“Weight-ism” More Widespread Than Sexism

Posted by David in Medicine on April 4, 2008 at 11:54 am


In America, most of us believe that we shouldn’t discriminate based on characteristics that people can’t control (e.g. race, gender, etc.). However, we also believe that weight is something that people can control, and while that is correct to a certain extent, there are other factors that prevent people from achieving their ideal weight.

A new study from Yale University claims that weight discrimination is more widespread than previously imagined. Some of its findings:

- Men are not at serious risk of discrimination until their BMI reaches 35, while women begin experiencing an increase in discrimination at BMI 27.

- Moderately obese women with a BMI of 30 to 35 are three times more likely than men in the same weight group to experience weight discrimination.

- Compared to other forms of discrimination in the United States, weight discrimination is the third most prevalent cause of perceived discrimination among women (after gender and age) and the fourth most prevalent form of discrimination among all adults (after gender, age and race.)

As for how much control people can exert over their own weight, according to Rebecca Puhl (the study’s author):

We place a lot of emphasis on personal responsibility for body weight. Our billion-dollar diet industry is founded on that premise. Your weight is modifiable. But that does not reflect the current state of science. We know from hundreds of randomized clinically controlled trials that it’s very difficult to sustain weight loss over time with our existing treatment methods. That has compelled a number of expert panels, like the National Institutes of Health, to conclude that we really can’t expect you to lose more than 10 percent of your body weight and be able to keep that off.

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42 comments to "“Weight-ism” More Widespread Than Sexism"

  1. Lamonstrous
    April 4th, 2008 at 12:09 pm

    At the age of 30, a friend of mine was about 80 lbs overweight and went to the doctor, who told him that he had high blood pressure and would be dead by the age of 40 if he didn’t lose weight.
    As he put it, there are all kinds of discrimination in our society that are stupid and unjust, but making fun of fatty isn’t one of them, because if people try to stay thin because they are afraid of being insulted, it is good for their health.

  2. bean
    April 4th, 2008 at 12:27 pm

    Yeah, they’re really stretching with this concept of ‘weightism’. You might make an argument for sexism (fat women less acceptable than fat men) or ageism (old fat people more accepted than young fat people). But there’s a major difference between making fun of someone because of their bodyfat, and trying to warn someone that they’re putting their life in danger because of their lifestyle.

  3. Tempscire
    April 4th, 2008 at 12:27 pm

    What an appropriate stock photo for that article.

    “We take this personal responsibility approach and say well, just exercise more and eat less, but it’s much more complicated than that,” Puhl said. “If it were that easy, we wouldn’t have this epidemic that we have now.”

    Except it is that simple. You lose weight if you burn more calories than you consume (exercise more, eat less). It’s only “complicated” because people don’t really prioritize their health and weight: they “don’t have time” to work out or cook a real meal, but they’ll sit and watch TV two hours every night because it’s easier. They don’t plan on having to enforce a regiment of healthy nutrition on themselves, and when they do, they’re “on a diet,” not just eating how they’re supposed to all the time. They don’t expect to have to maintain the exercise and the proper eating for months and years for results, so they get burned out after 3 months of only losing a couple pounds, give up, and declare they weren’t meant to be skinny (or they keep it up until they’re in the shape they want, then quit because hey, they reached their goal).

    And even if you do have genetics working against you– so what? You got the short end of the metabolism stick. You can’t eat as much as others without getting fat and you’ll have to work harder to get it off. But if you want to be skinny, that’s what you’ll have to deal with.

  4. Benny Lava
    April 4th, 2008 at 12:32 pm

    If you look at how much the percentage of obese people has gone up in the last several decades, it’s pretty hard to swallow the notion that personal responsibility is not involved. It’s not as though the human race has undergone some sort of evolution and is now more prone to becoming obese without doing anything differently. With very few exceptions, people are absolutely responsible for their weight. It’s unfortunate that discrimination is so widespread, but saying we shouldn’t hold people accountable for the dietary choices they make is absurd.

  5. Fat
    April 4th, 2008 at 12:41 pm

    Tempscire, you have no clue. If it was that simple, would there be such a thriving industry on dieting and losing weight? Every doctor now states that it’s NOT a matter of burning more than you consume!

