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Fatphobia: understand why this prejudice is so serious

Have you ever heard of “fatphobia”? If not, you should suspect what it is. The suffix phobia refers to aversion and, in this case, aversion to fat people.

But what would make someone have a thing against fat people? Fat is a trait like any other. Skinny, tall, strong, short, weak, brunette, blonde… There are several characteristics, but none of them seem to bother you as much as “fat”, which in some situations even sounds like an insult.

What is fatphobia?

The beauty standards imposed and reinforced at all times by society and the media created a “perfect” body model. And, as you already know, perfect body here does not mean one that performs all its vital functions. You are asked all the time to be thin (but not too thin) and to have very well defined curves. And then come the crazy diets and a lot of gym for you to get the “perfect body”, at the “ideal weight”.

Psychologist Ellen Moraes Senra says that fatphobia causes several disorders, especially eating disorders: “The victim of fatphobia can develop serious eating disorders, such as binge eating, bulimia, anorexia or even the newly known vigorexia, which consists of obsession with the fitness standard of living.”

Fatphobia is in all spheres of society, from the person who calls someone “fat” in a cursing tone to the clothing brands that only make pants up to size 42. in restaurants. Every day, thousands of fat people experience these and countless other constraints simply because they cannot act comfortably and naturally in everyday situations.

According to psychologist Ellen, fatphobia is present in several other situations, but in some, it is still veiled. “The person who posts jokes about fat people on social media and in front of the person says that they have nothing against it and that the important thing is to be healthy, they are also committing an act of fatphobia.”

Is fatphobia a crime?

There is no law that specifically refers to the injury against fat people, but this can be framed as a crime against honor, if the person feels offended. The crime of injury is contained in art. 140 of the Penal Code.

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8 Fatphobic Attitudes We Have And We Don’t Even Realize

Prejudice is, unfortunately, already rooted in society and in our actions. Check out some of the things we say and do that are indicative of fatphobia:

Saying someone is “beautiful in the face”: being fat is not synonymous with being ugly. To say that someone is “beautiful in the face” is to exclude the rest of their body, is to say that the rest of their body is ugly.

To gain a little weight and say that you are “very fat, immense…”: the watchword in this case is empathy. You know when you get fat, but still you’re not even close to having the body of that friend of yours who is really fat and suffers the effects of it in various everyday situations? So stop and think if mumbling about being fat makes any sense.

The expression “to make fat”: being fat is not linked only to the fact of eating “fat” foods. The act of eating a combo of hamburger with fries and soda is not exclusive to fat people and it may be that many of them do not even have this type of diet.

Saying someone is thin in a complimenting tone: cast the first stone who never said to someone “how thin!” as if to say “how beautiful!”. Being thin is not quality, it’s characteristic. Just like being fat is not a defect.

The expression “you’re not fat, you look beautiful!”: once again: why can’t fat women be beautiful? A person can be fat and beautiful at the same time YES!

Giving tips on diets and physical exercises without someone having asked: Giving tips on diets and physical exercises without someone having asked is to assume that the person wants to lose weight, but who should decide that is her and, if she asks you, feel free to give your tips.

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Use the BMI and health argument: BMI (Body Mass Index) is an international measure that determines whether your weight is ideal for your height. This index is quite controversial because it excludes any other aspect to say if your weight is ideal, given that a person can have several other health problems and, in the end, their weight and height are the least important thing.

Saying that certain clothes “do not look good on chubby”: stop and think if it is your right to say that some clothes look good or not for someone, whether they are fat or thin. It’s not up to you to decide what someone else should wear.

Factors that affect weight

Eating in an unbalanced way and not practicing physical activities are not the only reasons for a person to be above their “ideal weight” or obese. Here are some more reasons that can result in weight gain or difficulty losing weight.

  • Hormones: Some glands in our body, such as the thyroid, can slow down metabolism, which increases the chances of getting fat.
  • Genetics: As with any other trait, overweight and obesity can be the result of a certain genetics. Do you have prejudice against blue-eyed people, for example? It’s (or should be) the same thing with fat people.
  • Sleep quality: A study conducted by the Department of Nutritional Sciences at Pennsylvania State University in the United States showed that sleep deprivation is directly linked to obesity. Simply put, a drop in important hormones that regulate satiety was observed. As a result, the patients studied ate much more than those who slept regularly.
  • Socioeconomic conditions: This point is quite complex, but only a simple comparison can start this debate. It’s much cheaper (and quicker) to buy a bag of crackers than it is to buy ingredients to make a healthy sandwich with reduced amounts of sodium, sugar and fat. And the first option is more common in children’s lunch boxes. People’s pace of life is increasingly accelerated and they end up opting for what is easier, faster and, depending on their socioeconomic status, cheaper.
  • Medications: Antidepressants, antihistamines, antipsychotics, and even diabetes medications have components that induce obesity and make weight loss difficult.
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These are just some of the factors that can lead to obesity. This is not only due to diet and physical inactivity, or laziness, as is quite common to hear around.

3 videos about fatphobia for you to understand better about the subject

We have selected videos that talk about fatphobia in a didactic way for you to learn more about the subject and reflect on how this problem is serious and brings serious consequences to those who suffer from it.

How to deal with a fatphobic mother-in-law, by Ju Romano

In this video, Ju Romano tells how she faced her mother-in-law’s fatphobic attitudes and gives tips on how to act in these situations. Worth watching even if you don’t have a mother-in-law!

Size XL, by Hel Mother

Hel Mother is known on YouTube for talking about taboo topics, such as the fact that she loves her son, but doesn’t like being a mother. In this video, she talks about everyday situations in the life of a fat person and how the body is criticized after a woman has a child.

Thin? Fat? Is there a perfect body?, by Maqui and Karol Pinheiro

Partners Karol Pinheiro and Maqui talk about fatphobia and what pressures women face daily in search of the “perfect body”. They also talk about how obesity is always related to poor health and how some characteristics are interpreted as praise and others as negative criticism.

Fatphobia, as well as racism and other types of discrimination, is a problem in our society and thousands of people suffer from it daily. It’s up to everyone to make the world a less painful place to live. Start now, for example, not to reinforce expressions like “body ready for summer”.

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