Fat Shaming and Fatphobia: An Epidemic

Lindsay M. Adler, LMFT, CEDS, E-RYT 200 

“How could she let herself go like that?”
“He’s so smart. How could he let himself get that large?”
“Should you really be eating that?”
“Can you believe that person is buying cake? They shouldn’t be eating those rich foods.”
“She added extra cream to her coffee. I think she should have skim milk instead.”
“Can you believe she is wearing leggings? I don’t think that is appropriate.”
“That kid’s mother should not be letting him eat all of those cookies. He is going to gain much more weight.”

Have you heard yourself or someone else say statements like these when referencing someone in a bigger body (aka a “fat” person)? Or maybe you haven’t shared these thoughts out loud, but you might have thought something similar in your head. 
If you have had thoughts like these or have noticed others making comments like these, it would not be out of the ordinary in our society. These statements are driven by a society dominated by diet culture, thin ideals and misconceptions about what health means.  

We have been programmed in our society to believe that thinness is the only acceptable lifestyle and that if you are not thin, you must be unhealthy. Most importantly, if you are not thin, you are considered morally inferior to others.

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Today, I will be explaining fat shaming and fatphobia. Along with these explanations, I will also be sharing with you how though at times you might be meaning well, you could actually be engaging in these two behaviors without even knowing it. Also, while reading this blog, pay attention to how you are feeling (emotionally and physically). Because fat shaming and fatphobia are so ingrained in our culture, it might bring up some uncomfortable feelings within yourself, especially if you come to realize you have been engaging in these shaming behaviors towards others or towards yourself. Try noticing how you feel without judgment. My intention is to help introduce ways of thinking about health that may be new to you.

Fat shaming

Shame is a feeling of “I am bad”. Shame is a deep internal experience of feeling not good enough or being a problem. Shame is very focused on the self and how the self relates to others. This means we can only feel shame as a member of a group, otherwise we would not compare ourselves with others. 

Shame is something we can experience within ourselves, through our own judgments based on our society’s standards and shame can also be something we experience through direct interaction with others. This means, even if I were never directly told I was “bad” or a “horrible person,” I could develop the belief I was bad or horrible based on my own perceptions from my interactions with others. On the other hand, I could experience shame as a normal response to someone making a hurtful comment about me. 
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Now that we have a simple understanding of shame, let’s talk about fat shaming.

Fat shaming is when someone criticizes, ridicules, judges or mocks someone for being a certain weight, shape or body size.

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Fat shaming is found in many covert (not openly acknowledged) and overt (openly acknowledged) ways in our society. Here is a small list of some ways people fat shame and ways fat shaming is threaded into our society.

Overt fat shaming 

• Making negative statements about someone’s weight, shape and body size. For example, “She looks like a pig”, “He could stand to loose a few pounds”, “I can’t believe they are eating that piece of cake”, “Hey, fatty!”
• Making prescriptions about someone based on weight, shape or body size. For instance, a doctor prescribes weight loss before understanding the full picture of why someone might be having health problems. 
• Making specific judgments about someone based on their weight, shape and body size. For instance, making statements that a person must be unintelligent because they “let themselves go” or that the person “shouldn’t eat junk foods”. 
• Weight loss advertisements telling people they need to lose weight to have more friends, a better sex life or feel confident.

Covert fat shaming

• Having deeply threaded judgments about people of a specific weight, shape or body type that is not stated out loud. For instance, thinking a person must be unintelligent based on their weight, that the person is weak, immoral or wrong. 
• Giving favoring treatment to those who are a size that society deems acceptable, i.e., thin. 
• Not having multiple sizes of clothing for all shapes and needing separate stores for those of a specific size. 
• Only focusing on someone’s weight as an important aspect of health and paying little to no attention on the person’s overall well-being or other markers of health (meaning how they feel, what they believe, what they have experienced in life, etc).  

A note on Fatphobia

Fatphobia is another form of fat shaming.  Fatphobia is a fear of fat or overweight  people. Someone who might struggle with Fatphobia might only want to socialize with thin or average weight people. They might also feel anxious or uncomfortable around someone in a larger body. 

Health professionals play a role

Health care professionals such as doctors, nurses, dietitians, trainers, coaches, et cetera can play a role in perpetuating the cycle of fat shaming. Health care providers often first look at weight before exploring any other aspects of a person’s struggles. This is shown in how we are immediately weighed at the doctor’s office even before seeing the doctor! Doctors might comment on how a person needs to lose weight when someone comes in for a medical concern and can miss important reasons why the individual is having medical problems in the first place. 
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Health care professionals are also failing to understand the whole person including their environmental stressors and psychological history. This bias can also adversely impact the treatment of a “thin” person, who may be immediately seen as healthy when they might have severe stressors causing conditions of pain or distress.

Fat shaming causes more problems

Fat shaming actually does the opposite of what people might intend it to do. People might think that fat shaming would help motivate people to lose more weight and get “healthy”. In reality, fat shaming increases body dissatisfaction, lowers self-esteem and worsens stress leading to further physical and psychological problems. This means fat shaming causes more harm than good.

Here is how to change

Body acceptance

Body acceptance means being welcoming and approving of any body, at any shape or any size. This isn’t just an internal process, meaning one learning to love or accept their body. Body acceptance also needs to happen on a societal level, meaning we need to change how society (including health care professionals) look at people’s bodies. There needs to be fewer expectations of what someone should do or look like. Instead there needs to be more focus on how people are feeling in their body (physically, mentally and spiritually). Health is not black or white. Health is a vast concept that each person defines for themselves, and hopefully without judgment. 

If you are someone who finds themselves fat shaming others or your own self, it is best to work towards challenging and changing these beliefs (and without shaming yourself in the process). Here are just a few ways you can work towards challenging these beliefs: read about body acceptance (see a few references I have provided), speak with a therapist or other professional trained on body acceptance, and join or create your own social support group focused on body acceptance (this can include social media groups committed to challenging society’s messages). Remember, judgment never leads to long lasting psychological and physical health, acceptance does.

A few Resources and Podcasts of interest:

• Bacon, L. (2010). Health at every size: the surprising truth about your weight. Dallas, TX: BenBella Books.
• Bacon, L., & Aphramor, L. (2014). Body respect: what conventional health books get wrong, leave out, and just plain fail to understand about weight. Dallas, TX: BenBella Books.
• Food Psych Podcast with Christy Harrison, MPH, RD, CDN: Episode 42

            https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/42-health-at-every-size-with-linda-bacon/id700512884?i=1000351682871&mt=2

• Reclaiming You Podcast with Sarah Vance: Episode 24

            https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/losehatenotweight-with-virgie-tovar/id1163270509?i=1000379823562&mt=2