    After you’ve been obese for years, there’s nothing you can do. You may lose a little weight for a time, but your body - which, at that point has been irrevocably programmed to think it’s SUPPOSED to be huge - will panic and start packing on the fat again no matter what you eat. And if you think they shouldn’t have gotten fat in the first place, well, a food addiction is much easier than a drug or alcohol addiction, isn’t it? You can force yourself to stay away from the liquor store, and you can force yourself not to buy drugs, but if you can go to the corner store and buy whatever you need to satisfy your needs, it’s much harder. Tell us all what your personal problems are, so we can be as judgmental as you are, OK?

  6. probinu
    April 4th, 2008 at 12:44 pm

    we live in a society that makes this sort of lifestyle easy. You don’t have to work for anything anymore and everything is instant.

    On the way home from work I can swing through a restaurant and be done with dinner before I am home. Then I don’t have to go outside to talk to anyone I can just log on. There is a service for everything, I don’t have to mow my lawn. I can just sit and grow.

  7. Geoff
    April 4th, 2008 at 12:46 pm

    I’m a middle age dude that is naturally thin, but do have a belly and love handles now due to my lazy ass, and my sedentary life style. But like I said, I still seem thin. And it is true that many over weight people could lose weight with a better life style and such. But stupid people need something to hate, and they don’t want to be viewed as racist or anti-semetic or any other socially unacceptable ways of hating, so they throw the term “fatties” around like it means nothing. It’s a hateful, hurtful term that is demeaning. Making fun of over weight people is still hate, no matter which way you slice it. And hate is ugly.

  8. bob
    April 4th, 2008 at 12:46 pm

    Besides the fact that food is very cheap and available here, farmers have long been using unnatural means to make their animals as large or profitable as possible. Perhaps eating the products of these animals has caused some of the largeness in the populace? Pumping cows full of steroids to make them huge and then eating the meat… Why am I huge?

    The meat in “less developed” countries tastes significantly different (and more natural, IMO) because they don’t do things like that (yet?). There’s really no shortage of food, but still people in those countries are a normal size in relation to how much they eat.

  9. bean
    April 4th, 2008 at 12:59 pm

    Bob-
    People in ‘less developed’ countries ( I assume you meant 3rd world?) have less food to eat than those in ‘developed’ countries, and generally have to do more physical labor to be able to buy food. Now that call centers have become a staple of the Indian economy in some areas, the workers there are discovering that they have trouble keeping down the weight because sit around for 12 hours a day, talking and typing.

  10. Mr. Binky
    April 4th, 2008 at 1:02 pm

    -insert uninformed, oversimplified, generalized solution/opinion here-

  11. NeuroGirl
    April 4th, 2008 at 1:06 pm

    There are two sides to this story. I’m continuously discriminated against because of my size, mostly by women that would fall into the overweight category. Society gives them the green light to say whatever they want to me because I’m thin, but if I make any kind of comment about their weight, I’m the devil? Yeah, that makes perfect sense….

  12. Alex
    April 4th, 2008 at 1:07 pm

    In addition to sedentary lifestyle, American people also eat more processed food and junk food. Though some people tell me that calories are calories, I think our body process different types of food differently (meaning that a 500 calorie fast food burger will make you fatter than a 500 calorie from a well-balanced meal). I may be wrong.

    I noticed that I gained a lot of weight after I moved away from Berkeley. During my years there, I walked everywhere, but after I moved out of town and had to drive to school/work, the pounds just keep on keepin’ on!

    Exercise does help, but daily activity (walking/lifting/doing stuff rather than just sitting on our duffs) also matters.

  13. dan
    April 4th, 2008 at 1:23 pm

    To discriminate an unchangeable characteristic always hurts more because it is unchangeable. Those who feel they could lose weight if they wanted probably care less about discrimination against them than someone who doesn’t feel they can control their weight.

    Media is influencing the idea that “we can change our weight” with all the weight-loss shows and products. Thus, in my opinion, making weight-ism more prominent. The widespread acceptance that “thin is better” is essential to this. If that idea were to change so would the discrimination.

    One last thought.

    We are taught to not discriminate “height-ism” but what about “intelligence-ism”? I believe we do this in the workplace everyday. If someone seems smarter than another we’ll hire that person.

