The beauty pageant world is paying attention to Chloe Marshall, a 17-year-old in England, who has been making headlines this past month for being the first plus-size model to be selected as a finalist for the Miss England competition. Chloe, who is a size 16, was crowned Miss Surrey over seven thinner contestants, and is now a contender for the national Miss England pageant.
An interesting article appeared in the NY Times recently by Roni Rabin, describing an increasingly popular venue for fat acceptance movements: the “Fatosphere” of blogs. New fat acceptance blogs like “Big Fat Deal” and “Fatgirl” are receiving more and more attention from viewers and bloggers.
On the one hand, these blogs can provide an important and needed outlet to challenge weight-based stereotypes and unrealistic ideals of physical attractiveness, and can also give a voice to many individuals who are often unfairly silenced or ignored because of their body size. Many useful discussions and dialogue can take place in this manner, and potentially help to shift damaging societal attitudes that fuel weight bias, and promote healthy lifestyle behaviors and self-acceptance at difference body sizes.
Continue reading "Fat Acceptance Blogs Raise Good Questions" »
I came across an interesting blog the other day called “Fat Girl on a Bike”. It’s about a young woman named Sarah Watson, who is obese and has completed 6 triathlons. Her website and blog focus on her athletic training experiences, and various triathlon accomplishments. She details her experiences of the rigorous physical training and mental effort it takes to prepare for the competitions, but also talks about her motivation for participating in triathlons, which is to have fun, to complete the races, to improve over time, and to discover her physical capabilities.
Could weight bias lead to school absenteeism among obese students? A new study published in the journal Obesity shows that obese kids (in elementary school) miss more days of school then their non-obese peers. The study found that body weight predicts student absenteeism, over and above factors like academic performance, race, socioeconomic status, age and gender. Children who were underweight were the least likely to be absent.
Will obese women be absent among future college-graduates in America? A recent study found that obese adolescent girls are less likely to attend college compared to non-obese girls. Data for this study (published in the July issue of the journal Sociology of Education) were collected from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, which tracked over 10,000 girls.
What’s happening here?
This week, news headlines have focused on a new article published in the New England Journal of Medicine, reporting that people are more likely to become obese when they have a friend who is obese. The study followed over 12,000 people for 32 years, and found that having a friend who is obese increased one’s chances of becoming obese by 57%.
What was your favorite book as a child? As a mother, I’m always on the look-out for good books to read with my son. But I’ve been startled by how frequently I come across kids’ books that portray overweight characters as the targets of jokes, the kids who is unpopular or mean, or the children who don’t succeed.
Lately there has been a flood of stories in the news pertaining to weight bias. I recently read an article about a group of female flight attendants in India who were grounded from the national airline for being overweight. A year ago, Indian Airlines introduced strict weight guidelines for its flight crew, and the Indian Court has ruled in favor of the airline.
If you are one of the millions of people who watched American Idol this season, you’ll know that Jordan Sparks won the 2007 competition. She is a 17-year old teenager with an amazing voice, and her singing performances were consistently stellar throughout the season, with one of the judges stating that she was the best 17-year-old singer he’s ever seen.
I recently saw a TV commercial for Subway, in which a couple drives up to the drive-thru window of a fast-food chain and places an order. But instead of ordering food they order some “blubber,” “thunder thighs,” and “badonkadonk butt.” This commercial is essentially saying that ordering fast food leads to obesity, but consumers could avoid weight gain by choosing Subway over less healthy alternative food chains. However, the commercial focuses completely on the cosmetic consequences of weight gain, rather than health. I could appreciate an advertisement that uses the same premise, only focuses on actual health consequences of eating unhealthy foods (e.g., placing an order for heart disease, or Type II diabetes), but to be emphasizing unattractive physical appearance as the main motivator to avoid unhealthy foods is questionable. It can certainly be interpreted as a stigmatizing message, and it also ignores the essential reason for people to be concerned about the food they eat, which is the impact food has on our health. I’m not saying that physical appearance isn’t a powerful motivator for eating healthfully, but it should not be the central premise for obesity prevention or weight loss, nor should it be highlighted in a way that stigmatizes overweight or obese individuals.
