{"id":20681,"date":"2023-07-01T12:13:17","date_gmt":"2023-07-01T17:13:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/blog\/?p=20681"},"modified":"2023-08-31T12:36:28","modified_gmt":"2023-08-31T17:36:28","slug":"health-at-every-size-exploring-anti-fat-bias-in-healthcare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/blog\/guides\/health-at-every-size-exploring-anti-fat-bias-in-healthcare\/","title":{"rendered":"Health at Every Size: Exploring Anti-Fat Bias in Healthcare"},"content":{"rendered":"

The ideal future is one in which healthcare equality exists. Health equity involves fair opportunities for everyone, regardless of demographics, to achieve optimal health and wellness. As the goal of healthcare is to help the public stay healthy, one would assume health equity would be attainable. However, insidious biases still pervade the healthcare system which makes this philosophy unachievable.<\/span><\/p>\n

The <\/span>CDC describes health equity<\/span><\/a> as the advancement of healthcare for those who have historically faced and currently face stereotyping and injustices. These injustices are described as avoidable, and the system strives to close gaps in healthcare accessibility for these marginalized groups.<\/span><\/p>\n

The CDC found that <\/span>obesity affected 41.9% of adults from 2017 to 2020<\/span><\/a>. This means that the majority of the U.S. population is categorized as overweight or obese by the CDC \u2014 and this majority may be on the receiving end of anti-fat bias because of the way weight is unduly associated with unhealthiness.<\/span><\/p>\n

Understanding anti-fatness<\/span><\/h2>\n

Anti-fatness is defined<\/span><\/a> as the implicit or explicit bias against people who are deemed overweight. It is rooted in Western culture\u2019s stigmatization of being fat, often with the blame for \u201cmoral failing\u201d being placed on the person who is overweight.<\/span><\/p>\n

Whether it is a conscious or unconscious bias, anti-fatness is a societal viewpoint that is deeply ingrained into media and daily life. The anti-fat bias oppresses most of the U.S. population and extends to the healthcare system.<\/span><\/p>\n

About calling it \u201cfatphobia\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFatphobia\u201d is another term for anti-fatness that\u2019s popularly used in the public discourse on the topic. However, there are conceptual failures around calling anti-fatness \u201cfatphobia.\u201d <\/span>Fat activists don\u2019t use \u201cfatphobia\u201d<\/span><\/a> to describe the categorically egregious treatment of people who are overweight. While it is a layman\u2019s term that most can understand, it erases the true meaning of being anti-fat by associating this discrimination with fear.<\/span><\/p>\n

The suffix \u201c-phobia\u201d leads people to interpret fatphobia as an irrational fear of fat. This can mean many things, but it does not cover the actual motivation behind most discriminatory acts toward this group of people.<\/span><\/p>\n

Stereotypes and stigma surrounding fatness<\/span><\/p>\n

Instead, \u201canti-fatness\u201d and \u201canti-fat bias\u201d encompass the marginalizing, oppressive behaviors that happen as a result of stereotypical beliefs about being fat. <\/span>Weight stigma<\/span><\/a> can include:<\/span><\/p>\n