‘Fat shaming’ pages get harpooned

The Obesity Action Coalition on Wednesday applauded Instagram and Tumblr for taking down pages created by "Project Harpoon," an online campaign called "Thinner Beauty" that digitally alters photos of plus-size women (and a few men) into thinner versions.
 
"These fat-shaming tactics are extremely harmful toward individuals affected by the disease of obesity," Obesity Action Coalition chairman Ted Kyle said in a press release from the non-profit advocacy organization.
 
Although the coalition is urging Facebook and Twitter to follow suit and ban Project Harpoon, the campaign – or at least, vehement discussion of it – seems to be persisting on all forms of social media. So do the Photoshopped photos of everyday women and celebrities including singer Adele, actresses Melissa McCarthy and Rebel Wilson, and model Ashley Graham.
 
According to People Magazine, Thinner Beauty is a few-week-old campaign led by Nick Baskins. He declined to reveal his age, where he is from, others involved with the group, or release a photo of himself because, he said, "There are many people who will try to send me death threats."
 
On its website, Thinner Beauty claims that the side-by-side displays of real and altered photos "provide people with visible, achievable health goals." The fakes show "how much more beautiful they could be if they made the difficult, lifelong commitment to a regimen of personal fitness."
 
"For the record, this movement is not one of hate, like some may claim," the anti-fat site goes on.
 
Such disclaimers notwithstanding, the consensus on social and mass media seems to be that a project truly designed to inspire healthful weight loss would have a more diplomatic word than "harpoon" in the title.
 
You be the judge.

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