Coping with weight stigma & stereotypes

jburls23

Hey my fellow MFPs!

Have you experienced real or perceived stereotyping, rejection, or prejudice based on your weight? If this question resonates with you, I am interested in hearing about how you cope with such experiences, as well as your own personal thoughts and beliefs about weight.

Please help me complete my doctoral dissertation on coping with weight stigma by taking a 10 minute multiple-choice anonymous online survey at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/J976Y6X

You'll be contributing to a very important area of study!

You can participate in this study if:

1. You are 18 years of age or older
2. You live in the United States
3. You identify as slightly overweight, overweight, or extremely overweight


Thank you!
Sincerely,

Jillian D. Burley, M.A
Student Researcher & Doctoral Student in Clinical Psychology
Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology
weightbiasresearch@gmail.com

Jackson4590

Good topic.

If you look at my profile pictures, I was actually told I looked "more manly" when I was fatter. Not sure if that helps you but perhaps there are different standards for men vs. women in regards to size.

JessicaPasieka

I think everyone has experienced some sort of rejection or negative feeling based on their weight. A lot of people say or think that overweight people are Lazy and incompetent.

JDBLY11

I think everyone has experienced some sort of rejection or negative feeling based on their weight. A lot of people say or think that overweight people are Lazy and incompetent.

So true. People really do not see weight accurately, that it is one problem in a person's life. You can do great in most areas of your life and struggle with weight. You can be a very accomplished person as well. My dad worked for years as an engineer and was a good father but had a moderate weight problem. He never abused me or mistreated me. He was healthy in mos areas of his life. In my life, I know I am very self-controlled in most areas of my life. I do not drink, smoke, do drugs, beat my child, watch TV all day, or anything similar. I love my family. I like to learn and grow. I want to have a full life. I am going to college. I have a very high GPA. I just have this problem with overeating and finding ways to get enough activity. It has become quite a big problem for me but I am still me inside. Who I am has not changed. I am not a lazy person . I love to have things to do and liked working at different times in my life. Sometimes I get stuck in a rut at home and find it hard to get going because I do not have a job right now. I am not always sure what to do with my time and I find myself eating or being lazy from boredom. My husband and I struggle financially so it is even harder to find things to do when you don't have money. I live in a rural area in a small apartment. I think I need to find more free things to do for fun. It is harder to eat healthy when you are poor too. I did not really have much of an education when I got married or a social background. It is hard to get a job being as fat as I am now. I am trying to correct that.

I have been ashamed of my weight for years and have not wanted people to see how fat I am and make comments which probably only exasperates the problem. I have been pretty isolationist as a result even when I was only somewhat overweight. It made it very hard to make friends because people are not really attracted to someone who is fat, shy and reserved. Being fat is very painful. I have made efforts to lose weight at different times in my life but I have never really been a healthy weight. The closest I was was about 15 lbs from a healthy weight. I did not realize at the time how close I was to healthy.


I have been called fat several times throughout my life. I wish I had taken the first comment as incentive to change right then but I did not. I was very young, in elementary school.