Weight Stigma

It’s @NEDA Weight Stigma Awareness Week #WSAW2019.

Weight Stigma is weight bias or weight discrimination or stereotyping based on a person’s size which manifests as fat phobia, a dislike or fear of being or becoming fat.

Weight stigma should matter to everyone, not only those in higher weight bodies. Weight stigma and weight discrimination affect people of all sizes and contributes to or exacerbates eating disorders in people of all sizes.

Weight bias is common among children and can be displayed as bullying, teasing, or even avoidance of peers.

A systematic review of 33 studies published in the Journal of Advanced Nursing in 2017 found that weight stigma was positively associated with higher body weight, diabetes risk, cortisol (a stress hormone) level, oxidative stress level, C‐reactive protein level (a marker of inflammation), eating disturbances, depression, anxiety, body image dissatisfaction and negatively associated with self‐esteem among people in larger bodies.

The researchers concluded that weight stigma is associated with adverse physiological and psychological outcomes and stressed the need for increased public and professional awareness about the issue of weight stigma.

𝙒𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙧𝙚𝙥𝙤𝙨𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙞𝙣𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙤𝙧 𝙨𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙖 𝙘𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙞𝙘𝙞𝙖𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 #𝙒𝙎𝘼𝙒2019?