Uh… as someone who was one of the fat kids (also a smart and funny kid, but it’s extremely difficult to get young people to look past the outside…), peer pressure did little other than to make me feel like the world is a crappy, horrible place full of crappy, horrible people.

Once I got to high school, and was finally in an environment where people valued my intellect over my appearance, I lost a ton of weight. So to answer your question- NO. It does not make kids slim down when they are the victim of horrible teasing.

I don’t know a single child who is fat because they want to be fat, or because they think it’s fun to be fat because others in their class are fat. And while I was the fat kid, I was not so because I was sedentary or because I (how did you put it?) “scarf[ed] down a steady diet of Doritos and Twinkies”.

I knew that there was a steep social price to pay, and it didn’t make me think, “Hmm, I should ride my bicycle for three hours instead of two everyday so that I will be thinner.” or “I should quit eating dinner, too (since I already don’t eat lunch because I’m embarrased to eat in front of my classmates, and I don’t eat breakfast because I wake up sick to my stomach, dreading going to school), so that I can lose weight.” I thought, “WTF is wrong with this world? I’m a sweet, nice, funny, active, smart kid stuck in school with a bunch of jerks who make fun of me for something that is virtually out of my control.”

Eesh. This was really hard to read. Sad. Really, really sad.