Fatphobia, if you’re not familiar with the term, is the fear and hatred of fat bodies.
It is a form of discrimination that equates fatness with inferiority, undesirability and immorality and results in a plethora of damaging mental and physical consequences for fat people.
And yet, in many ways, it remains a socially acceptable form of discrimination – fat people are still the butt of the jokes in film and television, as well as in comedians’ routines, and casually mocked in the street.
According to one 2018 survey, more than four in five UK adults believe fat people are viewed negatively because of their weight and 62% of Brits think people are likely to discriminate against someone who’s fat. The findings also showed that fat people experience stigma and discrimination across all aspects of their lives: nearly half of adults who are fat have felt judged because of their weight in clothes shops or in social situations and, even more concerningly, in healthcare settings
