University Says That Fat Kids Must Sleep on Bottom Bunk

At Hohai University in the Jiangsu Province of China, certain students are required to sleep on the bottom bunk of bunk beds. This includes students who are taller than 185 cm (around 6’1”) and those with a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 28. The university says that the move is to “avoid potential safety hazards” and limit “conflicts among roommates.” About 100 students are being accordingly relegated to the bottom bunk. One employee remarked that “Plump students find it difficult to get in and out of bed, especially the narrow upper bunks.”

The move coincides with feelings by some in the U.S. that “fat-shaming” is occurring throughout the country. This involves criticizing or making fun of overweight people, to which some suggest creates an “unfair” or “unnatural” body image. Some American celebrities have used this phenomenon to craft an image, including singer Meghan Trainor and model Tess Holiday.

Nonetheless, obesity remains an epidemic, particularly in the United States. And as documented by Dr. Sarah Burnett of The Telegraph:

The harsh truth is these people are simply not going to reach old age. Complications associated with their obesity will get them first – after having cost the rest of us a fortune along the way in treating them just because they eat too much, and no-one seems prepared to tell them. To tell them that they need to stop, that it will be hard but they can – with help – do something about it. Efforts to ‘‘normalise’’ gargantuan appetites and bodies, as high street retailers are so cynically doing with aggressive marketing of high fashion plus sizes promoted by beautiful, but morbidly obese models, is utterly wrong.

It is extremely debatable whether the overweight students in China should be treated in such a manner. However, conversely, it seems equally undoubtable that obesity cannot be ignored or advocated for, as its health benefits are obvious to most doctors.
Learn more about the American obesity crisis below: