Fat-shaming is seen as the last  acceptable  form of discrimination. Many people think just because someone is larger, that means they\u27re unhealthy. This isn\u27t always the case. This presentation hopes to teach people that weight doesn\u27t always equate to health, and there are many underlying factors why some people may not fit American society\u27s ideal body type.https://digitalcommons.tacoma.uw.edu/gender_studies/1058/thumbnail.jp

Hall, Samantha

English

University of Washington: UW Tacoma Digital Commons

University of Washington Tacoma UW Tacoma Digital Commons Gender & Sexuality Studies Student Work Collection School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences Spring 6-2-2020 Breaking the Fat Stigma Samantha Hall samhall2@uw.edu Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.tacoma.uw.edu/gender_studies Recommended Citation Hall, Samantha, "Breaking the Fat Stigma" (2020). Gender & Sexuality Studies Student Work Collection. 60. https://digitalcommons.tacoma.uw.edu/gender_studies/60 This Undergraduate Presentation is brought to you for free and open access by the School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences at UW Tacoma Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Gender & Sexuality Studies Student Work Collection by an authorized administrator of UW Tacoma Digital Commons. BREAKING THE FATSTIGMA Samantha Hall I N T R OHi, this is me. I am a plus size woman. According to my BMI, which the medical world stilltends to use (even though it's extremely flawed), I am considered "obese"and to be "normal" weight, I should lose 100 pounds (I can't even imaginethat!). Maybe some people think I should lose weight, and maybe othersdon't. But what I can tell you is that I am a healthy young woman. I workoutmultiple times a week, go on daily walks, and have a clean bill of health withno concerns. I've been made fun of because of my weight, and been told bymy own family members I would be "prettier" if I lost some pounds. I domany things that should help me to lose weight, yet I am still larger.  On the flip side, my sister who is 2 years older than me, doesn't work out,spends hours of the day in bed, and eats candy and chips throughout theday, and is actually losing weight. She has never been told to "stop eatingjunk", or to "work out" by any "concerned" family members because herbody doesn't show the "unhealthy" in her weight.    But apparently mine does. As a society, we are so ingrained to think thatweight = health, but that is not always the case. "Fitness, not weight, isactually the most accurate measure of a person’s health and life expectancy"(Martin). F A T P H O B I AW h a t  i s  i t ?Fatphobia: is the fear and dislike of fat people and thestigmatization of individuals with bigger bodies.the medical industrial complexthe diet industrythe media industrypublic standard size seatsstandard size clothing that is notaccessible to fat people Systems that PerpetuateFatphobia: "All of these thingsteach fat peoplethat this world wasnot made to fitthem" Fat-shaming and biases, even internailized ones, stem fromfatphobia. Being fat has always been associated with "you've done somethingwrong". That they need to be "corrected", internalizing within biggerpeople that "you aren't ok the way you are". "Fatphobia can end upshaming, silencing and “correcting” fat people simply for existing.  It feedsthe bias, discrimination, disregard and sometimes even hatred that all fatpeople have to contend with on a daily basis" (Action Canada). Actions and Commentsthat Stem from Fatphobia:policing what someone is eatingcomplimenting weight loss asinherently always goodtelling fat people about their ownhealth as if they don’t know anybettergiving unsolicited advice on weightloss."Why do we feelentitled to commenton anyone’s healthwhen we most likelyknow nothing aboutthem, their health,nutritional choices orfitness activity?"W E I G H T≠ H E A L T H  t h e r e ' s  m o r e  t o  i tFat stigma has led us to draw a direct and exclusiveconnection between fatness and ill health, oftendisregarding the many other aspects of a person’s life thatalso bear on their bodies and health (Khoo).American society constantly deems fat people as"unhealthy" because it's one aspect of health that you areable to see. "It's only when it shows on your body that youcare about anyone's cardiovascular disease risk" (Hobbes &Marshall). "Western culture has accorded to thinness meanthat these people will never be subject to thesame interrogations, or faux concerns, abouttheir health" (Khoo). a couple "unhealthy" things Americansociety glamorizes that no one seems toshame: drinking smoking stress/working too muchThere are many other things that can cause weightgain that have nothing to do with what foods youeat, or other stigmas fat people have to deal with(lazy, unmotivated, etc). Hormonal imbalancesGeneticsInstances of childhood abusesexual assaultpeer bullyingfractured familial relationshipsF A T  S H A M I N GA N D  W O M E NFat people are less likely to be hired,with 85% of hiring managers saying theywouldn’t even consider hiring a fatwoman."We are said to have an “obesity epidemic” inthe West, but there is no evidence that largerfashion models are anything to do with shifts inthe size of the general population. Theoverwhelming majority of models are at thethinner end of the scale and yet the public arestill getting heavier" (Preen)."America is still a gender unequal society, andwomen are still judged more in terms of theirvalue for men" "Oftentimes, when women are policed for theway they look, they're not even particularly large.The word and the concept of fat are used as athreat. It's coded language used to keep womenin line, remind them not to take up space, not tobe too loud, not to enjoy themselves too much,not to have too much sex, and not to make toomuch money" (Friedman). Though both men and women are body shamed, women face the brunt of it because