Australians living with obesity experience “weight stigma” in almost all social settings and are often “dehumanised and stereotyped as lazy”, a new paper has found.
Weight stigma is a feeling that Melbourne woman Rachel Bacon has felt since she was younger.
The 41-year-old recently lost more than 20 kilograms after feeling stigmatised for her size for decades.
“Anytime I went to the GP in my teens, in my adult years, it’s just been something that comes up at every turn, ‘you need to lose weight, you need to lose weight’,” Bacon said.
“It’s only been the last few years that I’ve figured that my self-esteem is not actually linked to what my body looks like.”
Monash University’s School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine and Paper Co-Author Dr Briony Hill said during healthcare consultations people can often feel judged and shamed.
Hill said friends, family, colleagues and patients deserve respect, regardless of body size.
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“It’s not simply a matter of energy-in, energy-out. What we can do is change the way we think about people living in a larger body and stop blaming them,” she said.
“Addressing personal biases against people living in larger bodies, whether known or unknown, is the collective responsibility of society and not just limited to those providing healthcare.”
Curtin University School of Population Health and Lead Author Dr Blake Lawrence said people were constantly bombarded with messages that health is tied to weight, with slim considered healthy and people with higher weight deemed unhealthy.
“The simplistic misconception that obesity is caused solely by factors within a person’s control has the unintended consequence of exacerbating their health issues,” he said.
(This is done) by lowering their motivation to exercise, increasing their chances of binge eating and forcing them to avoid healthcare altogether due to weight stigma.”
Lawrence said the paper recommended public health researchers engage with people living with obesity and promote weight-inclusive policies and new public health campaigns to help change the public perception of obesity and weight stigma.
