Anti-Fat Prejudice: Is there discrimination towards obesity? Aleesha Simone and Cassandra Simone Social Psychology, PSY 344 Professor Altermatt

There are many known kinds of prejudice over African Americans and women. A prejudice that has been getting attention is the Anti-Fat Prejudice. The discrimination regarding overweight individuals was thought to be both implicit and explicit for this study. An online questionnaire was given along with a self-report. Cronbach’s Alpha was completed to filter out the conditions of friendliness and attractiveness. A Within Subjects ANOVA was done to see how competence was affected by weight. Next, a Pearson Product Moment Correlation was done between the questionnaire and the survey. Last, a Frequency Rating test was completed to show contradictions with the participant’s answers. An analysis of the data showed that there was an implicit and explicit discrimination towards obesity. This shows that there is an Anti-Fat prejudice afforded to people about obese individuals. Anti-Fat Prejudice 3 Anti-fat Prejudice: Is there discrimination towards obesity? When people think of prejudice, images of Martin Luther King Jr. giving his speech on equality or women fighting in combat may come to mind. The preconceived notions against Blacks, women, or the elderly have long been exposed. These, in one sense or another, all deal with the phenotypes expressed in people. That is, all these prejudices are mainly skin-deep. This does not deal out non-phenotypic stereotypes nor is there such a thing as a superior stereotype that should be addressed primarily. All stereotypes are obstructive towards the people that have to deal with them. The physiologies of overweight individuals are attracting negative attention. This type of prejudice is not new but the research behind it is fairly recent. Nevertheless, that does not give it grounds for dismissal. Prejudices towards obese individuals lead to discrimination. If prejudices are seen as okay then people will only worsen in behavior. This can be related to the behavior of people following the Broken Window Theory (Keizer, Lindenberg, and Steg, 2008). Prejudices are negative preconceived notions about a person or a race. Discrimination is taking those thoughts one step further and acting out against those individuals unfairly. Even though there are numerous laws and policies enforced by the government discrimination still can happen at restaurants, on the street, at the movies, and, worst of all, the work force. The job market is supposed to be one of the places where discrimination should not have a chance of happening because everyone deserves equal opportunity and it is illegal. An organization or company cannot discriminate against applicants based on race, gender, or phenotypes, like elderly or obese individuals (unless of course the job has specific requirements, such as, a men’s bathroom attendant would need to be male). Unfortunately, there is evidence to show that it is happening in the work force. Research conducted by Agerström and Rooth (2011) found that hiring managers preferred normal weight applicants over obese applicants for an Anti-Fat Prejudice 4 interview. Their study was concluded in separate parts. The first half of the study had applications sent out to hiring managers with photos of obese and normal-weight applicants. The second half was contacting the hiring managers that responded back and having them perform a questionnaire. The questionnaire was an implicit association test (IAT). This survey would gauge if the hiring managers had an automatic stereotype against obese individuals. That is, if they associated negativity with obesity. “In the present research.we have demonstrated that automatic obesity stereotypes predict real labor market discrimination,” (2011, p. 797). There was an obvious preference towards normal-weight applicants. This unwarranted prejudice has placed people who are overweight at a disadvantage. People have fixed notions about overweight individuals being less competent than normal-weight applicants that carry no concrete basis. Other research points out that the media or the news could have this impact (McClure, Puhl & Heuer, 2011). The characters portrayed in television shows or cartoons show obese populace as lazy, sloppy, unintelligent, and constantly a target for ridicule. The substandard father from Family Guy is a perfect example of this poor portrayal. In each episode, he does not disappoint the audience with his acts of stupidity or unflattering eating habits. Media more often than not will choose to place obese individuals in a negative representation because it follows the weight-bias (McClure et al., 2001). Weight bias is the preference to think negatively about a person based solely on his or her weight. “News coverage of obesity has increased dramatically in recent years, and research shows that media content may contribute to negative public attitudes toward obese people,” (2011, p. 359). Viewers are not blind to the picture that the media is painting