Danielle Taylor, Norrel Blair

ENC 3331

October 13, 2015

Analysis of problem

● Why is fat-shaming a problem?

Before even reading articles that talked about fat shaming or bullying, a

Google image search result yields the answer as to why fat-shaming is a problem.

First, a Twitter post by Geoffrey Miller (@matingmind) reads: “Dear obese PhD

applicants: if you didn’t have the willpower to stop eating carbs, you won’t have the

willpower to do a dissertation.” Through fat-shaming, this post reveals that there is

the idea that you can discount someone who has spent years of time, money, and

hard work towards earning a PhD based on the size of their body, an absurd reality

that is just as bad as discounting someone’s credibility based on their gender or

race.

Second, Google Images yields a result for a Facebook ad about a new fitness

app called “7 Minute Workout Challenge”, which isn’t a problem at all. However, the

content of the ad is where the problem lies. With the headline reading “Surprise Him

with a New Body”, the ad shows two women side-by-side - one who is petite, thin

and smiling, and the other large, round and visually sad. The ad suggests that

women who are larger cannot be happy unless they achieve a thin body type, when

in reality, a woman can be happy no matter what kind of body type she has.

Third, an article by Psychology Today titled “What’s Wrong with ‘Fat

Shaming’?” reveals a myriad of reasons as to why fat-shaming is not only a problem,

but does nothing to further the social/civic atmosphere, including the fact that it

creates eating disorders due to exaggerated, Barbie-doll-like proportions as seen in

cartoons of women. In addition, the article reveals, through studies from different

sources, that fat shaming does not actually encourage victims to lose weight. The

reality is, they tend to gain weight and become obese instead, and victims are also

much more likely to suffer from depression or attempt suicide.

● How long has fat shaming been going on?

According to livescience.com, “Many non-western cultures view female fatness

as a sign of health and vitality, and, before the 1800s, so did Americans.” It wasn’t till the

1840s that a Presbyterian minister advocated that a plain diet was a key to health and

morality, free of spices and overindulgences, which led to sexual excess and civil

disorder. The next big diet craze happened in 1860 called the Banting diet, similar to

today’s Atkins diet. Between the years 1890 and 1920 was when the American’s image

of the ideal body drastically changed. The ideal image went from healthful plumpness to

where fatness became associated with sloth. Suddenly, people began to look with disgust

at the people who were considered obese.

In Amy Farrell’s novel Fat Shame, she goes through the history of how fatness

obtained its stigma. She stated that it used to be an admirable trait till the diet industry

flourished in the 1920’s. The fat stigma began due to the cultural anxieties during the

modern period relating to consumer excess. Farrell states, “For the 19th and early 20th

century thinkers, fatness was a key marker of inferiority, of an uncivilized, barbaric, and

primitive body. This idea-that fatness is a sign of a primitive person-endures today,

fueling both out $60 billion “war on fat” and our cultural distress over the ‘obesity

epidemic.’”

● Is the problem getting worse?

The issue of fat shaming is definitely getting worse and the media is

extremely contradicting when it comes to taking a stand on body image. On one side

of the problem, you have the media consistently showing unrealistically skinny

people as models and ridiculing celebrities if they don’t hold true to this image. Yet

on the other side of the issue, you see campaigns for increased awareness of body

positivity.

This is not only an issue of the media setting ideal body standards. According

to a study done at Yale University in 2008, “Overweight people earn less than people

who are not overweight and work in comparable positions because of biases about

laziness and self-discipline.” There was also a study done through thinkprogress.org,

stating that fat shaming in the media may actually end up backfiring. They say that

the media’s focus of overweight people in a negative light, such as being lazy or

weak willed, they are likely to feel anxious and frustrated- leading to feelings that

fuel emotional eating.