An advocacy group says First Lady Michelle Obama’s anti-obesity campaign made targets of hefty kids, reports CNSNews.com.
Obama’s “Let’s Move!” initiative, which she launched in 2010, “essentially gave permission to everyone to condemn the children with higher body weights,” said Peggy Howell, a representative of the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance (NAAFA), speaking at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. She described the initiative as “well-intentioned, but somewhat misdirected.”
“When our First Lady said that we have to wipe out childhood obesity in one generation, she essentially gave permission to everyone to condemn the children with higher body weights,” said Howell. “How this translates in real life is that these children experience more ridicule, more teasing, more bullying, and the perpetrators feel justified in their actions because, after all, the first lady said these kids have to go.”
NAAFA was in the capital to push for an amendment to the bipartisan 2011 Safe Schools Improvement Act that would help curb bullying of large children.
© 2013 Newsmax. All rights reserved.