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Recently I've been thinking about the weight gain episodes of old kids' shows. While I know they are treated as an eye-opener by many into adipophilia (including me), they also reek of fatphobia and most of them are pretty weird in their messaging if you start to think about it. They try to teach the children watching about the dangers of unhealthy eating / being fat, but the baseline for these episodes is already not great:

What counts as healthy or unhealthy eating is never clearly defined. Usually eating big portions of fastfood is the "unhealthy" option portrayed, while the "healthy" option is eating raw vegetables and fruits, even if you dislike the taste. The only example I can think of where they even try to properly explain what they mean by "healthy" is the Kim Possible episode (specific title is in the lower part of this post).

Unhealthy is always equated with fatness. One or several of the main characters starts out "thin and healthy", then eats a ton of fastfood, gains weight and "inevitably" the weight then makes them unhealthy. It's never a lack of certain nutrients (because of the one-sided food choices) or anything like that (despite the fact that e.g. in the Kim Possible episode getting a balance of nutrients is presented as the magical solution).

Once the characters "learn their lesson" and start eating "healthy", they instantly lose the weight again. Once again, this perpetuates the myth of "healthy = thin, unhealthy = fat".

Sports are rarely part of the "health lesson" these episodes try to teach. BUT it is brought up for fatphobic reasons. See, because once the characters become fat, they're automatically now bad at sports, even if it's something they've been practising for ages before that. For example: Lilo (Lilo & Stitch) becomes too clumsy for hula class, Ron (Kim Possible) becomes too easily winded for football, Jake (American Dragon) becomes too slow to fight and too heavy to fly properly. It sends the message that fat people can't and shouldn't do sports.

All of that is of course already bad enough. But something else I noticed is that they use the weirdest arguments for their fatphobia, as in the episode's ultimate reason that eating "unhealthy" is bad, the Big Bad Thing that will happen to you if you do. Let me give you some examples:

In the Lilo & Stitch episode "Frenchfry" (S2E2) Nani tries to teach Lilo that eating fastfood is bad. The episode tries to make this point not with any of the typical arguments (which would still not be great). No, Lilo and Stitch learn their lesson because eating the fastfood Frenchfry (experiment 062) made them made them so fat that Frenchfry is now trying to grill and eat them. Call me crazy but irl it's unlikely to get eaten by an alien for being fat, so I'm not sure why that's the takeaway here.

In Kim Possible episode "Grand Size Me" (S4E7) Ron goes on a Bueno Nacho only diet to prove Mr Barkins wrong when he claims that fastfood is unhealthy. How is Ron taught his lesson? During a mission with Kim he falls into a pool of chemicals that he absorbs through his skin. These chemicals only do something in reaction to a fatty diet, so of course Ron is affected. What do they do? They turn him into a giant cheese monster and he can only be turned back by being forced to eat "healthy" food. Again, I don't think turning into a giant cheese monster is a usual side effect of any diet, so wtf is this.

In Totally Spies' "Passion Patties" (S1E21) Clover gains weight from eating cookies that have been spiked with a weight gain additive and something that makes the cookies addictive to eat. The only reason the spies win at the end is that thanks to Clover's newly gained weight she's big enough to take on the villain's hench-women (who are also all fat). To remind the viewer that despite of this fat is not supposed to be seen as good, the villain is forced to drink the weight gain substance pure (as her punishment) and Clover gets "healed" by a chemical that nullifies the weight gain effect of the cookies. Honestly not sure what viewers are supposed to take away here - don't eat cookies spiked with drugs?

In American Dragon's "Furious Jealousy" (S2E29) Jake gains weight because he's eating fastfood from a new place. When he's attacked by gorgons the new weight makes him too slow to fight and they turn him to stone. Eventually he's saved and then promises to eat healthy and exercise. This example is probably the closest to having a not completely absurd consequence for getting fat, though "you won't be able to fight mythological monsters" is still not the most logical reasoning.

Fairly Odd Parents has "Just Desserts" (S5E4) where Timmy wishes that every meal was dessert and as a consequence the entire city gets fat and somehow that adds so much weight to earth that it crashes into the sun. Surely I will not have to explain that this is not a scientific possibility. Also, to add some drama, Wanda is unable to lift her arm (and therefore unable to use her wand) without eating a can of spinach first. Which is also not something one realistically needs to worry about.

Obviously, you could see these plotpoints as metaphorically - which makes the message even more fatphobic:

Lilo & Stitch: If you're fat / only eat fastfood you're no better than a pig being raised for slaughter.

Kim Possible: If you become fat, you're basically a big stupid monster driven only by an unsatiable hunger.

Totally Spies: Getting fat is an unfortunate tragedy that happens to people on accident (on their part) / because of overprocessed food (malicious intend on the producers' part). Being fat is a punishment / like being trapped in a prison.

American Dragon: Fat people are slow and useless.

Fairly Odd Parents: Fat people are too weak for even the most basic task and a danger to all of society.

Those were all the examples I could think of, anyone feel free to add episodes of shows that I missed

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Shout out to "enunciate" for being one of those words that forces you to do itself.

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Be honest do you think that actually learning things in high school is important

yeah dude or else youre gonna be that coworker people post about

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Did everyone consent to being there, did the dancers know their audience, were they paid (looking at the yesses) what the fuck is the problem

I don't know what it will take to break this into your gooey young hearts, but you don't stop having fun -- all forms: physical, mental, sexual, social, literarily, culturally -- as you age

You should be seeking joy and pleasure until the very instant you exhale your last mortal breath

Renounce pleasure at your own loss, I will spend none of my life force or temporal passage grieving for you or remembering you

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i love when i reblog a mutual's post and then they immediately reblog one of mine. it's the closest thing to sharing orange slices you can get on this website.

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I think the solution to kids on the Internet is to have specific, kid friendly spaces on the Internet. Kids wouldn't come across "adult content" on YouTube if barbie dot com still had flash games and this is a hill I will die on.

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you can always listen to an album start to end in order to remember how beautiful life & art is

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they dont tell you this but like half of adulthood is just washing the same FUCKING pan

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it’s so unfair that i can’t teleport

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just because i like something doesnt mean its good

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i hope future me is happy