of societies expectationstowards women, deeming them as only important as their physical appearance. "Women are continued to bedesigned for lust" (Hobbes & Marshall). And with that, American society, especially within the media has ingrained inus that being fat is unattractive and disgusting. Not desireable. B I B L I O G R A P H Y Friedman, Vanessa. “Why America Hates Fat Women, the Feminist Take.” Shape, Meredith Corporation, 27 Jan.2020, www.shape.com/lifestyle/mind-and-body/why-america-hates-fat-women-feminist-take. This article supported my argument that the "standard beauty ideal"tries to police women into being a certain way because the American society still sees women for what they can provide "sexually". It also explains that the term"fat" is used to insult even non-fat women to "keep them in line". Hobbes, M,. & Marshall, S., hosts. “The Obesity Epidemic.” You’re Wrong About, Apple Podcasts, 19 Sep.2018. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/youre-wrong-about/id1380008439?mt=2. This podcast hadgood points about the discrimination that fat people face, and how being larger is alwaysassociated with negativity in American society. It also highlights the many ways that unhealthy thin people are treated better than healthy bigger people.  “Incribing Gender on the Body.” Women's Voices, Feminist Visions: Classic and Contemporary Readings, by Susan M.Shaw and Janet Lee, 4th ed., McGraw-Hill Education, 2015, pp. 223–243. This chapter in the textbook focuses on the "standard beauty ideal" that America sets forit's women. This chapter helped me with making my point that fat women don't fit into this small standard, and will therefore be discriminated against. Khoo, Jamie. “Fat People Do Not Need Your Concerns about Their Health.” The Conversation, The Conversation US, Inc., 4 Feb. 2020, theconversation.com/fatpeople-do-not-need-your-concerns-about-their-health-102863. This was another article that helped with my understanding of the bias anddiscrimination against fat people day to day. The piece explains that thin people will never be asked or interrogated about their health regarding their size, even ifthey actually live unhealthier lives than bigger people. They just don't show the so-called "unhealthy" like bigger people do. It also reminded me that the Americansociety glamorizes many types of unhealthy activities, yet people rarely get chastised or discriminated against those because their weight doesn't show it. Martin, Courtney E. “Love Your Fat Self.” Utne, Ogden Publications, Inc., 2008, www.utne.com/politics/love-your-fat-self?PageId=1#axzz33nK22ljV. This articlehelped me to understand that sizeism is one of the only forms of discrimination still accepted in many societies. It aided my arguments on why there's more thanmeets the eye with larger people, and their size is not a direct indicator of their health. Preen, Katy. “Just Admit That You Hate Fat People.” Medium, Medium, 5 Sept. 2018, medium.com/@KatyPreen/just-admit-that-you-hate-fat-peoplec6c7d7eafc65. This article helps to explain how fat shaming does not work to try to shame people into losing weight, it actually does the opposite. A mainfocus of this article was a Cosmopolitan cover that featured Tess Holiday, and it's backlash, saying she "promotes obesity" when there in fact is no evidence tosupport that, and actually, models for the most part are getting thinner. Stryker, Kitty. “Fatphobia: A Guide for the Disbeliever.” HuffPost, HuffPost, 7 Dec. 2017, www.huffpost.com/entry/fatphobia-a-guide-for-the_b_5214754. Thisarticle aided me in understanding the daily struggles bigger people go through, and affirmed the negative feelings that many larger people have about theirweight. Stryker also emphasized that the "beauty ideal" is created and perpetuated by "wealthy white standards". Unknown. “Avoiding Fatphobia and Sizeism in Health Care.” Sexual and Reproductive Health Awareness Week, Action Canada for Sexual & Health Rights, www.srhweek.ca/providers/people-and-communities/sizeism-and-fatphobia/. This article was able to help me in understanding the biases in the healthcare industry towards fat people. This bias results in unfair treatment and disregard of actual health concerns, pinning the issue to: "you need to lose weight".This supported my arguments by informing me that there are many reasons in which why someone has a larger body type, and that being "lazy" or "eatingjunk food" isn't always the culprit (which is what many health care workers believe unfortunately). Your Fat Friend. “7 Ways to Uproot Your Anti-Fat Bias.” Medium, Human Parts, 26 May 2020, humanparts.medium.com/7-ways-to-uproot-your-anti-fatbias-54f01d76ec3b. This was a great article in helping me understand how people with a fat bias can learn to dismantle that judgement. This also gave mesome good evidence on fat women in the workplace, stating that 85% of hiring managers wouldn't hire bigger women. Your Fat Friend. “ICYMI Fat Shaming Is Still Bad for Public Health.” SELF, Condé Nast., 8 Oct. 2019, www.self.com/story/fat-shaming-is-still-bad-for-publichealth. This article helped by giving me evidence that fat shaming is actually one of the main reasons for people gaining weight and the driver in this "so-calledobesity epidemic". This article also provided other evidence on how this is also affecting larger people's mental health as well. Your Fat Friend. “Weight Stigma Is a Dangerous Threat to Health.” Medium, Elemental, 16 Dec. 2019,elemental.medium.com/weight-stigma-is-a-dangerous-threat-to-health-8b8f524873fa. This article helps to explain more issues that bigger people face in themedical field. It also emphasizes that peoples "concerns" about other people's weight does not come from a genuine place, but more of a "well-intendedbullying". 

Breaking the Fat Stigma

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Breaking the Fat Stigma

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