Fat bias exists

That seeems to be a self-limiting combination.

Oh yes,fat bias is definitely a thing! Having lost 7 stone myself over the last few years, I have noticed a definite change in the way people treat me and speak to me. I'm still a bit overweight,just not obese any more. I was totally expecting it though, having lost quite a bit of weight many years ago,in the early 80s. Back then,I noticed an even bigger change in the attitude of people towards me. I think people's attitudes to obese/overweight people back then was even worse than it is now. I think a lot (but not all) people have become more accepting of overweight people, probably because there is so many of them nowadays,compared to 40 years ago!

Bias exists in everything we do, and every decision we make. Some of the time its conscious and some of the time it's unconscious.
Anyone who claims otherwise is well, lets just say misinformed.

I think it is a subset of attractive person bias. People percieved to be attractive are more likely to be successful at job interviews, more likely to be promoted, get lighter court sentences, and are often favoured in social situations, leading others to assume they possess positive traits such as intelligence and kindness. The dumb blonde stereotype is merely a way of trying to combat this by bitter, less attractive people.

Humans have cognitive biases that are not fully rational and it takes significant effort to reign in those biases. The vast majority of people would rather take the easy option of letting their biases do the thinking for them hence we end up with frequent poor decision making. The scientific method helps to a point but human cognitive biases are powerful and are not going away anytime soon.

Yes exactly - it's protective and peaceful. We shouldn't have to be subjected to creeps thinking they can touch us (what is it with thinking slimmer women need a man's hand on their lower back, propelling them to go ahead through a door or in a queue?) or making slimey comments.

I recently lost 6.5 stone. I had become invisible and thought it was just a sign of ageing as the media told me. Absolutely not, I am treated entirely differently now when I'm out and about.

I wa telling DH recently that I welcome the zero attention I get from men nowadays. But how depressing is it that I feel safer because I’m now invisible?

I agree, although I think there's a sweet spot. I tend towards being overweight and actually found that women in service industry and retail were more helpful and friendly when I was obese, while acquaintances and neighbours are friendlier when I'm middle to high healthy BMI.

I got down to a size ten for a bit and the sudden occurrence of regular creepy, slimy attention from a certain type of slightly older man (something I thought I'd thankfully aged out of attracting) really repulsed me.

I'm socially and professionally most comfortable at the top end of healthy BMI size 12/14.

Yes fat bias exists, in the same way that if somebody turned up at work looking like they’d spent the night sleeping on a park bench. Or didn’t take a shower for a month. People would judge them for that. It’s basically a sign you don’t take care of yourself.

(And being stick insect thin will also lead to judgements)

Humans are hard-wired to make instant judgements on people and things. Grounded in experience, however unrepresentative, rather than facts. We trust our instincts even though they can often be wrong.

Well done on your weigh loss and your new job! I admire your willpower!

When I was younger I was always naturally slim a size 8/10 (dad was very skinny).
At work I was constantly bullied, especially by older women. I was told that I should eat more. I had a very healthy appetite.
I Remember walking out of work one day and a group of women behind me laughing saying I may fall between the cracks in the pavement. If I spoke to them in the office they would pretend they couldn’t see me because I was standing sideways.
Eventually I went to the GP who told me I should eat cream cakes and drink alcohol if I wanted to put on weight.

My son is very slim and has had lots of zoom interviews which have gone really well. When he goes for the in-person one he doesn’t get through.

Some people have an inner ‘ideal’ of what a person should look like and dismiss anyone who doesn’t match up.

I’m in a friend group of 4. At size 24 I was the smallest.

I am now a size 8 and my friends have been wonderful. My biggest friend was so impressed with my progress that she asked her GP for help and she had weight loss surgery a few months ago, I’m so proud of her for taking action, but I loved her no matter what.

my family though… totally different story. Other than my husband, kids and mum it was dreadful.

I was a size 24 with many illness and disabilities. I was pretty much bedbound.
I went to my GP a lot due to this and felt fobbed off constantly.

I'm now a size 8 (god bless gastric bypass) and while I still have the illnesses and disabilities (they aren’t weight related, but my weight was mainly disability related) I now get offered X-rays and MRI etc (I’ve had more investigations in the 5 years since my bypass, than in the previous 20+ years). I get referred to various hospital departments and I never hear “It’s down to your weight” when speaking to consultants. They actually seem interested in helping me!

it’s wonderful.

people also don’t look down at me when I order food and eat out.

Fat bias is VERY real, I’ll never allow myself to be overweight again.

Wow.

Of course it does. I’m considerably overweight myself and I am guilty of it too. I do judge people on how they look, I think it’s almost impossible not to! I think people gravitate to people who look like they do - so many groups of friends and they look like carbon copies of each other! And this is also why of one person in a group loses or gains a fair amount they find their friends not as supportive as they would expect.

Skinny bias exists too. People will be judgemental about anything!

I get this ive been on both sides.
I had the body of a model slim toned you name it, it took a lot of hard work to get it.
I did it because i was fed up of being the fat one bullied for it i was size 16-18 at the time.

A few years later i went from size 8 to a size 16.
I was treated alot lot different even my partner left me.
Im now a size 12 and i like it i dont care what others say i learned to love me for me.
If i get bigger i will get bigger clothes.

Of course it exists. Like ‘attractiveness’ bias exists. Etc etc.

Yes it does exist. There may be valid reasons for this.

Exactly the point I was try to make to other poster who was suggesting that we are somehow designed to see fat as unattractive.. and no we can't eliminate all judgements that would be foolish to think so - but we can be more aware and not so bloody awful to other people....

But attractiveness is in part culturally driven. For example what was considered beautiful in Renaissance, Victorian, 1920s or current times are very different. Given that relative slimness is considered generally more attractive people are drawn to that in the West. I'm neither particularly slim nor beautiful and I just know this. No point in complaining as I can't change my looks much. Also medium extroversion is also valued. Do you honestly think we can eliminate all forms of judgement?

Bit of a 'do bears shit in the woods', OP!

100%. I remember I lost a lot of weight with Crohn's disease. I had never been very skinny before. I looked healthy otherwise but I was very skinny/underweight. One day I was in a cafe. When I saw 2 separate tables of people looking over at me. I heard a woman say, god I'd hate to be that think. It's looks awful. You can see her bones. Another agreed. I know, and it doesn't even look well, her clothes are hanging off her. It looks disgusting. A man with them agreed. I was skinny for a few months and in that time I noticed how socially acceptable it was to comment on someone/including to their face that they looked too thin.

I was told dished out more food when eating out while people laughed and got comments about my weight until I told them the reason behind it. It made me wonder is that what naturally skinny people have to deal with. You would never publicly laugh at an overweight person and take food away from them because they need to lose a few pounds or call them really chubby to their face

By the spelling, l would hazard a guess that this poster is from the USA, where a size 16 is equivalent to a British size 20.

I was told how important it is to read to my DC the other day. I nodded and smiled and didn’t say I once led on reading interventions at work. It wasn’t said to the other mum, also reading to her DC.