Prejudice against obesity: More than a recent phenomenon

Discrimination and Prejudice against obesity are a sad fact of life for the obese. Studies have found that young children would prefer to be friends with children with missing legs or eyes or any disability, rather than being friends with a child who is obese.

Obese adults say that they would rather be blind or deaf or have any disability, rather than being obese. And obese people are less likely to be hired, are less likely to get married, are less likely to get into a prestigious school, are less likely to have college paid for by their parents, and may even earn less for doing the same job than their non-obese peers.

This anti-fat prejudice comes from the beliefs that weight is controlled by will power, and that ?you-get-what-you-deserve? leading to a ?blame-the-victim? mentality according to a recent paper by Christian Crandall and Kristin Schiffhauer from the Department of Psychology at the University of Kansas.

They suggest that anti-fat prejudice is similar to racial prejudice and gender prejudice. Crandall and Schiffhauer contend that these beliefs represent traditional American values, a belief in the self-determination of fate. And, they argue, that because these beliefs are cultural and ideological they are very resistant to change.

Correlates of anti-fat prejudice

Anti-fat prejudice was previously found to correlate with anti-black racism, sexist attitudes, anti-gay prejudice, authoritarianism, political conservatism, rejection of non-traditional marriage and an attitude of pro-capital punishment.

Anti-fat prejudice was previously found to be limited to ?first-world? societies, whereas obesity was associated with a higher economic status in developing nations. Crandall and Schiffhauer believe that this may be because developing nations may place a positive value on obesity. However, I disagree with this based on another paper by Stunkard and his colleagues. I would guess that obesity is more common in higher economic classes in developing nations simply because they have access to tastier foods.

Not the result of our obsession with thinness

Discrimination and prejudice against obesity are not simply the result of modern society?s obsession with thinness according to a second paper by Albert Stunkard and his colleagues from the University of Pennsylvania. The prejudice against obesity dates back hundreds, even thousands of years.

12th century Japan

Obesity was viewed as a result of selfishness and greed as far back as the 12th century in Japan. A picture scroll documenting diseases described an obese woman as a money-lender who became exceeding wealthy and brought on obesity by eating too much rich food. Stunkard explains that being a money-lender and charging high interest rates was viewed as a moral fault representing greed and selfishness and was vigorously criticized. Other illnesses found on the scroll were also depicted as karmic consequences of moral failings according to Stunkard. The idea that you-get-what-you-deserve.

Biblical times

Stunkard notes that prejudice against obesity goes back to biblical times. Paul the Apostle wrote in a letter to the Philippians, ?the enemies of the cross of Christ whose end is destruction, whose god is in their belly.? This, according to Stunkard, served as a basis for the classic definition of gluttony. In the third century Adam?s eating of the apple was ascribed to gluttony. And in the fifth and seventh centuries gluttony was incorporated into one of the Seven Deadly Sins.

Shakespeare linked gluttony and obesity. Shakespeare also linked gluttony, obesity and stigma writing?

?Falstaff: You make fat rascals, Mistress Doll.

Doll: I make them! Gluttony and disease make them.?

Shakespeare stigmatized the obese, vilifying Falstaff as a ?... fat-kidneyed rascal… fat guts… horseback breaker… huge hill of fat… swollen parcel of dropsies… stuffed cloak-bag of guts… roasted ox with the pudding in its belly…?

REFERENCE

Crandall CS, Schiffhauer KL. Anti-fat prejudice: Beliefs, values and American culture. Obesity Research, 1998 Nov; 6(6):458-60.

Stunkard AJ, LaFleur WR, Wadden TA. Stigmatization of obesity in medieval times: Asia and Europe. International Journal of Obesity, 1998 Dec;22(12):1141-4.

Articles on the same subject can be found here:

• Discrimination against obesity