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The (not so) ancient history of weight stigma

Today, weight bias has been shown to compound with other forms of bias and discrimination around race, gender, and class, further deepening inequities and negatively impacting the mental and physical health of some of society’s most marginalized groups. Thanks to a combination of art, religion, and pseudoscientific research, many societies are ruled by the idea that equates largeness with immorality. But moral associations with body size have constantly evolved – so what can you do to change the future? When weight bias has become so deeply embedded and accepted in culture beliefs, acknowledging one’s own internalized weight bias can be a powerful first step to changing the conversation. You…

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Featured

  Medical Students for Size Inclusivity

We are a community of medical students raising awareness about the harms of weight discrimination in the healthcare system. We believe all people, regardless of their weight, body shape, and size, deserve equitable medical treatment and the right to pursue health.

 How to Find a Doctor Who Isn’t Laser-Focused on Your Weight

Anti-fat bias is baked into our health care system, but there are providers who will see you as more than a number on a scale.

 The American Medical Association admits BMI is racist

The association warns caution in using the flawed metric, which among other things, does not consider race or ethnicity.

 Why is weight discrimination still legal?

Why weight still isn’t a protected class at the federal level, and why it matters. An effort to add weight to the list of protected classes will require challenging powerful institutions and public opinion, in which weight discrimination is deeply embedded. Recent research finds that Americans’ unconscious bias on the basis of race, sexual orientation, and age are dropping. But when it comes to weight, bias is going up.

Articles of Interest

Addressing weight bias in medicine

Obesity is a complex disease that cannot be minimized to the "calories in/calories out" mantra that has become commonplace. Factors that can contribute to weight might include biological issues such as genetics and hormonal changes that come with aging; developmental issues such as parental obesity; psychological issues including depression or history of trauma; or environmental factors, such as large portion sizes. And these are just a few of a myriad of possible contributors. Yet explicit and implicit bias towards people with obesity truly impacts their health

Fat-Shaming Leads to Weight Gain, Not Loss

Having been a reader of fat-acceptance writers like Kate Harding for a long time, I can safely say that there are many people/commenters who are deeply concerned that if we don’t shame and insult fat people for their weight, they won’t be motivated to lose it. This “idea” was just dealt a major blow by researchers from the Florida State University College of Medicine, who that found that shaming fat people about their weight correlates to weight gain, not loss...

Glutton Intolerance

What if a war on obesity only makes the problem worse?

How Do Weight Bias and Stigma Affect Patients With Obesity?

The unfortunate truth is that in North America, bias against people living with obesity is still socially acceptable. This makes a large percentage of the population vulnerable to blatantly unfair treatment, with little recourse in terms of protection and support. There are currently no federal laws in place to prohibit weight-based discrimination. As a result, this type of behavior is rarely questioned or challenged. In fact, it’s often outright ignored.

Is the BMI Racially Biased?

Conversations about health care disparities continue on. One topic still being debated is the BMI. For years, health care practitioners and RDs alike have questioned whether the BMI is a valid measure of healthy weight and overall health for the masses. Critics say the BMI doesn’t account for body composition, physical activity level, body type, age, genetics, cultural diversity, or ethnicity, as there are differences in BMI and its associated health risks among African Americans, Asians, Indians, and other people of color.

Overcoming Weight Bias in the Management of Patients With Diabetes and Obesity

Rising obesity rates in the past several decades have been paralleled with increasing evidence of bias, stigma, and discrimination toward individuals with obesity. Weight discrimination is commonly reported by Americans at rates comparable to those of racial discrimination (especially in women) and has increased in recent decades.

Plus-Size People Reveal How They're Discriminated Against at Work

It seems the gender pay gap comes with an added weight limit.

Weight Bias Is a Problem in Health Care. Here’s What Doctors Can Do

Another aspect to consider is the common use of body mass index (BMI) as a measuring tool, says Sabrina Strings, an associate professor of sociology at the University of California, Irvine and author of Fearing the Black Body: The Racial Origins of Fat Phobia. BMI—a person’s weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared—was developed as a way to assess a population, not individuals. It’s especially problematic because it’s based on white men, while Black and white people tend to have different body compositions, says Strings.

Weight Stigma

Weight stigma refers to the discriminatory acts and ideologies targeted towards individuals because of their weight and size. Weight stigma is a result of weight bias. Weight bias refers to the negative ideologies associated with obesity.

Weight stigma: As harmful as obesity itself?

Weight stigma, as defined in a recent BioMed Central article, is the "social rejection and devaluation that accrues to those who do not comply with prevailing social norms of adequate body weight and shape." Put simply, weight stigma is a form of discrimination based on a person's body weight. The authors of this article assert that weight stigma can trigger changes in the body, such as increased cortisol levels, that lead to poor metabolic health and increased weight gain.

What does fat discrimination look like?

People who are deemed overweight or obese (as the medical terms have it) or fat (as many fat activists prefer to call their body size) suffer discrimination, prejudice and humiliation from several fronts. Television programs such as The Biggest Loser hold them up to contempt and public shaming. News media reports on obesity constantly display photographs of fat bodies with their heads cropped off – the “headless fatty” representation - and commonly use derogatory expressions ranging from “lazy” and “flabby” to “fat arses” and “unsightly slobs”.

Women Can Suffer Workplace Fat Phobia Even If They're Not Actually Overweight

Research shows that women working in the service industry are more likely to experience weight-based prejudice than their male colleagues—even when they have a healthy BMI.

Yes, You Can Still Be Fired for Being Fat

Weight-based discrimination costs some Americans their jobs. Bills in New York and Massachusetts could expand protections to tens of millions of people.

Resources

51 Ways to Make the World Less Hostile to Fat People

First, learn that "fat" isn't a negative adjective.

Body Liberation + Public Health

We firmly believe that a body liberation approach makes for better public health. All bodies are deserving of liberation – autonomy, freedom, breaking the restrictive systems of oppression and discriminatory social conventions that limit and harm us. Public health is committed to unpacking and reducing the harms of white supremacy culture, and to moving toward a more equitable and just society that truly values the strength of our diversity.