  14. Thespian24601
    April 4th, 2008 at 1:33 pm

    Fat- (by the way, you probably shouldn’t have chosen that as your name without asking for discrimination and such)
    First of all, not EVERY doctor states that, and there is such a huge rise in the dieting industry because there is a huge crowd of obese people in our country. When there are many people wanting to do anything, there will be some kind of following. If you became obese, it’s your fault. Yes, genetics do play a big part in it, but understanding your body and knowing what you can and can’t eat, and how much exercise your body needs. I used to be overweight. Not by a lot, but not in shape. So I ate healthier, found out what fights obesity and weight problems, and exercised more. It’s no walk in the park, but if you want the body you want, you have to work hard to achieve it. It’s like many other things in life; if you want a great job, you have to go through a strenuous process of college and training to get it. And why can’t you just not eat as much? You are judgmental about others with addictions (if you really consider yours an addiction) but you don’t think you can eat less? There are repercussions for breaking any addiction, and you just seem like a grumpy person not willing to change, and complain and have people sympathize for you. I am not “weight-ist,” I just don’t pity those that pity themselves.

  15. Thespian24601
    April 4th, 2008 at 1:35 pm

    Oh, and Dan- yes, that makes perfect sense. If someone is smarter than someone else, I want them to work for me. It would seem that they would help the company or whatever more. How is this a problem?

  16. probinu
    April 4th, 2008 at 1:36 pm

    dan, thats a joke right. Of course if someone seems smarter and has the better interview they are hired. Would you want to just hire the first person in line.

    And to your other point. Thin is better. I am not even talking about looks, I mean for your health, hour heart, your arteries, your joints etc…

  17. Pusinsky
    April 4th, 2008 at 1:40 pm

    Being over weight can have many reasons. It can be due to depression, illness, genetics or a lifestyle choice. There is no one solution to any problem. Just as smokers are being discriminated against by non-smokers we see those same sort of people discrimating against obese people. I just think that some people have such a miserable life that they feel a need to go out and make other people lives miserable too. You know the type of person that points out how messed up your life is to draw attention away from their own messed up pointless life. Hey, just look at a certain ex-vice president that lost an election and now goes around telling everyone that because they drive a SUV and use plastic bags that the polar caps will melt and drown polar bears. I live in Maryland and our zoo has polar bears and guess what ? They spend 70% of the time playing in the water. They are fantastic swimmers.

  18. ElSmiley
    April 4th, 2008 at 1:42 pm

    I was overweight for like 15 years. I wasn’t that upset about it and thought that my love for food was virtually insurmountable. But now I’m quite svelte and fall within my “ideal weight”. My method? I got hooked on cocaine for a year. It does the trick, believe me. I wouldn’t recommend it, because some people can’t stop. But I stopped years ago and never put the weight back on. My stomach shrunk, or something, and I never had that voracious appetite again. Just an interesting side note–I’m not saying it’s a feasible option.

  19. ilydnic
    April 4th, 2008 at 2:25 pm

    word, mr. binky

  20. avraamov
    April 4th, 2008 at 2:29 pm

    fat people could be an important source of sustainable energy in the future - especially when oil becomes harder to extract. we just need to get the crematoria hooked up to the power infrastructure.

  21. Ashley
    April 4th, 2008 at 2:39 pm

    @Pusinsky
    “I live in Maryland and our zoo has polar bears and guess what ? They spend 70% of the time playing in the water. They are fantastic swimmers.”

    Um… do they sleep in the water? Do they eat solely aquatic food? No–they hibernate, eat, sleep, mate, bear cubs on land. And polar bears aren’t the only thing in the arctic.

    Also I highly doubt that losing an election is what made Al Gore an environmentalist.

  22. aerio
    April 4th, 2008 at 2:43 pm

    You cannot shame someone into a healthy lifestyle.

  23. probinu
    April 4th, 2008 at 2:58 pm

    and you shouldn’t shame someone, however if I saw kids playing in traffic I would let them know that is not the brightest idea. Same as people letting others know what is not the best for their bodies.

  24. Tempscire
    April 4th, 2008 at 3:23 pm

    Fat–

    There’s a thriving diet industry because there are so many overweight people now and diets and diety gimmicks usually fail, leading people to try multiple ones. If you are obese and have been so long enough that your body treats that as the norm, consult with a doctor and a nutritionist to develop a get-fit plan that will work best for your body and not cause it to go into starvation-mode. As for a food addiction…? Go to the grocery store and not stock up on fatty, greasy, sugary, pre-prepared foods. I rather doubt you’re addicted to salads and fruit, as opposed to, say, ice cream and donuts (or pizza, or red meat, or nearly everything being sold these days).

    Now, different people do have different body types, and what works for some will not be true for everyone. As I said, some people naturally have lower metabolisms. Complaining about such doesn’t make it increase, however. People with some kind of honest disorder (like hypothyroidism) aren’t really all that common, and certainly not to the levels visible in society today. Perhaps a few more people than that are on medications that cause weight gain (more plausible, given how many people are on some form of medication these days, it seems).

