This article made my jaw drop over my morning tea. I don't know why--this kind of government intrusion into private lives is the logical consequence of all the anti-obesity hype we're hearing. It's coming here too, I fear, under the guise of a national health plan that ties "wellness" to "consequences."
But here's the thing: In Japan, talk about eating disorders is very hard to come by. I sit on a committee at the Academy of Eating Disorders with international representation, and the member from Japan has talked repeatedly about how hard it is to get any of the media there to write about eating disorders. And how difficult it is to discuss e.d.s in Japan.
And yet the Japanese government is imposing sanctions on those whose waists exceed a randomly set number?
Once again, the connection between the war on obesity and eating disorders scares the hell out of me. For good reason.
