The Binge Eating Disorder Association had its 3rd annual Weight Stigma Awareness Week this week, in which they helped people understand weight stigma and the strategies on how to fight it.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender studies senior Thomas Negron said weight stigma is placed on individuals that may be socially considered too skinny or too fat.
“There are so many stigmas put on people because of their size or weight,” Negron said. “Some of these include the ideas that people of a certain weight are not healthy, sexually active or desired, and that people are to blame for their own size and weight.”
Negron said having a field of studies that explores weight stigma can help battle the stereotypes.
The field of fat studies is becoming increasingly common today. According to the Oxford Handbook of the Social Science of obesity, it’s a scholarly field that critically examines societal attitudes about body weight and appearance, and advocates equality for all people in respect to body size.
The main goal of fat studies is to abolish the negative assumptions and identities people have about being overweight.
Professor of women’s studies at San Diego State Esther Rothblum currently edits a journal on fat studies called The Fat Studies Reader.
“People are studying this topic all over the world,” Rothblum said. “This journal is in its third year and has its hundreth submission. People are writing about all kinds of things, including how song lyrics in the Caribbean were in favor of fat women, but are now in favor of thin women.”
Rothblum said that in today’s society, weight discrimination has become an issue, and research in the field of fat studies helps shine light on the topic of obesity and all the factors that go along with it.
“When it comes to weight discrimination they’re perfectly open about saying ‘I hate fat people,’” Rothblum said. “As a psychologist a greater area to study is this discrimination in outright form.”
Negron said the way to end the stigma lies in education rather than telling people to “get over” the stigma surrounding weight.
“We should be educating the rest of society that people come in all shapes and sizes, and that everyone deserves respect,” Negron said. “I don’t think people should feel even more burdened by the stigmas that society places on them.”
An important lesson, Negron said, is to rethink compliments paid to people who are losing weight.
“Stop congratulating people for losing weight as if they were worse off before,” he said. “Work toward making positive comments that have nothing to do with people’s bodies, such as ‘you are always smiling and that makes you great to be around.’”
