Sources on attitudes toward fat

Schwartz, Marlene B., Lenny R. Vartanian, Brian A. Nosek and Kelly D. Brownell. “The Influence of One’s Own Body Weight on Implicit and Explicit Anti-fat Bias.” Obesity 14 (2006): 440-447.

Even fat individuals have a strong anti-fat bias. Schwartz and her team provide a list of disturbing trade-offs individuals would make in order to not be fat:

Forty-six percent of respondents reported that they would be willing to give up at least 1 year of life rather than be obese, and 15% reported that they would be willing to give up 10 years or more of their life. In addition, 30% of respondents reported that they would rather be divorced than obese, 25% reported that they would rather be unable to have children than be obese, 15% reported that they would rather be severely depressed, and 14% reported that they would rather be alcoholic.

Perceptions of weight discrimination: prevalence and comparison to race and gender discrimination in America

 

R M Puhl1, T Andreyeva1 and K D Brownell1

Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA

Abstract

Objective: Limited data are available on the prevalence and patterns of body weight discrimination from representative samples. This study examined experiences of weight/height discrimination in a nationally representative sample of US adults and compared their prevalence and patterns with discrimination experiences based on race and gender.

Method and procedures: Data were from the National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States, a 1995–1996 community-based survey of English-speaking adults aged 25–74 (N=2290). Reported experiences of weight/height discrimination included a variety of institutional settings and interpersonal relationships. Multivariate regression analyses were used to predict weight/height discrimination controlling for sociodemographic characteristics and body weight status.

Results: The prevalence of weight/height discrimination ranged from 5% among men to 10% among women, but these average percentages obscure the much higher risk of weight discrimination among heavier individuals (40% for adults with body mass index (BMI) of 35 and above). Younger individuals with a higher BMI had a particularly high risk of weight/height discrimination regardless of their race, education and weight status. Women were at greater risk for weight/height discrimination than men, especially women with a BMI of 30–35 who were three times more likely to report weight/height discrimination compared to male peers of a similar weight.

Discussion: Weight/height discrimination is prevalent in American society and is relatively close to reported rates of racial discrimination, particularly among women. Both institutional forms of weight/height discrimination (for example, in employment settings) and interpersonal mistreatment due to weight/height (for example, being called names) were common, and in some cases were even more prevalent than discrimination due to gender and race.

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