Beauty standards are like fads: Just when you’ve grown accustomed to one, an invisible force displaces it and makes way for the next. But for generations, almost every dominant beauty trend has had one common denominator: fatphobia.

What is fatphobia?

If we look back in time, it’s impossible to deny that fatphobia has negatively affected a large group of people in our population. But what exactly is fatphobia and how can it be combated?

Fatphobia is the fear and stereotypes surrounding people with larger bodies. It can also be described as prejudice towards these people.

People who suffer from fatphobia may have the belief that those with larger bodies are:

• Lazy or undisciplined by nature.
• Greedy or selfish
• Less deserving of the things that others have (e.g., success or love).
• Guilty of any health problems they may develop.

It’s important to note that fatphobia is an institutionalized prejudice against fat people. It affects not only individual beliefs and behaviors, but also the community as a whole, and demonstrates how policies and prejudices have been created to marginalize people with bulkier bodies.

Causes of the problem of fatphobia

There is a belief that if you diet or eat a certain way, you can control your health and how long you will live. This is not true, and people find it hard to accept, especially those who are unaware of the misinformation that perpetuates the diet culture. 

Although there is increasing evidence that we are largely not in control of our body size, people see overweight people as refusing to take care of themselves. This refusal to ‘step up’ and reclaim control over their body and health is actually seen as a negative.

Indeed, with our individualistic and intolerant way of looking at the world, we have been taught to believe that, if we try hard enough, anything is possible. When people see someone who believes they are not taking charge of their health destiny by “failing” to control their body size, it’s a betrayal of everything they have been taught. 

The whole group is allowed to punish the individual: it’s senseless and unscientific. That’s the thing about fanaticism. It isn’t logical.

Who is more affected by fatphobia: men or women?

The harmful effects of fatphobia are a constant for people with fat bodies. It is more intense against women, most data on the subject is based on the male/female binary. We are more likely to see positive examples of heavier men than women in the media (ahem, where is the positive equivalent of “dad bod” for women?).

Like other forms of discrimination, fatphobia causes harm in multiple ways. Here are some examples of how fatphobia has been shown to harm people with more corpulent bodies.

• Women gain less as they get fatter. In a study looking at how body weight affects people’s earning potential, researchers found that for women, weight gain predicted lower wages: nearly 10,000 Mexican pesos less for fatter women and nearly 19,000 pesos less for very fat women.

One study found that women classified as “obese” were more likely to work in lower-paying, more physically demanding jobs, such as caring for the elderly or food preparation. There is a perception that plus-size people are sedentary or lazy. In reality, plus-size people are pushed into more physical jobs.

• Women who are considered fat receive worse medical care. When going to the doctor for being an overweight woman, if the ailment can be related to body weight, it is often assumed to be just that.

In other words, doctors are more likely to decide that your problem can be solved if you work harder to lose weight, perhaps at the expense of doing the tests to diagnose you correctly, or even asking you questions that could lead to a diagnosis that has nothing to do with your weight.

Although some members of the medical community strive to combat fatphobia among professionals, physicians-as members of our weight-obsessed society-are also subject to its biases. 

According to some studies, obese women avoid going to the doctor because they are ashamed of their weight in the medical setting (e.g., “dismissive, condescending and irresponsible treatment by providers, lack of training, ambivalence, attribution and assumptions about people’s weight and health,” according to one study), which can lead to health problems being detected later, when they are more serious.

The stress generated by fatphobia can lead to further illness. In fact, women who experience stigmatization because of their weight are more likely to suffer from a range of chronic diseases, compared to women of the same weight who have not had those experiences. In other words, it’s not body fat, but “fatphobia itself is related to a higher burden of disease and mortality,” she says. This could be due to the physiological stress of living with discriminatory obstacles and persistent shame. 

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Ways to identify fatphobia… and how to eradicate it

How does fatphobia manifest itself? Here are the most common ways in which fatphobia can manifest itself:

In personal life: Fatphobia in our personal interactions can consist of judgmental, even derogatory, labels or comments that relegate body size to polarized views of thin vs. fat as good vs. bad. These comments can reinforce the notion that fatness is not good enough and have consequences for feelings of self-worth, self-esteem, and self-worth. Examples include

• Food policing and insistence on recommending diets.
• Judging and making comments about other people’s bodies.
• Compliments about weight loss, as if fatness is inherently bad.
• Condescending explanations about the benefits of losing weight.
• Unsolicited advice about getting more physical activity, etc.

It’s hard not to be afraid of fatphobia, considering the above and its effects on people, regardless of their body size or shape. But, there are ways to combat fatphobia that boost body positivity. Here are five of the best.

First of all, abandon weight-based language.

The reality is that people’s private lives are nothing more than that. We don’t know what other people may be going through; they may be going through a difficult time, they may have a health issue, or they may simply be trying to heal their mental health. 

Whatever the reason, the important thing is that everyone deserves kindness and empathy – not size monitoring – from strangers and family/friends. If we put weight labels aside, we will give people back the freedom to be exactly who they are, without assumptions, prescriptions or judgments.

WHAT IS PHILOPHOBIA?

Setting boundaries and denouncing bad behaviors of fat-phobic people

It’s often easier to defend a fat friend than to defend ourselves, but we must remember that every human being has the right to physical and mental well-being, as well as the right to be treated with dignity and respect. 

So if someone you know is showing weight prejudice or stigmatized behavior, tell them (respectfully): tell them it makes you uncomfortable and politely ask them to stop. If they continue, repeat your request. And if they insist on not listening to you, leave. Permanently or not, you decide.

🤔 WHAT IS A TOXIC RELATIONSHIP?

Share what you’ve learned about fatphobia with others

Fatphobia, being a type of prejudice, occurs first in people’s minds. And we are not born with it. So you have to try to change those thoughts. One way to do that is to share resources, like this blog, to help people understand not only that fatphobia exists, but also the repercussions it can have for everyone. 

We have come a long way in areas such as racial and gender bias; weight should not be left behind. The more we raise awareness, the better chance we have of fighting fatphobia, reducing dehumanization and helping others face fear, with understanding, because the truth is, when we act with kindness, empathy, compassion and understanding, whoever we are or whatever we look like…. We all win.