Weight Stigma Causes Harm

This week Judith Collins (a politician, for those of you not from Aotearoa) made some ignorant comments about fat people. To be honest I’m not all that surprised to see someone in a position of power making ill informed inaccurate comments about marginalised groups of people. I’m not surprised because as a fat Māori woman, it’s something that I notice people doing on an almost daily basis. I wanted to talk for a sec about the fact that weight stigma (and Judith’s comments, which perpetuate it) are harmful.

There’s no denying that anti-fat bias is a very real thing. Fat people are less likely to be hired or promoted; we earn less; we are discriminated against in education, in housing and even in healthcare. Fat people are less likely to seek medical treatment and when we do, research shows that health-care providers commonly think of fat people as lazy, undisciplined and weak-willed (which is pretty much what Judith Collins has said). I read an article in a medical journal a few years back that said negative attitudes about fat patients mean doctors may choose to spend less time with them, often resulting in fewer preventive and diagnostic tests¹. This is something I’ve experienced myself. I went much longer than I should have with a diagnosis or treatment. If I hadn’t been able to advocate for myself, my outcome may have been very  different. Weight stigma causes actual real harm.

Did you know that 8 out of 10 girls² with low body confidence opt out of important life activities due to worrying about the way they look? Playing sports, taking part in group activities, going swimming… the reason girls are missing out on these things is fueled by weight stigma.

That’s to say nothing of the actual harassment that fat people encounter online, while exercising, at work, walking down the street. I had a conversation recently with a woman who said she felt scared every time she left her house because of people shouting abuse at her. So non-fat allies, we need you to call this shit out and shut it down. The big stuff and the little micro aggressions. Small fat people, it’s time to step up for people who are bigger than you.

I’ve seen a number of people mention the old “but health!” argument. Okay great, let’s talk about that. Weight stigma doesn’t come from a place of caring about other people’s health, that’s a little veil that fatphobia hides behind. If those people were actually concerned for the health of others (including but not limited to fat people), then I’d expect to see robust policies addressing things like health inequalities, mental health, poverty, homelessness, education and wage inequality for all people (to name a few), or voting for parties that do, and actively working to fight things like weight stigma.

I wish I had some genius solution for undoing the massive amount of harm that weight stigma does, but I don’t. Just maybe take some time to examine your own bias (we’ve all got it, even me) and call others out, let’s start there?

¹ Stigma in Practice: Barriers to Health for Fat Women by Jennifer A. Lee and Cat J. Pausé (2016)
² The Dove Self-Esteem Project: Our Mission in Action (2016)