Fatphobia is defined as the hatred, rejection and violence that fat people suffer for being fat. It can also be understood as the fear of fatness, one’s own (internalized fatphobia) and that of others. It is characterized by negative attitudes, stereotypes and prejudices towards fat people and may be accompanied by acts of physical, moral, verbal or physical violence.
Fatphobia is structural and systemic. Heavier people face spaces every day that tell them that their body does not fit, even putting their health at risk, for example, with seat belts that do not work for them on public transportation. They live in a continuous scrutiny in which their health, their habits, and their personality are guessed and judged, only by what occupies their body. We are seeing it these days after the announcement of the death of the actress Itziar Castro, who has flooded the networks with messages of hate and fatphobia.
They are oppressed by the system through access to transportation and public spaces, and lack of opportunities for movement. They are called unathletic and lazy, but there are few gyms or sports centers where people with a lot of weight can play sports. In the scientific and health field, there is more talk of “weight bias” or “weight stigma,” which is that inclination to make value judgments towards a person solely on the basis of their weight.
Weight stigma also creates stereotypes, and assumes that people with larger bodies do not eat healthily, do not play sports, are depressed, clumsy and careless, and have no will at all. Anything else? Yes, I forgot, any illness they suffer is attributable to their weight. As if thin people don’t get sick and thinness protects us from diseases, like vaccines…
A stigma associated with a group of people with similar characteristics becomes a social stigma. And what does a stigma mean? It refers to a condition, attribute, trait or behaviors that causes its bearer to generate a negative response and be seen as culturally unacceptable or inferior. Under the all-powerful mantle of stigma, social exclusion is achieved through ridicule, insults, barriers and obstacles, thus creating a structural fatphobia that is applied individually and collectively. Stigma can be applied from one’s own family, friends, education and healthcare.
Itziar Castro defended the rights and freedom of being you. He spoke openly about the bullying he suffered and she can no longer read you, but her family and friends can.
What kind of people are you who, until today, spread hate on networks? What do you have in your heart?— Lidia San José (@Lidia_San_Jose) December 8, 2023
Fatphobia also generates body shame. Aesthetic canons have meant that there is only one possible body model. In such a way that, to the extent that we move away from it, the value of our body decreases. Especially for us women, the pressure that a fat woman receives on her body is greater than that received by a fat man, and in turn the pressure that a fat white woman receives is less than that received by a fat black woman. And so we can add different factors such as sexuality, ethnicity, etc.
In medicine and healthcare, in general, we have always worked with weight as a cut-off point, the BMI (body mass index), which determines whether our weight is healthy or not. It is a totally obsolete parameter, it does not take into account anything other than the weight and height of the person and, to make matters worse, it is made only on white men, so the measurements leave out women and all races except the caucasian. It is not an intersectional measure, but it still applies to everyone the same.
From this imperative to equate health with weight, medical fatphobia is exercised, and it can manifest itself in many ways:
- For any ailment, even if it has nothing to do with it, weight loss is prescribed.
- Not having adapted chairs in medicine or nutrition consultations.
- The same resources are not offered as to thin people and in the end that means putting the health of fat people at risk who stop going to the doctor.
- Denial of fertility treatments based on BMI.
This ends up violating the basic right of access to quality medical care.
On the other hand, there are no fat references. How many fat actors do you know? And actresses? How many of them have leading roles? And if they are, how many times does the plot not revolve around their weight? Normally, fat characters are secondary, funny, undesirable, and always spend their lives on a diet.
Faced with so much pressure, so much shame and so little visibility, there is no one who takes care of themselves. The greatest desire is to shrink, to reduce the size of the body, to fit in, to fit in, to stop being judged, to stop asking for forgiveness for body size and to be able to live in peace.
Fatphobia has great consequences in the lives of fat people: they suffer teasing and harassment, they are at greater risk of suffering from eating disorders, cycles of dieting and anxiety, they avoid physical activities, they deprive themselves of things they like to do to avoid exposure of their body… They put their life on pause until they lose weight.
In the end, being fat has become an identity that no one wants, as Enrique Aparicio, screenwriter and writer, says: “Being a fat, queer boy had devastated my mental health, and I had convinced myself that I didn’t deserve to be loved. Always anxious, always drowning in shame and guilt. I wouldn’t stop being a faggot for all the gold in the world, but I would pay to stop being fat.”
It is time to separate the weight from health, and work on public health policies and not address food problems from the private sphere, because this ends up being classist and unequal. At an individual level, we must become aware of our internalized fatphobia, work on it and correct it, and if we are also healthcare workers or educators, we have a greater responsibility to begin to convey that all bodies are valid and that health is much more complex than kilos.
NOURISH WITH SCIENCE It is a section on nutrition based on scientific evidence and knowledge verified by specialists. Eating is much more than a pleasure and a necessity: diet and eating habits are now the public health factor that can most help us prevent numerous diseases, from many types of cancer to diabetes. A team of dietitians-nutritionists will help us better understand the importance of food and debunk, thanks to science, the myths that lead us to eat poorly.
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