Towards a United Front against Weight Bias

Abstract

Obesity is considered as one of the most alarming contemporary health issues.1 Paradoxically, as the prevalence of obesity increases, discrimination against individuals that are considered as overweight is also on the rise.2 Weight bias associates overweight with negative personal attributes, such as laziness, lack of intelligence and self-discipline, unsuccessfulness and unattractiveness.3 These biases lead to discrimination, which affects a wide range of the targeted individual’s life dimensions, including education, work and healthcare, as well as interpersonal relationships.