The Drs: Controversial Fat Shaming App
The Doctors discussed the controversial Fat Girl app that has some outraged. (janitors / flickr)
There’s another app stirring up some controversy, and for good reason. It’s called Fat Girl Dress-Up and it allows the user to make a fat girl “look young and beautiful and dress to not look fat.” Don’t Be A Fat Girl lets the user help a fat girl lose weight and get rid of cellulite, “so she can be skinny and happy again.”
Dr Kristi Funk said she wouldn’t let fat or skinny kids use the Fat Girl app, because it’s setting standards that are ridiculous and dangerous. Dr Jennifer Ashton shared that the app implies that if you’re skinny, you’re happy, and if you’re overweight, you’re not happy or there’s something wrong with you.
Dr Ashton said by age 6, most young girls know what dieting means. The app is teaching women to hate their bodies and want to alter them. Dr Funk said the message should be healthy eating and exercise, because being overweight is a health hazard. Dr Travis Stork said the app is another example of body shaming. He said the app is setting up people for dissatisfying lives.
The Drs: Social Media & Self-Esteem
Dr Stork shared that if mothers constantly talked about being dissatisfied with their bodies, their daughters were more likely to pick up on that and become dissatisfied with their own bodies and have self-esteem issues. He said kids are watching, both boys and girls.
Dr Ashton said the power of social media and technology should be used for something good. She said it’s about putting a good role model in front of them, rather than something shameful or negative.
The Drs: Pills Lower Breast Cancer Risk
The Doctors then moved on to talk about a new medication that may be able to slash your breast cancer risk in half. Tamoxifen and Raloxifene are said to do just that. The breast cancer prevention trial in 1998 found that women who took one of the drugs, slashed their risk of getting breast cancer by half.
Dr Funk is a breast cancer surgeon and Dr Stork explained that they’re calling it “chemoprevention.” Dr Funk said “chemoprevention” is a misleading term because it has nothing to do with chemotherapy. She said the drugs are incredibly powerful because by taking a pill every day for five years, you can reduce your risk of breast cancer.
The Drs: Breast Cancer Prevention
She said the people who should consider taking the medication are women who had a biopsy with any abnormal cells, or any woman with a family history of breast or ovarian cancer, particularly under the age of 50. She said those two groups of women should find a center to determine their risk. If you are shown to have a significant risk, the FDA has approved the two drugs for use to drop that risk.
Dr Funk said the problem is that doctors aren’t making referrals to the high-risk centers, so patients leave without hearing about their elevated risk and what they can do about it. Dr Ashton said the birth control pill has long been shown as being “chemoprevention.” She said it’s an example about talking to you doctor. It’s important to see a specialist.
The Drs: Side Effects & Risks Of Breast Cancer Prevention Pills
Dr Funk said some of the side effects of taking the drugs are menopause, hot flashes, night sweats, vaginal dryness, decreased libido, insomnia, and mood swings. Dr Funk said if you’re a 35-year-old woman who just got married and wants to have kids, you’re probably not the right person for the medication. She said if you’re older and high-risk, maybe it’s worth it to bring on menopause a little early.
The good news is that there are ways to deal with symptoms, whether it’s herbs or acupuncture. The risks, while scary, are infrequent. Some of the risks of taking the two medications include uterine cancer, blood clots, stroke, and cataracts. The main thing is to talk to a specialist to find out if the medications could be right for you.
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