I recently read that breast cancer patients who are obese tend to receive lower doses of chemotherapy than thinner patients. This finding came from a study (published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology) that examined health records of over 700 women treated for breast cancer at 115 oncology practices randomly selected across the country.
I wanted to spread the word about a new educational resource addressing weight bias for teachers and students, which is being disseminated nationally through a program called "Teaching Tolerance". Rarely is weight bias included in educational curriculum, even when diversity issues are the focus. The materials in this resource provide a unique opportunity to raise awareness about bias among educators and youth nationwide. Teaching Tolerance (a project of the Southern Poverty Law Center) is the largest and most influential publication in the anti-bias education field.
It’s wonderful that this group has recognized the importance of addressing weight bias in schools, and is taking steps to provide resources and strategies to help combat this social justice issue that is so prevalent among youth.
I suppose nothing about reality TV should be surprising anymore, but I was shocked to learn of a new reality TV show that will be filmed in Australia, called “Fat Kids Can’t Hunt.” The premise of the show focuses on “10 fat children” who must “hunt for food or go hungry”. Specifically, these children must live with Aboriginal tribesmen in Australia for a month, following their rules of eating plants and grasses, and trapping and cooking animals and insects to eat. The creators of the show state that the “program is designed to help obese kids tackle overeating.”
Should public accommodations (e.g., seating in airplanes) be made larger to assist obese individuals? This is a common debate that has emerged in discussions about obesity and weight bias, with some recent cases receiving national media attention (link to previous blog, "The Not So Friendly Sky"). While Americans continue to debate both sides of this issue, other countries are instead taking proactive measures to ensure equal treatment of their citizens, regardless of their body weight.
In an effort to reduce obesity among youth, schools in Singapore implemented a rigid program into schools that required overweight and obese students to participate in rigorous exercises between classes, and before and after school, until they had lost a specified amount of weight. Not surprisingly, this program received criticism, and many parents became upset because their overweight children were singled out and were targets of teasing and victimization. As a result, the program is being removed, and replaced with a program that instead promotes health among all children, regardless of their body size. (Click here for full story)
I’ve often heard the opinion that parents are to blame if their child is obese. This is a troubling and concerning argument that does nothing to support or empower parents to improve the health of their family, and ignores broader environmental and societal interventions that could make significant public health improvements by changing the food environment (which would help parents even more). Unfortunately, perceptions of parental blame have become so widespread, that some child protection agencies have gone as far to suggest removing obese children from their families. A story emerged on this issue last week on CNN where an eight-year old obese boy was under consideration for removal from his family by social workers because of his weight. His family faced a hearing under the Children Act in Britain, which aims to safeguard and promote children’s welfare. This is not the first story like this to appear in the media, and like previous cases, it was decided that the boy could remain with his family, despite his obesity.
If you’ve been to the movies lately, you may have seen a preview for Eddie Murphy’s new movie, "Norbit" – you might have even seen the film. In this movie, Murphy wears yet another fat suit, posing as an obese woman whose character depicts practically every stereotype imaginable associated with obesity. The movie is riddled with weight bias. The reviews so far have been critical, with a recent review in The New York Post stating "the script is mostly excuse for an endless parade of jokes about fat people."
Over 500 middle school and high school students in Texas responded to a recent nutrition survey that asked teens about their views on obesity. (click here for survey). While some students articulated the complexities surrounding the causes of obesity, the majority of youth expressed views that obesity is caused by laziness and lack of self-control. The teens frequently used words like “disgusting,” “gross,” and “sickening” to describe obese individuals.
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee has begun requiring an IQ test for obese patients seeking weight-loss surgery. (See story here).