    Be as defensive as you like, but that’s not going to change anything. Being thin takes a lot of continuous, never-ending effort. Probably some people will never be totally slimmed-down. However, in the process of getting to their lowest achievable weight and maintaining it, they will still have greatly improved their overall health.

  25. andrewdoane
    April 4th, 2008 at 3:26 pm

    I’m not surprised by this study at all, especially the part about women being hit harder than men. So really it is sexism also!

  26. Tempscire
    April 4th, 2008 at 3:38 pm

    Though some people tell me that calories are calories, I think our body process different types of food differently (meaning that a 500 calorie fast food burger will make you fatter than a 500 calorie from a well-balanced meal). I may be wrong.

    Sort of yes, sort of no. 500 calories = 500 calories in each meal, though the nutrition content will certainly have an effect, which is why people shouldn’t focus solely on calories (symptomatic, I think, of people’s overall lack of health consciousness). A 500 cal burger will have a greater cholesterol and fat (especially saturated fat) content than the healthy meal. The cholesterol is bad on its own of course, but bodies are designed to store fat as they come by it, which then piles on. Some calories of particular chemicals (eg, carbohydrates) are converted into fat for easy storage (waste not, want not) if they aren’t immediately used.

    Some foods are more dense than others, despite having the same caloric content. Eating something that’s not very filling but high in calories will still leave you feeling hungry and prone to eating another unfilling thing. Hence soft drink (or any drink) weight-gain. Liquids aren’t usually especially filling, and people forget about the calories in them.

    Finally, there’s evidence that high-fructose corn syrup inhibits signals from the stomach telling the brain it’s full, leading to over-eating. And considering that HFCS is in every possible thing you can imagine…

  27. bob
    April 4th, 2008 at 3:42 pm

    Bean-
    No, I meant developing countries, not Third World. I visited Georgia (Eastern Europe) several times in the last year. They have excellent cuisine, and people eat very well there. However their food industry isn’t so advanced (and competitive) that farms are using chemicals to increase profit. So, food there tastes different from here. If I can tell a big difference in taste, surely there must be some difference in quality?

    Georgia and countries like it have plenty of professional jobs, plenty of cars, plenty of people who don’t want to exercise. (Yes I see your point that a stagnant lifestyle can cause obesity. True true, it does). BUT the ingredients in their foods are inherently more natural, and this makes more of a difference in diet than some think.

    Another example, France is a highly developed country. It’s even known for its food. There’s no shortage of it or people not getting significant exercise. The French also typically spend more time eating meals than Americans do. And yet they don’t have problems with obesity like America does. This pisses us off because they seem to be able to maintain a healthy weight without trouble. The reason is that they choose good ingredients in their food. Their food tastes richer, fuller, and I didn’t feel I had to eat a whole lot of it to satisfy my appetite. Problem solved. A glass of wine to celebrate good health, and that’s it. Exercise is simply running to catch the train… :) Sounds better than sweating in a gym every night.

  28. johnny
    April 4th, 2008 at 3:53 pm

    i’m so tired of fatty sympathy. if they got discriminated into losing weight, then saving their life would be worth all the trauma, well, what counts for trauma in the west.

  29. Ed Hands
    April 4th, 2008 at 4:16 pm

    Somehow this is all Bush’s fault. I just know it.

  30. HaricotVert
    April 4th, 2008 at 5:19 pm

    It’s hard to respect someone who can’t respect their own health.

  31. beforemodel
    April 4th, 2008 at 7:22 pm

    If you don’t personally have a problem with staying thin, it’s very hard to imagine how it can be a problem for others. Nobody sets out to get fat, nobody chooses it. There are a number of medical problems that can make it hard to do enough vigorous exercise to burn enough calories, and you end up in a weight spiral going the wrong way. There are also a lot of emotional issues associated with food and weight - it’s all tied up with shame and self-esteem and whether you think you’re worth investing any effort in if nobody else values your life. Would you go around yelling at a depressed person to just snap out of it and cheer up?

  32. L
    April 4th, 2008 at 10:07 pm

    “You’re so fat. I hate you.”
    “You’re so skinny. I hate you.”

    Which is worse? The one based on disgust or the one based on jealousy?

    We still haven’t given up our need to judge others. We’re seeing more “weight-ism” now because there are more overweight people. But if it wasn’t weight, it would be something else.

