The term underweight refers to a human who is considered to be under a healthy weight in reference to their Body Mass Index (although this isn't always a reliable measure). In this debate, I shall be referring to people who are purposefully underweight and by a considerable amount, which could possibly be due to certain disorders, however this may not necessarily be the case.

The debate in question here is: Should somebody who is purposefully underweight be made to put on weight for their own health?

One side of the argument is if that person is severely underweight, problems with their health are very likely to develop and this may even put their life on the line. Due to this, they should be forced to be treated until they are a healthy weight again.

The other side of the argument is that said person should be allowed to remain underweight should they so wish it as it is their own body. It is argued that people should be able to do what they want to their own body; people with obesity are not forced to lose weight.

Another opinion is that the person should only be allowed to remain underweight if they do not have any disorders that would cause them to directly lose weight, such as anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa.

What is your opinion on this; should severely underweight people be made to put on weight, or should they be allowed to remain the weight they wish?

I don't believe someone should be FORCED to put on weight. Its your body you can do what you'd like with it. I'll elaborate in a little bit.

I don't peticularily think being underweight is a good thing but society puts to much taboo on being underweight so much so that your harassed by teachers and parents for just being on the skinny side (from self experience). Todays society has become to tolerant to being overweight. We're not allowed to even mention to somebody that they should watch what they eat a little more because "Theres nothing wrong with being fat!" Now anyone who even cuts down a little on there food is looked down on for being vain and shallow. Unfortunately nowadays we consider anything under slightly pudgy to be underweight and its really bad.

As for severe cases like anerexia i still don't see a problem with it. Its extremely selfish of the anerecic to force her (or his) family to watch her go through slow suicide but forcing food down there throat just makes the problem worse. Instead we should teach them exactly what they need to know. Being too overweight is bad, being to underweight is bad.
Not the "It's ok to be fat just be yourself." BS that our parents teach us and not the "YOU MUST B3 SIZE Z3R0!!!11" crap that the media teaches us.

People who purposely become anorexic or suffer Bohemia are unwell psychologically. It is regarded as a psychiatric illness under medical science and thus requires treatment. It is common practice by medical practitioners to prevent the sufferer of psychiatric conditions self harm to one's self as they are unfit to make rational decisions and thus excersise their right to choose to kill themselves. The same way we try and stop people who are mentally unwell from committing suicide or a 10 year old girl having sex. Not because of morals (we can debate about that later) but because they are unfit to make rational decisions for themselves. Instead, we must help these people and give them the treatment required to restore their physical and mental health.

As for those who "purposely" drive themselves to extreme underweight with any conditions. Personally, I find it hard to believe a person can think in such manner without suffering a mental problem. I wish to see proof of such occasions before making judgment. And to tell u the truth, I honestly haven't thought about such a situation much yet to give a rational opinion.

Who gives a shizzle? You want to be 80 lbs, sure.

We don't make overweight people get therapy, why discriminate against underweight people?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supermodel

If it's going to kill them, yes, they should be forced to eat more.
Tbh, after being force fed once they'll more than likely want to eat without aid.

Are fat people forced to lose weight?

No one should be forced to do anything. Especially something as trivial and not harmful to others as this. As long as they know what they're doing to themselves and are at least seeking psychological help.

As long as it's not endangering anyone else and they're fully aware of what they're doing and the myriad repercussions then I don't believe they should be forced to do anything.



Right on.

I'm assuming you're talking about the disease, Anorexia nervosa?

Because a friend at school actually did something, and she's talked to us a lot about it. She didn't want to become size zero or anything, we don't know how it came about but it's not the persons fault. Anorexics will go to lengths to NOT eat, and they don't get the right coverage in the media.

People should never be forced to change themselves by someone else. Sure, you can say "You need to be this ____ to get the liver transplant" etc, but you can't force someone to eat.

The whole problem of this underweight thing, as Meidou touched on I think, is all the fat people. It's taboo to tell someone that they're fat. I know I'm slightly on the overweight side, but not too far. If people didn't eat themselves to death, we could deal with this properly. However, this is being idealist, because people will always be fat, obese, underweight, and "ideal"

But "ideal" is different to different people, despite the portrayal of it.

@Venom: Amen brutha.
@Poke: Amen brutha.

@Meidou: Maybe in more localized circles, but in high fashion, the opposite is true. There increasingly seems to be no "underweight". Apparently nowadays if you exceed 90 lb you're "fat" and you "need" to lose weight.

I want the '90s back

Why would they be forced to put on weight?

Buy an issue of any fashion magazine or turn on your television set; underweight is 'fashionable' and desirable within our culture now.

I don't agree with this desire to be as thin as possible, of course. It's unnatural and unhealthy; it also shows weakness in society as a whole and their need to conform with trend setters in the Hollywood industry.

However, if you're naturally underweight; you should not be forced to put on weight, assuming you don't have an eating disorder. If you do have an eating disorder, this is not an external issue but a psychological one and you should seek help.

Not much to debate here.

