The Harmful Narratives of Fatness in Media and Medicine:
A Public Health Issue Rooted in Racism
I have struggled with my and the world’s perception of my weight for my entire life. I was considered a “chubby kid” growing up, and the negative social impacts of being categorized as overweight subsequently led to me developing an eating disorder. The issue with fatphobia is that it wrongfully attaches morality to weight. A person that is overweight is more likely to be viewed as unattractive, undesirable, ugly, lazy, and unbecoming. Fatphobia stems from the depictions of those deemed overweight in media. And these depictions have real and dangerous implications. Beyond media, the stigma associated with fatness has resulted in major biases in the medical field. The negative portrayal of fatness as perpetuated by media and medicine does nothing to promote a healthy relationship with food. Rather, this narrative funnels revenue into the diet industry and accounts for the growing number of eating disorders, particularly in adolescents. Furthermore, studies have shown that fatphobia in medicine is to blame for the overdiagnosis of “clinically overweight” patients and the underdiagnosis of patients deemed healthy weight. Scholarship devoted to fatphobia research has traced the origins of fatphobia to colonialism and slavery, and modern-day fatphobia is rooted in white supremacy, ableism, and misogyny.
Fatphobia: Rooted in Racism
Historically speaking, “around 81 percent of societies” associated larger bodies with beauty and health. Colonizers of European countries and their descendants used flawed thinking from early science to justify the racist practice of eugenics, which is what is believed to have shifted the ideology of health and beauty as being associated with well-nourished bodies to thin (and white) bodies. According to the University of Illinois:
“Charles Darwin and other race scientists created a hierarchy of civilization, placing white men on top and people of color, specifically black people, at the bottom, considering them to be ‘less civilized.’ Fatness and differing body characteristics were used to justify lack of civilization: fatness used as a marker of ‘uncivilized behavior’ while thinness was ‘more evolved’. This idea was maintained throughout the United States in the 19th and 20th centuries, as a way to justify slavery, racism and classism, and control women through ‘temperance’. This ideology has perpetuated Desirability Politics- where thinness and whiteness are given more access to social, political and cultural capital.”
Fat Does Not Mean Unhealthy
The BMI, a now debunked method of measuring body fat content, is still used by medical professionals to inaccurately classify patients as obese and assess health risks. Current research does not support the claim that weight directly influences a patient’s risk for diabetes and heart disease, among a number of health concerns that have been tied to weight. It’s easy to see how fatphobia has been perpetuated by media, but why does it persevere in the medical field? Where does this flawed research stem from? It may come as a shock to learn that a number of major health and wellness companies that capitalize on the diet industry actually funded the majority of obesity research, as noted by this resource published by the University of Illinois. Current and credible evidence-based research, including this meta-analysis, claims the risk factors for mortality relate more to an individual’s “fitness” than their “fatness.”
Media Implicates Perception
Growing up, it was the thigh gaps on Tumblr and the fat shaming spewed by contestants and judges on America’s Next Top Model that fueled my internalized fatphobia.
And while there is a growing movement toward body positivity and body neutrality, negative depictions and stereotypes of fat people in media still persist. And these narratives have real victims, myself included. This is because, as Neilsen reports,
“the themes in media content help shape perceptions and change beliefs.”
Take this article for example: https://news.yahoo.com/obesity-long-considered-personal-failing-090204825.html It appears to be a positive attempt to rectify harmful beliefs associated with dieting. A lot of people think that dieting is as simple as eating less and moving around more. But, as this article points out, scientific evidence proves that it’s not that simple. This article would be a move in the right direction if it wasn’t centered around a woman who successfully lost weight, pictured below.
These are not the stories that are going to change society’s perceptions of fatness. Society needs to hear from those that medically cannot lose weight, or the success of those who have recovered from an eating disorder and are now much healthier after gaining weight.
