Body Diversity & Weight Inclusion Work Group

Weight-Based Discrimination & Anti-Fatness 101

By Virgie Tovar, MA

Description: Weight-based discrimination and fatphobia are normalized through current medical/health paradigms, which pathologize the fat body as unnatural, unhealthy, and undeserving of care. These paradigms have been critiqued for being unsupported empirically and for facilitating the poor treatment of people in larger bodies. Viewing fat bodies through the lens of medicine/health limits our ability to understand that ending weight-based discrimination is an urgent human rights issue above all else. In this intersectional primer, expect to learn the basics of what weight-based discrimination and fatphobia are, how they manifest explicitly and implicitly, theories on their origins, a review of some of the literature that tracks their impacts (from medical bias leading to less frequent preventive care for fat patients to the bias that leads to a wage gap between plus-size women and straight-size women), as well as short and long term solutions. This session is led by Virgie Tovar, author of four books (including You Have the Right to Remain Fat and The Self-Love Revolution: Radical Body Positivity for Girls of Color) and contributor for Forbes.com, where she covers the plus-size market and how to end weight discrimination at work.

Presentation Slides