A Harvard University study found that while biases towards sexual orientation, race and skin tone decreased in the last twenty years, weight bias (pro-thin/anti-fat) increased by 40%.
Bias toward people seen as overweight has worsened over time.
A Harvard University study analyzed data from over 4 million tests of attitudes between 2007 and 2016. The analysis found that while biases towards sexual orientation, race and skin tone decreased in that period, weight bias (pro-thin/anti-fat) increased by 40%, particularly in the early years of the study.
“It’s very disturbing that weight bias is increasing as the number of people who are experiencing it are also increasing,” says Tessa Charlesworth, a research fellow in psychology at Harvard University, who has worked on analyzing the data.
The worsening attitudes towards weight comes as the number of obese adults in the U.S. has catapulted to 42% of the population, from 34% in 2008 and 23% in 1994, according to government data.
While it’s unclear what’s led to this rising weight bias, Charlesworth suggests that there’s the perception that body weight is under one’s own control, compared to race or skin color.
Another worrisome reason: Social media.
“Think of the thinspiration of social media influencers,” Charlesworth says.
Data shows that users spend hours looking at idealized bodies on Instagram or TikTok feeds, which has a huge effect on their psyche. An investigation by the Wall Street Journal revealed that Instagram’s internal researchers found its site made body image issues worse for one-in-three teen girls.
Female executives can pay a larger pay penalty
As women age, the effect of weight on their wealth gets worse. The National Institutes of Health published a report that found that the financial net worth of moderately to severely obese women ages 51 to 61 was 40% lower than that of normal-weight peers.
The same cohort of women’s net worth fell even more to 60% of their counterparts when they were 57 to 67 years of age. No such pattern could be found for men, the report found.
Economist Lempert said in his research that overweight women started work with lower wages and throughout their careers receive less frequent raises and promotions leading to a big impact in their cumulative wages as they age.
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