Abstract:
Dominant medical discourse of fatness primarily focuses on weight and weight
loss as a means to achieve health, rather than focusing on overall wellbeing and
implementing healthy behaviors without weight loss as a central pillar. The United States
has seen a 66% increase in weight stigma since 1995 (Puhl, Andreyeva, & Brownell,
2008). Unfortunately, the prevalence of weight stigmas amongst health care providers
occurs at the same rate as the general public (Pantenburg et al., 2012). Fat women are
especially prone to weight shaming by doctors. Doctors shame patients, refuse to treat
them for the symptoms presented, and generally view the patients as not worthy of their
time. The pervasive negative attitudes in the biomedical community has perhaps an
unintended consequence: it actually motivates the fat person to avoid interacting with
health professionals at any cost. Though there are a plethora of studies confirming weight biases amongst medical
providers, there is very little research exploring fat women’s experiences with health care
providers and the consequences of medical fat phobia. This is an intersectional feminist
study examining how the medicalization of fatness and fat phobia intersect in the
treatment of fat patients, and how it impacts the care fat women receive. Semi-structured
interviews were conducted with women who have been classified by a medical
professional as overweight or obese. These women experienced malpractice, fat shaming,
and physical anti-fat messages when seeking health care. This study highlights the critical
need to change the way health care providers view, treat, and understand fat patients.
