What Is Weight Stigma? (And What Can You Do About It?)
This week, Sept 23-27, 2019, is Weight Stigma Awareness Week!
Weight stigma is a topic gaining more visibility, as the Health at Every Size movement grows, and I wanted to take a moment to address it here.
First of all, what is it?
Weight stigma is the (active) devaluation of and discrimination against bodies determined to be outside an "acceptable" weight range. A wide range of research has been done to study its effects, in which we have determined weight stigma (and associated weight cycling, aka yo-yo dieting) significantly contributes to the negative health outcomes we often connect with larger body size (so much so, in fact, that it is difficult to conclude that size/fat itself is what is causing these outcomes.).
From BEDA, the Binge Eating Disorder Association:
"You may wonder why it is important to think about fat bias, the thin ideal, and the Western diet mentality, when these may seem like relatively superficial concerns.
Upon closer inspection, however, the issues become anything but. Research connecting the internalization of the thin ideal to disordered eating in women has consistently shown a strong relationship between these variables.
Regardless of the nature of the eating disorder or disordered eating behavior, there seems to be a connection at play that suggests when a woman strongly values an ideal of thinness her relationship to food is in danger of becoming disordered.
As a culture, we need to have a strong commitment to deconstructing this issue by bringing it into the light for close examination, because eating disorders are the most lethal psychiatric disorders on record.
If you want to consider how loud the cultural command to be thin is for women, simply spend some time this week bringing individual instances into your awareness. Notice how many advertisements you see related to dieting, or how many commercials contain messages about 'controlling' your appetite, dropping a dress size, or cutting cravings. Pay attention to the number of exceptionally, even dangerously thin women that you are exposed to in the media on a daily basis. Look at reality TV shows with a critical lens to notice how often losing weight and/or being 'made over' are topics of entire programs. Check out the advertisements in your average women’s magazine and see what you notice."
It’s important, here, to acknowledge weight stigma harms all of us, and it harms the most marginalized among us (e.g., womxn of color who are fat, of lower socioeconomic status, and/or trans) most of all.
While it may seem a far-fetched conclusion if you’ve never experienced it firsthand, the effects of weight stigma are very real, and often show up in pronounced ways in healthcare and medical settings (which is why it has a place here, in fitness—the “average” sized womxn IS “plus size,” and part of helping someone with their health is treating them with compassion and respect, in my book). We often hear rhetoric about , “glorifying ob*sity,” and being a burden on the healthcare system, but the reality is most folks are simply trying to live and navigate an environment and a culture actively opposed to their existence (see: Today’s Dietitian for a thorough article on the prevalence of weight stigma, internalized vs experienced stigma, the health effects of weight stigma (especially in healthcare — a 2017 study found that doctors are the #1 most common source of weight-based stigma!), social media, and more).
For more information on what weight stigma looks like in action, check out this infographic from Ashlee Bennett, AThR, or the FAQ page from the National Eating Disorders Association here:
So, what can we do about it?
(Because, as I continue to learn from my friend and mentor Dr. Tee Williams, it’s far more effective and sustainable to consider what we are for, rather than simply what we are against.)
Continue to listen and learn, first and foremost.
One thing I hear repeatedly, overwhelmingly so, from the vast majority of people from whom I learn as well as clients I train, is that, particularly with the advent of the body positivity movement, the experiences of fat people get pushed aside in an effort for all of us to, “love ourselves.”
Accepting ourselves is important, of course, but no amount of self-acceptance will help a person in a large body be treated with care, compassion, and respect by their doctors, or will end discriminatory hiring and pay practices (weight is not a protected category under federal law, which means it is currently legal to fire someone or take otherwise negative employment actions simply for being fat), or will provide comfortable seating and clothing for people above the, “average” body size.
To that end, what else can you do (especially if you live in a smaller body)?
Ask your friends in larger bodies where they would like to go to hang out.
Call ahead to a restaurant and ask if their seating fits a range of body sizes.
Decline to be weighed at the doctor’s office (or ask if that measurement will affect your treatment in any way, and, if so, how. If you have the energy or space, also letting your doctor know why you’ve declined to be weighed! Our healthcare system in general does not educate doctors on the effects of weight stigma, so much of its perpetuation (in the medical field and everywhere) happens by us living our everyday lives.)
Examine if your body positivity has a size limit (do you find yourself saying things like, “I’m all for loving yourself, as long as you’re not that big,” or being, “inspired,” by people in larger bodies doing everyday things?)
Refrain from discussing diets or participating in diet talk (which reinforces anti-fat beliefs and attitudes, as well as weight cycling (e.g., the binge/restrict rabbit hole we’ve all been down several times, by now))
Believe people when they share their experiences (without trying to explain them away).
That being said, my perspective is limited, and it is certainly not my place to tell someone in a larger body what to do or how to navigate the world, as someone who lives in a straight-sized body and benefits from thin privilege. I’ve found quite a few activists on Instagram who have helped me see the world differently, and who can speak to these experiences directly, including:
yrfatfriend (who also has a wealth of essays on medium)
jervae (whose article on fatphobic gaslighting is particularly eye-opening, on this topic)
Creating a world where we ALL feel safe, comfortable, and respected in our bodies happens in our everyday interactions, and first by acknowledging the systems and places that make that untrue or conditional, why, and for whom.
