Emotional and Social Effects of Obesity
You might have seen a television program about a teen-age girl who went to a new high school in a “fat suit” and make-up that made her look quite overweight and then the next day went to the same school as her regular and much smaller self. In the interview afterwards, she talked about the differences in how she was treated by her new classmates. She said that she was shunned or made fun of by many people when they saw her as an overweight person and how heart-breaking it was to her that she was really the same good person inside both days. It was a very self-esteem lowering experience. Whereas, fellow students were much more friendly and helpful to her as the “new girl” when she went as a thinner person.
Poor treatment of overweight people is one of American society’s seemingly acceptable prejudices and causes an immense toll on their emotional and social health. We tend to see them as fat, lazy, stupid, and unwilling to do anything about their body size. Fat people already know that they do not meet the social norm. Teasing, joking, shaming, making negative comments does not help and leads to feelings of impaired self-image and feelings of being an inferior person. This may lead to social isolation, depression, and further use of eating as a means of dealing with life.
Even with all we have learned about the complexities and difficulties with trying to lose weight and maintain it and to be accepting of size differences, it is still very much a part of the world around us. How deeply ingrained in you are some of these thoughts and behaviors about weight and body size? The following activity will help you to recognize some of the things we automatically say and do.
Watch the following video from Discovery Education. The login is username: access_student and password: access.
Skills for Healthy Living: Setting Goals for Healthy Living (29:51)