WOMEN'S OBESITY

Social And Political Dimensions Of Women's Obesity

Social And Political Dimensions Of Women's Obesity

The Stigma of Overweight

Of all the conditions for which a person may be stigmatized in our culture, including racial or ethnic group membership, religious affiliation, physical handicaps, and sexual preference, the stigma of being overweight may be the most debilitating (Allon, 1982). Although some conditions that are severely stigmatized, such as homosexuality, can be concealed from others, the fact that one is overweight is immediately visible to others and therefore may affect most social interactions.

In addition, although some conditions, such as being physically handicapped or being a member of a disadvantaged racial group, elicit from many people positive responses, such as sympathy, concern, or the desire to be egalitarian in addition to negative responses (Gaertner & Dovidio, 1986; Katz, 1981; Katz, Wackenhut, & Hass, 1986), people who are overweight elicit almost uniformly negative responses from others (Allon, 1982). Finally, although people with many stigmatizing conditions are not held responsible for their condition, people who are overweight are frequently blamed for their condition (Allon, 1982; Archer, 1985; Rodin et al., 1989; Weiner, Perry, & Magnusson, 1988). In Goffman's (1963) terms, being overweight carries with it the burdens associated with two types of stigmas: It is both an abomination of the body that elicits immediate negative affective responses from others on the basis of its aesthetically displeasing qualities (Jones et al., 1984) and a character stigma that carries with it the shame and guilt of self-blame for a moral failure (Allon, 1982; Lyman, 1978).

The negative consequences of being overweight are not confined to those who are medically classified as obese (i.e., at least 20% overweight). According to Allon (1982) dieters who are as little as 10 to 15 pounds over their ideal weight goal feel, and in fact are, just as stigmatized by certain reference groups as those who are 50 pounds or more overweight. Many adult women and as many as 60% of adolescent girls consider themselves to be overweight (Fallon & Rozin, 1985). Thus, a relatively large proportion of women may feel stigmatized by virtue of their weight.

Attribution Ambiguity for the Overweight

Overweight women who experienced a rejection from an attractive male peer tended to attribute that rejection to their weight. 2 However, unlike other stigmatized groups, such as Blacks (Crocker et al., 1991), the overweight women did not indicate that the male peer was prejudiced against them because of their weight. Overweight women were no more likely than normal weight women to attribute the rejection to the man's personality, nor were they more likely to derogate the evaluator. 3 Thus, although these overweight women blamed their stigma for the negative social outcome they received, they did not appear to externalize the cause of the outcome by making attributions to prejudice and discrimination. They were also no more (or less) likely than normal weight women to blame their inner qualities, such as their personality, for the rejection. It should be noted, however, that weight was made salient in ...