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Refusing To Be Weighed
- Mike describes refusing to be weighed at a doctor's office to avoid an unnecessary lecture.
- The encounter shows how BMI measurement is applied selectively depending on who is deemed deviant in size.
BMI Is A Population Descriptor Not A Diagnosis
- The BMI is a simple ratio of weight to height squared and does not measure muscle, fat distribution, age, or build.
- It was never intended as an individual diagnostic tool but as a population-level descriptor.
Origin In 'Average Man' Social Physics
- Adolphe Quetelet created the index while seeking an 'average man' for social physics using exclusively white male datasets.
- That average was treated as an ideal, which later fed into discriminatory ideas and eugenics contexts.