbalwater.typepad.com/
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Comments
The smoking analogy isn’t easy to deflect. Yes, I’d be appalled to see the Surgeon General smoke in public--that would send the wrong message. The medical community’s clear message to smokers is to quit—as hard as it may be.
On the other hand, with overweight, the message is to prevent obesity by developing good habits, but if that didn’t happen, and you do have extra weight, the advice isn’t really to do whatever is takes to bring you down to a size 4. Losing 10 percent of the extra weight, preventing further weight gain, eating well and keeping fit is much more realistic, and really matters to your health.
Therefore I don’t see a doctor with some extra weight as not practicing what she preaches.
She looks like she can handle herself...so let her.
In a political context, just as it is right and reasonable for you to question why people would do something like this...
...it is right and reasonable for them to do it.
One would think we could be a more polite society than this shows us to be...but others would think such a notion is naive in the extreme.
Thank you for such a thoughtful and needed post. I’ve been wondering the same things. Sadly such criticism is not only ill mannered but often rooted in values that are created for their own times. A brief look at history as portrayed in the art world, for instance, would quickly reveal that body types thought normal today were far from such not so long ago.
I really appreciate the balance and grasp of the necessary in your piece.
“Competency, wisdom and honesty from real people seem like plenty to me”
They do to me as well. They are the reasons I always look forward to your articles so much.
Rated and appreciated.
@Steve - are we sure that we haven't had a surgeon general who smoked? or drank too much? I think we very well could have
I have been saying for years that all too often we expect our politicians to be far better than ourselves. I have always found that to be unrealistic. We all have bad habits. For some it is over eating, for some smoking, for some it is a sexual addiction and for others a drinking problem. The list could go on and on.
The truth is that our new surgeon general may be perfectly healthy just the way she is. To assume that everyone is physically capable of being thin is ludicrous. I have known women in my life who worked out five times or more a week, eaten well and yet, if you saw them waling down the street you might assume that they were over weight. When in truth, it is simply the way that they are built and short of starvation, they will never look like Halle Berry or Julia Roberts.
It pains me to see so many seemingly intelligent people who base their opinions on assumption and or preconceived notions about any subject.
Could she get Health Insurance at her age, weight and possible pre-existing conditions, from Humana or another carrier?
They did issue her a nice uniform, a la William Rehnquist.
Could she get Health Insurance at her age, weight and possible pre-existing conditions, from Humana or another carrier?
They did issue her a nice uniform, a la William Rehnquist.
Just as a visual example, Siskel and Eibert? Which one is still living? And since he lost weight has his health improved or gone downhill?
In fact, that situation is not so unusual, scientifically.
We have such a mafia of prejudice in this country against weight. (Or maybe it's primarily a mafia in favor of self-hate and/or hatred of the underclass people who usually are overweight). If anything you could look at health as a grid where many factors including weight play a role. But to simplify it down to only looking at weight without looking at a single other factor including heredity, blood pressure, etc. , as you are doing in this situation, you have no idea what you're talking about.
I'm not a doctor but one of my best friends is a doctor, and I've read some of the studies for myself. Dr. Ayla is speaking accurately. The medical literature does not support weight as the ONLY or even the most important criteria for how healthy any human being is. If you want to make that argument, you're going against medical literature and instead buying into the corporate weightloss industry claims (and by the way what a huge financial interest that is in this country).
Look for yourself at the studies and who pays for them and what they really say about human health. Just thought you should know that though a lot of people make the same claims, they're about as scientifically valid as the idea a couple of centuries ago that witches should be burned because they killed babies or made crops die. And as a matter of fact, I do think that she's getting this criticism for being a woman. There, I've said it.
Ug.
Today, a huge part of physical health is related to weight. We don't want to face it, but it is. I worked as the Regional Director of The American Heart Association for many years in this part of our country and I can tell you that the statistics of being overweight or obese is related to many diseases. There's a lot of reverse bias toward anyone who dares bring up the subject of weight. I am working on a childhood obesity initiative and let me tell you, I thought taking on bullying in the schools was controversial.
I have to agree to an extent with Spud.
When I saw that you were a physician, I was concerned that you would write an article opposed to our having a plump surgeon general. I was thrilled that you wrote in support of her.
Dr. Benjamin is not only a very lovely woman, but appears to be in glowing health as well. As the mother of a daughter I would MUCH rather see Dr. Benjamin held up as a role model than a woman who looks pinch-faced and stressed out from trying to maintain an unnaturally low weight.
I love the term you used: "obesogenic culture."
Our high-tech, low-activity lifestyle, combined with easy access to abundant food, almost demands that we in the U.S. develop eating disorders in order to remain thin - or (god forbid) learn to accept a higher body weight for ourselves.
Thank You for your post Dr. Ayala. You seem to be more than just a doctor. You seem to be a healer as well.
which dentist do you prefer?
Its seems like more and more Americans prefer dentures to teeth--(or implants or the other more fashionable examples of not real teeth) and yet, I like the dentist who knows what its like to get a cavity, and whose teeth don't gleam so hard they make my eyes water.
To me a "real" dentist has real teeth. And those who want to judge this doctor purely on the visual rather than on any real health measures (let alone depth of knowledge in her field) seem to be similarly misguided.
just sayin'.
It like saying Dr. Hawking knows nothing about physics, because he is confined to a wheelchair. I kind of think it's important to look at the whole person, something some seem unwilling to do.
I welcome "Competency, wisdom and honesty from real people" any day over BMI and celebrity appeal. Unfortunately, however, all this scrutiny over Dr Benjamin's weight is promoting the young people, the wrong message once again: that people are valued more for their looks and attitude than their knowledge and intelligence. In a country where self esteem is so closely confused with self image, I find this a fresh and welcome step forward. We need role models who are bright, skilled, open-minded and comfortable in her own skin.
Furthermore, not only she is recipient of MacArthur Genius Award, but also she has first hand experience with many of the diseases currently suffered by Americans.
Rated
@ Steve Klingman: I hope Dr Benjamin will be seen as a role model - I hope America will grow up and learn to shift its misplaced focus.
And last but not least it seems she is not following what science is based on as you mentioned Evidence and Scientific Inquiry. If she did this she would know her self that being over weight is harmful to her. And thus she should do something to remedy this.
In short I think the surgeon general shoud be purple and about 5'7", weigh 135 lbs, and the qualifications to be a good surgeon general.
Yes appearance does count ! Otherwise American women are going to continue to be the fat sloppy pigs that the majority have turned out to be.
Burgess Dillard
Those are my thoughts.
Great issue, well done, rated.
It is understandable because we have become a nation of exaggeration of every fear and potential threat including health. Instead of looking at life as a balancing act of moderation, we seem to pick certain behaviors and demonize them and exaggerate their risks to the overall health of the individuals and the society.
Yes, this nation could stand to loose a couple of billion pounds, but it will not reduce the cost of healthcare. Health care is increasing for our nation because we are all getting older and living longer. Since most of the lifestyle related diseases effect those in their 70s and above the cost of healthcare will continue to increase because a larger percentage of the population is older than previous ones. Plus we have this insane idea we can live forever. Sorry something is going to kill you. I wonder how different the mortality rate for cancer and heart disease (the two major killers) would look if we did not count those who die within the normal range of mortality. I think it would put the real risk of lifestyle in perspective.
So the AG is overweight, if she is healthy and productive then God bless and live long and prosper. And enough of this roll model BS, everyone is responsible for their own fat ass.
If she has a hard time exercising, or choosing healthy foods, perhaps she could share that with the public. I would respect hearing that it's tough to always make the right decisions... Obama admitted it was tough giving up smoking!
Our family doctor is the first to admit that she has to watch her blood pressure, that she has needed anti anxiety meds (while in med school) and struggles with her weight. It's nice to know she is human and understands...
R.
@Will Azeperak, I laughed at your dentist comment, but there’s a lot of truth to it.
I did a rotation in plastic surgery as a medical student. One of the head surgeons used to joke and say his big nose and relative unattractiveness serve as a closing argument for patients who can’t make up their mind. He’d point at himself and say: “See the results of neglect!”
He happened to be one of the best surgeons in the department, and was very much sought after.
New Orleans sees a lot of various medical conventions. These are your everyday doctors from all over the country, not the surgeon general. By my anecdotal observation, a high percentage of opthamologists wear Coke-bottle glasses, a high percentage of neurologists have a gimpy arm or leg, and a high percentage of cardiologists are fat smokers.
You, Dr Ayala have hit the nail on the head. Competency, wisdom and honesty are of much greater value than the opinions of the easily hidden.
Many times people choose to devote their professional life to solve a problem they or a family member have first- hand experience with, so the ophthalmologists with glasses and neurologists with a neurologic disorder seem fine to me.
A doctor smoking in public isn’t—that is a very confusing message to the public.