From my understanding of this issue, this is the only insurance company that requires an IQ test for any medical procedure in the United States. Not only does this requirement create obstacles for patients accessing needed care, but this is clearly suggestive of weight bias, and perpetuates damaging stereotypes about lower intelligence levels among obese populations. I’m frankly quite stunned by this announcement. It just does not make sense to me why this test would be required for obese people seeking surgery, and not for other complicated medical procedures, surgeries, or treatment. Why are obese persons being singled out? The Obesity Action Coalition issued a statement in response to this announcement, calling for the insurance company to rescind its IQ testing. I’m sure that more organizations will follow.
Weight bias in the workplace was in the news again recently. Overweight and obese employees are starting to speak out against the unfair treatment they face, like lower rates of hiring, fewer promotions, and lower wages for the same work performed by thinner co-workers. In the past year, the media have also highlighted a number of weight-based discrimination cases involving obese employees who were wrongly terminated because of their weight. (Click here and here for two examples.).
China announced yesterday that it will enforce new international adoption selection criteria beginning in May, 2007. Among the new restrictions, are the criteria that adoptive parents will not be considered if they are taking medications for mental health conditions like depression or anxiety, or if they have a body mass index of 40 or above. The message seems to be that obese individuals are unfit to parent. (see story here).
In the past several months I’ve highlighted some cases of weight discrimination in employment settings where obese employees were unjustly fired because of their weight. Several weeks ago another article caught my attention, but this time the tables were turned – a Florida police chief was fired for making anti-fat remarks toward officers in his department.
The American Disabilities Act (ADA) prohibits discrimination against individuals with physical and mental disabilities, and offers protection against disability discrimination in employment, public services, and privately owned public accommodations. There has been an ongoing debate about the applicability of obesity to the ADA, and many weight discrimination lawsuits have been filed under the ADA (especially pertaining to employment). Click here to view a recent example - this article describes a recent case of an obese male employee who was fired and who lost a lawsuit filed under the ADA. As this article highlights, the primary question in this debate is whether obesity constitutes a disability.
Continue reading "Seeking Legal Remedies for Weight Discrimination" »
Fat suits seem to be everywhere in the media these days. Actors are wearing them in some of the most popular TV shows and in many films. The idea of wearing a fat-suit could be useful in cases when it’s used for educational purposes to increase awareness about weight stigma and prejudice, but the current trend is to dress up slim actors in fat-suits for the specific purpose of being a target of humor, embarrassment, and ridicule. Two new films coming out in the next few months appear to be continuing this trend. Check out an interview with Tim Allen who talks about wearing a fat suit for his third movie playing Santa Claus, as well as the trailer for Eddie Murphy’s new movie “Norbit” where he wears a fat suit to play a “monstrous woman.”
The New York Times published an article today discussing the “burden” of obese passengers on airplanes, and the debate about whether obese passengers should be required to pay for an extra seat. This issue has surfaced several times in the media, often initiated by slim, non-overweight passengers who report that their flight experience is compromised by sitting next to “customers of size”. (As one person interviewed in the NY Times article remarked, “The people who really get hurt are the people sitting next to these folks”).
Overweight and obese kids are very vulnerable to weight bias, and one of the most harmful expressions of bias is peer victimization, such as teasing and bullying. This issue has started to receive more attention in the press because of how many children and adolescents are reporting this problem. As an example, studies show that among children who are overweight, about 1/3 of girls and ¼ of boys report being teased and victimized by peers at school. And, among those who have the highest level of obesity, this jumps to about 60% of girls and boys who report peer victimization.
I read a recent article from a study in the UK that reported some concerning findings about medical practices by general practitioners. Almost half of the GPs in the study avoided discussing obesity with their obese patients, even though they knew that obesity was harming their patients’ health. In addition, 20% of GP’s said that they had withheld treatment from a patient because of their unhealthy lifestyle, and 50% agreed that they should not refer patients with a BMI of 30 or greater for operations like hip and knee replacements. Are these examples of bias?