Can we give this man a medal? Because he just demonstrated common sense beyond the call of normal duty.

If they want to be underweight, let em. They got their own life to live without us telling them how to live it.

Why should they be forced to eat more? People with obesity aren't forced to eat less and obesity also can lead to death. Furthermore, why should they want to eat more after being force fed? On the contrary, force feeding can have many negative psychological effects on a person and even have the opposite effect than intended.

Since anyone who is severely underweight probably has some sort of a disease/disorder, I think they should get some treatment, but you can't force anyone to go to the doctor, can you.

Anorexia nervosa and such similar conditions are a psychological condition. And with most conditions they can be treated. I think treating them for their anorexic thoughts is more important than forcing them to put on weight. Usually, once they regain their 'normal' thoughts they put on enough weight to be healthier.

People who are underweight for reasons other than those psychological reasons shouldn't be forced to put on weight. I can justify suggesting them to gain weight, in the same way overweight people are suggested to lose weight and smokers are suggested to quit. Forcing them is unfair but providing them informatuon is a good replacement.

If someone wants to be underweight, then that's their choice. We can try and persuade them to put on weight, but if they don't want to change, we shouldn't make them.

If we do not act and force these people to put weight on will their actions harm others? The answer is no, and thus, I believe we should let them alone. If they wish to be stupid, and be underweight by starving themselves, then they should be allowed to.

If it is medical, there is no reason to force them, and it is outside of their control.

We do not force fat people to become smaller. Or rather, we do not physically force them. Most societies today present the view of being unnaturally skinny as desireable. And, as a community the desire to conform is great. So while there is no physical force forceing people to become skinny, there is a great deal of the "desire to blend in" forcing people to become skinny. You can see it everyday, it is in the television ads (who has not seen a "weight loss" pill ad?), the shows we watch, the movies we see, the magazines we pick up (not just the fashion ones, anyone that has a person in it usually has a skinny person in it), and on the book covers we read.

~John

People aren't forced to lose weight if they are obese unless the condition could become morbid because of it. Why should underweight people be forced to gain weight unless they are so that they may die from it?

I get pissed off when I get mail and adds telling me to lose weight, and NYC was considering taxing soda because it made people obese. They're going on the bias that everybody is obese and needs to lose weight.
I'm on a diet to gain weight. At least I don't have to worry too much eating too many delicious burgers and pies.

I don't think they should be force-fed (which is essentially what would be needed) unless they come to the point where they have to be hospitalized. We don't let people in the hospital because they're 975 pounds eat as much as they want, so a 5'10', 71 pound woman (just a guess at the weight needed before hospitalization is required) should have to eat if they need to do so to avoid worse things (death or organ collapse or whatever). As people have said, they're very similar circumstances.

But this almost never happens, and so I agree on the whole with the general consensus. Friendly nagging was invented for a reason. And in this case, it has the plus side of being far less offensive than urging somebody to lose weight.

I'll be the evil one here then, I think they should be forced to eat. Unless they are not eating for a reason which can be changed. But these people are sometimes influenced by friends, media and culture, they feel uncomfortable with their weight, but this is dangerous for them, and if they don't know, or don't have the power to control their eating habits, then someone has to step in before it's too late. In the long run they will probably appreciate it, I think. Obviously I can not speak on all cases, so I think as always it should be between the patient and doctor.

Well, being underweight could also mean poor nutrition, in which case it's your own damn problem (IF you can afford the food... If you're poor, then not really) and you shouldn't be forced. Assume we talk about a kid though: this can bring health problems, the kind your parents will have to pay (I mean money, not some metaphor) for, then your parents have every right to make you stay healthy so they're not stupidly forced to pay more bills.

I think it would be our duty to force them to eat. Even though it's their body doesn't mean you shouldn't care about it. And being underweight is bad. Malnutrition.

I'm sure the parent cares more about the child than the expense.

Personally i don't fully understand all this talk about society conforming to the idea that "skinny is beautiful". I only ever see fat people. The only underweight people i ever see are homeless or in the mirror . Furthermore, as an underweight person myself i wish someone would feed me more. At the moment my mother provides me with about 2 meals a day and unlike my overweight brother i am to lazy to prepare another meal(or more in his case) for myself. Pathetic i know but i just don't care enough to do anything about since i don't seem to be in any immediate danger of any kind. Ultimately, people are stupid and shouldn't be left to their own devices

Well, yeah lol, sorry bout my materialistic argument

I agree about the soda tax being ridiculous. I drink soda all the time and I'm underweight a pretty significant amount.

While I don't believe that people SHOULD be allowed to do anything with their bodies just because "it's their body", I do believe that people have a fundamental RIGHT in the U.S. and several other countries to choose what they do. So, no, people shouldn't be forced to put on weight.

Just curious how come?



Not necassarily true. Psychopaths are forced to take their meds if there at risk for self harm even though there locked in a solid concrete room with no risk for others a judge is infact allowed to force you full of chemicals and tie you to a chair so you can't huirt yourself.