Standards and classification: A perspective on the ‘obesity epidemic’

In this paper I critique the increasing standardization of obesity. Specifically, I consider two ‘definitional turns’: the way language has been standardized to such an extent that it obscures uncertainty and variation, and the appearance of objectivity through quantification and standardized measurement. These, I suggest, have fostered a simplified picture of obesity, promoting the classification of weight and thereby facilitating the emergence of the ‘obesity epidemic’. These definitional turns fail to acknowledge the distinctions between fat and mass and intraclass variation within weight categories. A consequence of this process of simplification has been the erroneous application of population level information to individuals in a clinical context, with potentially harmful results.