of obese individuals. People are seeing obese individuals in the most unflattering position which viewers understand to be the only point of view. Even cartoons take a hold of this prejudice and exploit it. Obese individuals are being blamed for their obesity because Anti-Fat Prejudice 5 of their poor lifestyle. The media coverage elicits a sense of victim blaming in the viewers. Why should they care about someone who does not care about themselves? This negative feedback has negative responses in obese individuals such as, depression, exercise avoidance, anxiety, and low self-esteem (McClure et al., 2011). This type of prejudice is being encouraged by the media and happening at the work force, which sends the wrong type of message to the masses. The message is that it is okay to have a prejudice or act out discrimination towards overweight individuals. This kind of acceptance takes a toll on people who are obese, as mentioned previously, both mentally and physically. Brochu and Morrison (2007) mention the Antifat Attitudes Scale (AFAS) established by another study. This was a self-report questionnaire that involved statements like, “It is disgusting when a fat person wears a bathing suit at the beach. ” The participants agreed with this statement 43% of the time (Brochu & Morrison, 2007). People, especially from Western cultures, value beauty in body image. One of the most revealing garments is bathing suits and as such should only be worn by slender men and women. People find obesity ‘disgusting’ and obese individuals are being ostracized by their peers because of it. They see others making a connection between disgust and their bodies. There is clearly a weight-bias but is there a difference between genders? Brochu and Morrison (2007) completed a study that found there was a negative stereotype towards overweight individuals, women more so than men. They also found that males were more likely to negatively stereotype obese individuals than females. To confirm that there was a weight-bias, they had their participants perform an IAT which demonstrated normal-weight people were better than overweight individuals. This is similar to the study done by Agerström and Rooth. This study points out the pressure that is placed on feminine beauty. One aspect that the gender Anti-Fat Prejudice 6 of the overweight individual did not differ on was if people were willing to be socially interactive with them (Brochu & Morrison, 2007). It did not matter what gender it was, people rated decreased interest in social interaction with both females and males. One of the most important topics discussed in class was the degree to which humans are fundamentally social. This lack of interest amongst peers is disheartening. This is where prejudice fades into discrimination because others are treating people who are obese differently. The way people think could be a contributor of constant ridicule and negative associations towards overweight individuals. One of the most common ways of thinking is that people get what they deserve. This type of ideology explains why people are so unwilling to show compassion towards obese people. The reason they are the way they are is their fault. Crandall (1994) did a study over symbolic racism with antifat attitudes instead of race. He found this type of thinking popular when participants were considering obesity. “Not only are antifat attitudes hypothesized to be an expression of a nonspecific rejection of deviance, but also a consequence of a sociopolitical value system,” (1994, p. 887). This failure to uphold to valued ideologies results in social rejection. People are trying to discourage behavior that is seen as defective. They humiliate and bully their victims to ‘correct’ the differences. The easiest way to do this is to socially isolate them from the rest of the group. Once this separation occurs, obese people will realize that it is because of their weight that they have been ostracized. This ideology in itself is flawed and cruel. The beauty standard, which changes constantly, has developed a depressing trend that keeps getting thinner and thinner. Women face more problems from the consequences of weight gain than men because this beauty standard is stuck on females. The ideal of slim, petite females has transformed from an ‘ideal’ to the ‘standard’ which makes women think being 110lbs with Anti-Fat Prejudice 7 C-cups is totally plausible. Chrisler (2012) states in her article over gender differences in obesity, “Women who deviate from the standard are considered unattractive and unfeminine, and the farther they are from the ideal, the more harshly they are judged,” (2011, p. 610). Chrisler (2012) argues that this predicament is a feminist issue since it holds higher restrictions on women than men. Women should have the right to be comfortable with their bodies and not be held back in career options, every day activities, or relationships. Women should not be the only ones who have to combat with a beauty standard, whereas men can still be flexible in we