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Letters
Obesity cover art perpetuates stereotypes
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I am a 1990 graduate of the University Honors Program with degrees in English and management. UB trained me to be a critical thinker, and I’m a proud alumna.
Imagine my dismay, then, when I saw the cover of your winter 2009 issue. I am an associate professor of English at Davidson College, where my work is based in gender studies and disability studies. While I am sure the work being done to uncover the causes of childhood obesity at UB is worthy, I found the art accompanying the story—particularly on the cover—extremely problematic, both “ableist” (perpetuating disability stereotype) and sexist.
In our society, in popular representation, the obese person is often stereotyped as clownish and clumsy. They are seen as out of control in their appetites and “piggish.”
Your cover art perpetuates these stereotypes, countering the good work of the scientists profiled. How can the public be expected not to vilify the obese person, and to see obesity as a more complex medical and social issue, when art such as this perpetuates a view of the obese as clownish and overstuffed? This caricature denies complexity to body identity.
Ann Fox,
BA ’90 & BS ’90
Davidson, NC
Illustration provokes painful memories
One of my clearest memories from childhood are those involving the schoolyard bullies as they taunted and harassed the other children—especially the “fat” kids. I remember the mean-spirited laughs, the ridiculous songs and chants, and the humiliating “fat” caricatures they drew and then posted for all to see.
All of these memories came flooding back to me when I received the winter 2009 issue of UB Today. On the cover I saw a “fat” caricature so offensive, I could hardly breathe—and this coming from an academic institution?
By the way, I do power yoga, cardio workout and dance lessons at least three times a week. I love hiking. I haven’t eaten fast food in years, and I don’t even own a TV. However, I am considered overweight. The picture on your latest cover tells me that my lifestyle choices make no difference at all because “fat” makes you not human at all—just a caricature of a person—sad, plopped in front of the television, and stuffed with pizza and donuts.
Yasmin Alexander,
MLS ’07
Brooklyn, NY
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NPR interviews UB professor on Pres. Obama?s plan to reduce gun violence
Steven Dubovsky, chair of the Department of Psychiatry in the UB School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, was interviewed live on NPR?s ?Here & Now,? which airs on 170 NPR affiliates nationwide, about President Barack Obama?s $500 million plan to reduce gun violence.
Buffalo News front-page story features UB study on use of stem cells in MS
A front-page story in the Buffalo News reports on a new study soon to be underway at UB and two other upstate medical centers to test a procedure that infuses stem cells into the brains of patients with multiple sclerosis to repair damage to their central nervous systems. The article quotes Bianca Guttman-Weinstock, co-principal investigator on the study. ?Expectations have to be kept under control,? she said. ?You?re not going to implant stem cells in people and suddenly see them running around.?