Fat Shaming in the US

"Fatty". "Thunderthighs." "You'd look better if you'd lose a few pounds." And,
the ultimate soul crusher, "You'll never find the right person because you're
too fat." These are just some of the comments most of us have heard.
Whether the comments have been directed at oneself or someone else, most
people have been exposed to fat shaming. Fat shaming has been responsible
for demeaning and hurting people. It hurts one's self esteem and self worth.
One is made to feel inferior and worthless, which makes one unable to live up
to one's full potential. Fat shaming needs to end because everyone has
importance and value, regardless of their size. Beauty comes in all shapes
and sizes.
What is fat shaming? Fat shaming has many definitions on the internet.
According to Urbandictionary.com, fat shaming is the act of poking fun of
someone for being overweight or telling someone they are worthless, useless,
lazy or disgusting because they are overweight. Badmouthing and obscene
remarks are used to make overweight people feel bad about their weight.
This act of fat shaming has led to weight (fat) discrimination, which is taking
negative action against someone because of their weight.
Weight discrimination is not against the law because weight is not a
protected class like race, sex, religion, etc. This usually occurs in social
settings such as college parties or clubs by which overweight people are
excluded from joining or are made fun of. The most discrete, but known cases
of weight discrimination occurs in the workplace. The cases are usually covert
and involve hiring managers using excuses to not hire someone because of
their weight. In one such case involving Frances White, President of the
National Association For the Advancement of Fat Acceptance (NAAFA)
personally experienced this. White says that employers were enthusiastic
about meeting her for interviews due to her experience. However, that
changed when the employers met her for face to face interviews. She says
employers would use such reasons as "going with a more entry level person"
or "rethinking our staffing needs." (Kolata, 1993).
What is the cause of fat shaming? One such known cause is the portrayal of
skinny women in magazines, TV and other forms of advertising. The ideal
woman is 5"6", 100 pounds, with blonde hair and blue eyes. Being skinny has
been equated with extreme beauty in the United States. Magazines would
only allow women with this image to be on the cover until the 2000's when
Ashley Graham became the first plus size model to pose on the cover of
Sports Illustrated (Bustle, 2009). Television shows have also done this. For
example, in the television show "Three's Company." Suzanne Somers is
portrayed as the beautiful woman who is the apple of John Ritter's character
eye. Joyce Dewitt, the brunette, is portrayed as unattractive who has a hard
time getting dates.
Trying to live up to this image has caused women to hate their bodies. If one

is not skinny, then one is not attractive. So, in order to live up to the image,
women do unhealthy things to their bodies. It is reported that .5%-3.7% will
suffer from anorexia and 1.1-4.1% will suffer from bulimia. Anorexia is defined
as self starvation, which includes limiting calorie intake, and excessive
exercise. Bulimia involves a cycle of binging (eating heavily) and then purging
(throwing up). These eating disorders take a serious toll on one's health. Such
consequences include brittle bones, muscle loss, dehydration, tooth decay
and muscle spasms (Bell, 2007).
The effects of fat shaming can cause social problems. For example, in the
dating world, women who are not skinny are not as successful at finding
dates. Overweight women are 20% less likely to get married than skinny and
normal weight women. By comparison, overweight men are 11% less likely to
marry (Kolata, 1993). Even though society is becoming a little more open to
non skinny women, the dating world has not changed much. Some men
report giving up on dating because they claim that women have gotten too
heavy.
Living up to the ideal image also negatively impacts a woman's self esteem.
Women are taught from an early age to hate themselves if they are not
skinny. Women start this trend as early as 10 years old. In a New York City
Girls Project, girls struggle with their body image earlier and earlier in life.
According to the study, over 80% of 10 year old girls are afraid of being fat,
40-70% of middle school aged girls are disatisfied with with 2 or more parts
of their body and body satisfaction plummets between 12-15%. The known
cause is surrounding puberty, marked by extreme physical and emotional
changes.
According to the study, conducted in 2010, a positive correlation between
body image and eating disorders exists. 24 million women suffer from
anorexia, bulimia and binge eating disorder. 13% smoke to lose weight or
smoke to avoid gaining weight. These women use magazines as their guide of
beauty. 81% want realistic women in magazines but 47% believe fashion
models give them an image to strive for. 63% say the image is unrealistic,
47% say it is unhealthy. However, 60% compare themselves to the models,
48% wish they were skinny and 31% admit to starving themselves (NYC Girls
Project, 2010).
Action needs to be taken against fat shaming. The first thing that needs to
occur is for people to speak up against it. Those who are being fat shamed
should not allow others to make fun of them and those hurling the insults
need to be put in their place. When another person witnesses this type of
bullying, they need to intervene and speak against it. When someone fat
shames on social media, report it. It is when good people see evil and do
nothing that true evil exists.
The stereotype should be proven wrong about overweight people. The
assumption surrounding the overweight is that overweight people are lazy,

