Fatphobia: What's Happening with This Structural Problem in Our Society?
Overweight people are continually stigmatized for it in everyday life, from public transportation to medicine.
Our society doesn't accept people with obesity. It's a fact. Just look at the daily problems faced by those who are overweight to realize that the world we live in isn't made for them. This stigma ends up affecting them in intimate and personal ways.
 |
| Society rejects people with overweight problems. |
Let's start from the beginning. Fatphobia could be defined as the rejection that obese people experience for being fat. It could also be the hatred and violence these people suffer because of their physical condition. Or even the fear of being fat. In any case, it is characterized by a series of attitudes and stereotypes toward people who are obese. All of this is a widespread and visible problem in society.
In their daily lives, overweight people face a world in which their bodies don't fit or they have mobility issues. Take, for example, the size of office chairs or the space of subway turnstiles. Furthermore, "fat people" live under constant scrutiny of their surroundings, where their habits are constantly judged.
We also can't forget the standards of beauty and health imposed by countless loudspeakers. Only one body type is beautiful and acceptable. Depending on whether a person's body fits that standard, they will be more or less appreciated by society. This standard ignores large or voluminous bodies, which leads to social pressure to change it.
A generated need to change one's body type to bring it as close as possible to the established standard, which in turn reveals another symptom of the structural fatphobia that exists in society: gyms and sports centers are often unsuitable for overweight people.
'Weight bias,' another problem
As if all this weren't enough, people with obesity suffer even more stigma. Even in places where we should all be equal, such as in the healthcare field. In medicine, there is what is known as 'weight bias,' which is nothing more than the constant reference to a patient's size to justify or attribute the ailment they suffer. Even if it is unrelated, they are advised to lose weight.
 |
| Overweight people live under the yoke of socially acceptable measures. |
This situation occurs all too often in medicine and ends up decisively affecting the health of overweight people, who even feel reluctant to go to the doctor.
Finally, we cannot forget the ridicule and comments that overweight people have to endure because of their bodies. This ridicule often leads obese individuals to withdraw from society and become increasingly reclusive.
So, the fatphobia that exists in society seems to be systemic, beyond being recognized as a one-off occurrence. And if not, why are there no fat people? How many obese people occupy dominant positions in the mass media?
Categories: Fashion & Beauty