Anti-fat and anti-thin attitudes toward women

Abstract

Anti-fat bias is a long-standing form of prejudice that has been documented in institutional settings, including employment and healthcare, as well as in everyday interpersonal interactions. Anti-thin bias, conversely, while commonly experienced by thinner women, has been scarcely empirically investigated. This research sought to measure both kinds of weight bias directed toward women in order to understand how they are similar and different in terms of the stereotypes and perceived quality of life associated with women of different weights, as well as the intensity of each form of bias. Repeated measures factorial ANOVAs revealed that overweight women experienced the most stereotyping, bias, and negative assumptions about their quality of life, while average weight women experienced the least negative attitudes, with underweight women falling in between. Furthermore, male participants tended to endorse more negative weight-based attitudes than did female participants, especially toward overweight women. Research and real-world implications of these findings are discussed.