Posts Tagged ‘weight stigma’

The ugliest aspect of weight bias finds its purest expression in bullying. Bullies have an instinct for finding a person’s vulnerability and using it to tear a person down. They are intentional and relentless. Bullying gives them power over their victim. Because our culture has an unhealthy obsession with thinness, weight bias enables bullies. It […]

Obesity presents many problems. But two of them rise to the top: access to care and bias. Yesterday, at the Harvard Blackburn obesity course, Caroline Apovian reminded us why. Too often, people with obesity endure a lifetime of derision and medical neglect. With facts and case histories, she painted a searing picture of the suffering […]

Disparities are everywhere you look in healthcare. But they’re especially glaring if you take a moment to look at effects, healthcare, and policies related to obesity. Speaking at the Harvard Blackburn Obesity Course in Boston yesterday, Fatima Cody Stanford explained: Excess weight in racial and ethnic minorities is not just a cultural phenomenon. Research points […]

This week the Telegraph published a very touching essay by Tanya Gold, describing her heartfelt concern for the health of mannequins. Specifically, she’s concerned about a Nike mannequin she’s diagnosed with obesity: She is immense, gargantuan, vast. She heaves with fat. She is, in every measure, obese, and she is not readying herself for a […]

We’re making progress. Right? Explicit fat shaming is no longer cool. But then again, we see implicit weight bias on the rise. It’s subtle. It often comes in healthcare – “for your own good.” Yesterday, it smacked us in the face when we read this from a distinguished bariatric surgery program explaining about a new […]

Workplace wellness sounds like such a benign concept – maybe even beneficent. So why does it sometimes spark such anger from employees? And why aren’t workplace wellness programs working to yield better health? A recent paper from Frontiers in Psychology offers important insights. Senior author Stuart Flint sums it up: Problems arise when these programs […]

For reasons we cannot fathom, Jay Leno decided to deliver a rant about “this disturbing trend of gluttony” that he supposes is the root cause of obesity. Thanks, Jay. But you’re not helping. Food marketers might be pushing a lot of disgusting “innovations,” but gluttony is not the root cause of obesity. And rants about […]

“I am ashamed to work in a healthcare profession that treats people in such a manner,” says Rachel Batterham. Batterham is a brilliant researcher and professor of obesity, diabetes, and endocrinology. But on Wednesday at the fourth World Congress on Interventional Therapies for Type 2 Diabetes, she reached outside of her comfort zone to talk […]

Why is implicit weight bias growing while other forms of implicit bias are dropping? Here’s one reason: routine and explicit dehumanization. A new study in Obesity documents a stark reality. Our culture is dehumanizing people with obesity. Furthermore, dehumanization provides an excuse for policies to discriminate against people living with obesity. Less Than Human Through a […]

This is tricky. On Friday, the HHS Office on Women’s Health gathered a very diverse group. We came together to talk about talking about health behaviors and body image. The talk that has people concerned is in public health messages meant to promote health. But sadly, public health messaging – however well intended – sometimes […]