World Obesity Day: Awareness and Action

Stop blame! Consider obesity as a disease!

Weight Blaming – Body Shaming - Stigma Obesity

World Obesity Day raises awareness about the causes, impacts, and solutions related to obesity, a condition affecting millions of people worldwide.

Individuals who are obese are more likely to have severe health issues as well as a pervasive kind of social stigma. Obesity is frequently attributed to a lack of self-control, willpower, and self-discipline. As a result, those who are obese face stigma and discrimination in medical settings, work environments, educational institutions, and society in general. Weight blaming can have serious negative effects on affected people, including psychological and physical repercussions. It also lessens the chance that those who suffer from obesity will get the care they require.

However, weight stigma has negative effects that go beyond harm individuals. Public health policy, access to treatments, and research may be adversely affected by the widespread notion that obesity can be completely reversed by making voluntary decisions to eat less and exercise more.

Weight blaming and obesity stigma are detrimental to health, undermine human and social rights, and are unacceptable in a modern society.

Examples of Obesity Stigma

There are many misperceptions about people living with obesity. Often, they include generalizations and beliefs such as:

People living with obesity are lazy and irresponsible.
People carry extra weight because of choices they’ve made—it’s “their fault”.
People with a larger body size is unattractive and undesirable.
People who carry excess weight have poor hygiene.
People who are obese must not be very smart.
People with obesity are less capable of succeeding.

Stigmatization against individuals living with obesity is widely perpetuated also by the (social) media, which tends to focus on a thin, well-trained body as the ideal – called “weight bias”. In commercials, movies, and TV shows, people living with excess weight are significantly underrepresented, particularly women. When they do appear on screen, they’re often portrayed as objects of ridicule or inferiority and are shown as unpopular or ill-mannered, while slim-figured actors are more often shown as popular and successful.

The influence of social media in shaping beliefs may also lead to the internalization of weight stigma. Biased algorithms filter out social media posts from individuals in stigmatized groups and concentrate exposure to content that perpetuates problematic norms about weight. Individuals may be more likely attacked and blamed due to anonymity and lack of control and consequences on online platforms.

Individuals with obesity also face more subtle forms of weight stigma in their daily environment. Clothes are less available or less fashionable. They find it difficult to join appropriate sport groups. On many commercial airplanes, where seats will not fit an individual who carries significant excess weight, the passenger is often required to purchase two seats to sit comfortably during their flight. Even in healthcare, they are confronted with obstacles: In many doctor’s offices, examination tables and gowns do not accommodate people of larger size.

Consequences of Obesity Stigma

According to the Obesity Action Coalition (OAC), weight stigma can have serious social, psychological, and physical effects, such as:

low self-esteem and negative body image,
depression and anxiety,
rejection by peers and family members,
poor quality of personal relationships,
lower pay at work and fewer promotions,
harmful weight control practices (e.g., eating disorders), and
exercise avoidance and sedentary behaviors.

While someone might assume that weight discrimination would motivate an individual to lose weight, the opposite is true. Research suggests that anti-obesity bias and fat shaming can actually drive weight gain. This is because exposure to weight stigma triggers stress, which in turn inhibits self-control and leads to binge eating. In a research study presented at the Canadian Obesity Summit, people who internalized weight stigma to a large degree were three times as likely to be at risk of heart disease and diabetes by having metabolic syndrome (a condition including elevated blood sugar, high blood pressure, high body mass index, and high cholesterol) than those who did not.

Living with obesity can also stand in the way of getting high-quality healthcare. Some primary care providers view people with obesity as “non-compliant” and spend less time with them during visits. Bias against patients with weight issues can make a healthcare professional less supportive and compassionate—which compromises the level of care they deliver. In addition, perceived provider discrimination may make people living with obesity reluctant to seek medical help for health problems.

“Body Positivity” – A Toxic Answer Against Obesity Stigma?

The “body positivity movement” strives for acceptance of all types of bodies regardless of skin color, size, shape, or physical ability and encourages all people to love, accept, and embrace their appearance. But what began as an altruistic social movement to help people to love and accept themselves, regardless of what they look like and regardless of any stigma surrounding their appearance, has been showing its downside. Researchers at Clarkson University have found that messages sent to women encouraging them to be body positive aren’t always supportive, often fall flat, and can often leave people feeling more depressed and unsure of themselves. This is because these messages can sometimes seem controlling, diminish autonomy, and ultimately do more harm than good when you’re seeking support and acceptance.

Some even feel the current movement pushes a form of “toxic positivity”, the expectation that we should always be positive no matter what, and that we should silence negative emotions in ourselves and others. The researchers from Clarkson University exposed women to this kind of toxic body positivity transporting messages such as, “You MUST accept your body, or you will never be happy”. Across a series of experiments, women exposed to such messages didn’t feel any better about their body image. Instead, their body image only improved when the participants understood that people close to them such as friends or family appreciated them for who they were – rather than what they looked like.

“Body Neutrality” – We Are More Than Our Physical Appearance

And because body neutrality de-emphasizes the focus on appearance, it allows us to better appreciate all the things our bodies can do. Being grateful for being able to do the hobbies and activities we love is an example of body neutrality.

In fact, there is scientific evidence that body neutrality can be beneficial. Across cultures and demographic groups, body neutrality is associated with more positive body image and mental wellbeing. Weight-neutral health strategies may reduce internalized weight stigma and related stress, helping individuals feel more accepted and improving important health measures. There is some indication that weight neutral strategies may further reduce the risk of developing eating disorders by discouraging restrictive dieting and promoting a healthy relationship with food. Weight neutral strategies may also lead to sustained healthy lifestyle changes, although this awaits further studies.

Obesity Management in the UAE: Perceptions, Barriers, and Attitudes

In order to facilitate the development of strategies for the best possible management of obesity, the University Hospital in Sharjah released the enlightening ACTION-IO study, which examined the attitudes, actions, and perceptions of both healthcare professionals and individuals with obesity.

Both people with obesity and doctors acknowledged obesity as a chronic disease and agreed that it has a large impact on overall health. The primary reason given by physicians for not starting weight management conversations was that seven out of ten physicians believed that obese patients had no interest in losing weight, while just one out of ten people with obesity selected this response. Given that they are discussing weight management with a doctor after battling with excess weight for an astounding four years, these misconceptions between doctors and their patients may be limiting the present approach to managing obesity in the United Arab Emirates. There is a chance to improve the timing and quality of obesity care in the United Arab Emirates owing to the researchers’ insights into the perspectives and misunderstandings that exist between doctors and patients with obesity.

Don´t blame or shame yourselves!

Talk about your concerns!

Get into discussions with your doctor!

Get in contact with us @TheKnowHow.