unmotivated, and eat too much. This usually is not true because some have a
medical condition such as hypothyrodism, that makes it impossible for one to
lose weight. Some overweight people, such as Whitney Way Thore of TLC's
My Big Fat Fabulous Life, is a woman who is in great physical shape. She is
known for participating in marathons and has a dance studio to motivate
others who struggle with their bodies. Richard Simmons, the creator of dance
videos, such as Disco Sweat and Dancin to the Oldies, has used overweight
people in his videos to motivate other overweight people to exercise. His
videos are an inspiration to people who want to lose weight or simply want to
stay in shape. Being overweight can coincide with being physically fit,
proving the stereotype false.
Since over 66% of the US population is overweight, the US can team up
against the bullies. Proof that this type of action works is the Civil Rights
Movement of the 1960's. At first, the movement only included african
americans but then others joined once they saw how valuable it was to stand
up to racism. This group of people refused to back down or give up, which is
what it will take to stop this type of bullying. The same type of movements
occurred with the Women's Liberation movement which stood up for women's
rights. These movements proved how valuable it is to stand up against
wrongdoing. There is strength in numbers.
The media needs to become more progressive on embracing non skinny
women. Even though some current television shows have brought in heavier
women, the vast majority of television shows still portray mostly skinny
women. In the current crime television shows such as Castle and NCIS, the
women in the starring roles are skinny. Some television shows do have
heavier women in starring roles such as Melissa McCarthy of CBS's Mike and
Molly and Kat Dennings and Jennifer Coolidge of 2 Broke Girls. This sends a
different message of beauty to women and girls.
The modeling world has been even more reluctant to embrace heavier
women. On television shows such as America's Next Top Model, only one plus
size woman named Whitney of Florida, won the title of the next top model.
Supermodels such as Janice Dickinson, do not want models who are not
skinny and continue to drive these women to unhealthy behavior. Even Tyra
Banks commented to Ms. Dickinson on a show saying "It's comments like
those that drive women to throw up in the toilet" in response to something
Dickinson said about one of the contestants being too fat. Even though some
modeling agencies book plus size models, more agencies need to embrace
plus size models. They also need to stop referring to heavier women as plus
size and just refer to them as women. The plus size label has a negative
connotation. Taking away the label would embrace the new standard of
beauty.
Fat shaming and discrimination are growing problems in the US which have
only intensified with social media. People can hide behind their remarks. The
US has made some strides in becoming accepting of heavier women by

embracing them in TV and on the covers of some magazines. Even with this
progression, the US still has a long way to go in the acceptance of overweight
people. While it is important to healthy, it is also important to be happy, no
matter what the size. To quote Eddie Murphy in the Nutty Professor
"Happiness does not depend on what you weigh. It is about being happy with
yourself."

References
Bell, M. (2007). Weight and appearance, 1st (E.d.)., pgs. 404-416. New Jersey:
Pearson Education, Inc.
Huffingtonpost.com. (2016). Does my fat make you uncomfortable. Retrieved
from www.huffingtonpost.com/krystal-mark-does-my-fat-make-youuncomfortable-unco_b_9473320.html