Continue reading "Your health is at stake, yet doctors are skirting the issue" »
The new reality television series “Project Runway” has been
receiving increasing attention and positive ratings. The show, hosted by
supermodel Heidi Klum, involves a competition among individuals aspiring to be
fashion designers. On a recent episode, however, several disparaging comments
were made on the show pertaining to plus-size women.
A couple of weeks ago I posted a blog about a teacher who was fired for being overweight. A similar story of weight-based discrimination was recently brought to my attention. This time, it is a female fighter pilot for the Indian Air Force who was fired for being overweight. Prerna Chaturvedi was terminated in 2003 for being overweight according to a new set of fitness guidelines issued by the Air Force. She was given one year to lose weight and when she couldn't, she was declared unfit. Apparently, while she and 35 other women officers lost their jobs, their male counterparts were given ground duties. Prerna has approached the Delhi High Court to get her job back. This unfortunate story highlights the layers of bias that many people experience, and in this case, weight and gender biases were at play.
A new children’s book just came out on obesity that has been long overdue – this is a book, geared to 8-13 year olds, called "It's Not Your Fault That You're Overweight - A Story of Enlightenment, Empowerment and Accomplishment for Overweight and Obese Kids" by Merilee A. Kern.
This is the first children’s book that I have seen that emphasizes the cultural and societal influences on obesity, educates kids in a sensitive manner about healthy lifestyle behaviors, and perhaps most importantly, helps to lessen the stigma associated with obesity in children and reduce the self-blame that so often occurs among overweight youth.
I just read an article about a new study from Columbia University demonstrating that obesity negatively affects quality of life for adults in the United States. While that is by no means “news,” what was more surprising is that the burden of disease associated with obesity was much worse for obese women than men. The authors concluded that one explanation for this gender difference is that societal weight stigma may be worse for obese women than men – specifically, that weight stigma may cause more stress in females than males, which may in turn increase problems with health.
Last week I read a story about a NY teacher who was fired because he was obese. At 6’4” and 325 pounds, the teacher had a body mass index of 39.6 (a BMI over 30 classifies as obese). This man received very positive reviews for his teaching from his supervisors, including lesson plans that were described as “well planned” and “well executed” by the superintendent for curriculum. However, when he was being evaluated for tenure, the superintendent also reported that he was “so big and sloppy” that his “obesity was not conducive to learning”, and he was subsequently fired...
A recent series of studies published
in the Journal of Applied Psychology found
that obese shoppers face more interpersonal discrimination than average weight
shoppers in the customer service sector ( Download the full article in pdf).
In a first study, trained actors
dressed like customers entered multiple retail stores in a mall while observers
recorded their interactions with retail sales clerks.
On my commute to and from work each day, I drive by a local high school, often at the same time of day when students are arriving in the morning, and leaving to go home at the end of the afternoon. Directly beside the entrance to the school is a small convenience store. On my daily commute, I started to notice an early-morning crowd of approximately 20 students waiting in line to get into the store at 7:45 am. My initial thought was that perhaps students were purchasing breakfast before their first classes of the morning. But as I looked closer, I was dismayed to see that what they were eating was junk food – chips, soda, candy, and chocolate bars – and lots of it, early in the morning. By the end of the school day there were even more students at the store – so many, in fact, that the owner appeared to be putting a limit on how many students could enter the store at one time. I also noticed that the store was so close to the school property that virtually every window in the front of the school at a direct view of the store.
Recently, the William J. Clinton Foundation announced that the nation's largest beverage distributors have agreed to stop selling sodas to public schools, which will require the removal of sugared drinks from vending machines and cafeterias nation-wide. Clearly this is a very important step in efforts to help curb obesity in youth, and I was delighted with this news when I heard it. But, how are these efforts going to be successful if we dangle “eye-candy” (literally) in front of students every day? Is it possible that efforts to promote public health in schools could be sabotaged by neighborhood corner stores that are situated a mere hop, skip, and a jump away from students during the school day? To me, this seems like a very mixed message that it being communicated to youth. Fighting obesity requires changing the food environment in schools. But it also clearly requires changing the food environment in our communities.