  33. bean
    April 4th, 2008 at 10:11 pm

    Bob-
    You still seem to be making judgments based on nationality, and not independent factors. The French, on average, work far fewer hours per week than Americans and take more vacation time. They have time to exercise, even if that just means that they can afford to take a slower bicycle to work every day instead of driving a car on a highway.

    And if you think the meat tastes different in Eastern Bloc countries because they have *less* chemicals in the food supply, I’m concerned for you.

  34. otterly
    April 4th, 2008 at 11:14 pm

    I wouldn’t want to be employed by a company or business that would treat fat people like this anyway. I go so far as to say THANK YOU.. What a friggin hassle it would be to do all the paperwork and training and then find out you are working for some asshole and have to quit.

  35. thespringsian
    April 5th, 2008 at 1:32 am

    I am 5′ 3″ and weigh (currently) 235 lbs. I am, by classification of the BMI, Obese. I am in good health, have low blood pressure and cholesterol, no signs of any health problems typically associated with being overweight (i.e. diabetes and heart problems) and this is all recently verified by the health testing I had to undergo for my life insurance policy back in January. Yes, I was solely responsible for my weight gain, about 100+ lbs. since I was in High School, but even then I would have been classified as Overweight by my BMI, even though I then ran track (made it to the state quarter and semi-finals two seperate years in 300 meter hurdles) and did karate. I currently eat healthy, maintain a calorie intake typically at or below 1500/day (500 less, if you will note, than the 2000 every single ‘Recommended Daily Value’ nutritional label in this coun try is based on), I exercise daily for at least the recommended 30 min., and still, losing weight is a challenge for me. Some of it IS genetic, but come on people, yes, a lot of the fat people you see AREN’T taking care of themselves, but there are a lot of us who ARE, and I am disgusted and sick and tired of being assumed that I don’t give even a little bit of thought to my health. And personally, even when I lose the weight (as I am trying to do), I’d rather be healthy and have maybe an extra few pounds than be a stick with my bones protruding as has been made so fashionable by the media and Hollywood.

  36. Jess
    April 5th, 2008 at 4:37 am

    Evolution is working against us in two ways in the weight department:
    We have evolved to like fatty, sugary foods as they were a rare and valuable source of energy, so when we do come across them, the natural thing to do is to eat as much of it as you can as this helped us to survive. Unfortunately these types of food are in cheap, easily accessible abundance and they are making us fat.
    We have also evolved to find what is healthy attractive so that we could produce healthy, fit offspring. Obesity is not attractive because it is unhealthy. It is an evelutionary response to find obese people unattractive and unfortunately this is commonly vented through jokes and mockery.
    Those of you who argue that by discriminating against overweight people we are somehow motivating them to lose weight, but it doesn’t work like that. All it does is make them feel like they are less than human. Information and intervention programs that help to develop knowledge and behaviour that supports a healthy lifestyle starting at a young age is the key, not discrimination.

  37. JB
    April 5th, 2008 at 4:38 am

    I remember when Dr Oz said:
    “Thin people think fat people are lazy and fat people think thin people are lucky.”

  38. bob
    April 5th, 2008 at 9:12 pm

    Mr Bean,
    I can’t speak for the rest of the countries in the area, but yes Georgia has *fewer* (not *less*, learn English) chemicals in their food. They don’t have a better-living(profit)-through-chemicals infrastructure yet. When I go there, I eat better, feel better, and my skin even looks healthier. It’s nothing to do with exercising or lifestyle. You’d be surprised what things you’d learn by actually visiting some of these places. Methinks you haven’t even been to Western Europe. Am I right?

  39. Gellner
    April 6th, 2008 at 1:25 am

    I see it every day and it disgusts me. Lean some tolerance people, please.

  40. haslo
    April 8th, 2008 at 2:36 am

    It’s not true that we have no control over our weight. Unless our genes change radically within a mere few decades; average weight has gone way up in the last few years only. Rebecca Puhl shout stop spouting nonsense in that respect - it is possible to control your weight.

    Genes give you dispositions, what you do with them is up to you entirely.

  41. haslo
    April 8th, 2008 at 2:37 am

    That being said, weightism is evil :) And there really are some people that can do nothing about being obese. The majority however could. Or could have, earlier in their lives.

  42. Gary Lamont
    January 12th, 2009 at 5:46 pm

    I have noticed bias taking place in addiction treatment centers based on weight. Weight is ever increasingly apparant in everyday life!


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