Is fatphobia a real thing?

[AnxiousApocalypse]

Having watched the Panorama documentary on the Met Police and the police officer making rude comments about a fat woman and how "she was so fat she had two pussies", I'm wondering how much hate and disgust most people truly have against fat people? I'm not excusing it and saying it's not dangerous for your health to be overweight or obese, but surely being rude and ignorant isn't the answer?

r. I think those who haven’t had a weight problem don’t realise it’s not something people have chosen.

Yep. They assume all fat people are just lazy with zero discipline and think losing weight is incredibly easy. For those who have had obesity trying to lose that is like literally going to war with your mind. It’s also why only a minority of those who lose weight keep it off past two years.

I also think there is a lot of faux health concern about obesity.
A lot of people will say they dislike it because it’s “unhealthy” but the reality is people simply find fat unattractive to look at.
Especially in women. I know a number of unhealthy skinny women in my circle (in terms of diet and exercise) but they never get negative comments from people.

If we were in a time of famine you’d understand the hatred because of the perceived greed. But we are not. In fact more and more people are obese.

As for attractiveness, when I was larger and younger I had partners most of the time. Now I am older and slimmer - thanks to a massive blitz on diet and exercise and then Mounjaro - and I am alone. I’m reasonably happy this way though!

Of course there is. When a person posts on here that they are really overweight and posters fall over themselves to say oh no one cares no one is looking at you - absolute bollocks. I was in a bar a couple of weeks ago, a very overweight woman was crossing the road, really out of breath and looked really uncomfortable/ miserable (which may have been nothing to do with her weight). Some middle aged blokes behind me started talking about her, bloody hell who ate all the pies. After a few minutes of this I turned round and looked at them, they knew why without me saying a word and were very embarrassed and immediately shut up although one of them did say to the other „it was a private conversation „.

men are socialised to believe that women should be attractive for them to look at. Some of them don’t realise that but they are. And women are as bad, the grey hair threads on here , she’s not making the most of herself - for who? For others to look at I assume.

men are socialised to believe that women should be attractive for them to look at. Some of them don’t realise that but they are.

Absolutely this!

Your post is a perfect example of fatphobia

Yes there is prejudice against fat people.
At the same time many of the prejudiced people really value the existence of fat people as it gives them somebody to be superior to. This is borne out by the amount of scorn and judgement ( dressed up as "concern")heaped on people using the weight loss injections.
Lazy, easy way, cheating , eat less move more, stay out of the fridge, you will pile it all back on, you look haggard........ Its language that would never be levelled at people taking medication for other conditions.

It might suggest a lack of discipline in one specific area of your life. The overweight and obese women that I know are all successfully running their lives, their family's lives, working, studying, taking part in hobbies and activities.... To suggest they generally lack discipline would be crazy. It's because it is a visible indicator of a minor flaw, that the person cannot hide, which means it's open for other people to comment on and judge on. So many people have a lack of discipline in some area of their personal lives, but are able to successfully hide it because it isn't immediately visible to an outside observer. That's all.

I did some training a couple of years ago about unconscious biases. The exercises and assessments we did as part of that revealed that I do indeed have an unconscious bias against very overweight people. I was shocked, but it explained a lot about my own self image.

So yes, it exists. Like all biases the problems arise when such views are expressed openly.

It was only recently that it became a "bad thing" to think fat people were lazy and ate too much. The excuse of "glands" would be given, but the sufferer also always seemed to have a penchant for cream cakes and nobody was fat by the end of WW2.
We now have a (metaphorical) obesity explosion.
It's caused by people eating the horrendous food available in the shops, which is cheap and chemically balanced to taste all right once you get used to it. To eat healthily requires more money and more effort. Obviously the taxpayer is footing the extra anyway, in terms of healthcare and disability benefits.
The corporation's making these frankenfoods pay out billions to shareholders and the top execs, to the cost of almost everyone else. History will not judge us well on this. It is sheer madness.
Footnote: Very occasionally, excess weight is helped along by chemical imbalances in the body. But, the fat cells don't spontaneously create themselves, so it's ultimately the food.

It's just a mixture of sadness about the unnecessary social and physical damage to yourself, and frustration that people can't fix something that has such a 'simple' solution. It's a similar attitude towards alcoholics for example who similarly have an addiction that damages their body.

I think it is. I do think it can be a genuine revulsion at the sight of extreme flab rather than a high and mighty superiority complex thing. The sight of very fat people who have no discernible angles to their body can cause a sort of visual disgust in the same way an anorexic person looks frightening. I wonder if it’s because it looks dangerously life threatening which strikes the phobic reaction..

The abuse you're describing is shocking. But in response to your question "Why?" I think it's partly a general response to the rhetoric that we should all do our bit to ease strain on the NHS (and that messaging was very forceful during covid). That can lead people - maybe subconsciously - to think we'll all be paying for the overweight person's lifestyle choices down the line.
I'm not saying that's necessarily correct and doesn't apply to all overweight people, but it's definitely there.
My in laws are morbidly obese and since the age of 60 have had 3 knee and hip replacements between them and a raft of NHS support for a multitude of other obesity related conditions, and it's jarring to see so much resource spent on two people due to their own lifestyle choices.

That police officer is not sad and frustrated, @ufo although he would probably be equally vile about an alcoholic woman I suspect.

I judge fat people negatively. I also judge myself very harshly when I am heavier.

Yes, I was invisible. Now I am slim, people respond quite differently to me (cars stop to allow me to cross the road, people hold doors open or thank me when I do it) and before I felt quite invisible. Yet I am exactly the same person - just no longer obese. People definitely make judgements about overweight people and it’s never ‘that person may have an underlying health problem or a MH issue and need my kindness and compassion’ is it?

People with the correct BMI still get cancer, sadly, and all manner of other hideous diseases. I’d like to see the statistics for the actual cost to the NHS of obesity compared to the amount of taxes paid by obese people. There are plenty of other conditions that cost us a lot.

Plus, as I said earlier, I don’t think anyone who is obese wants to be that way! Weight usually creeps on slowly and it is far from “simple” to shift it.

No I am slimmer I am also invisible. I used to have some heft to me - now young people barge into me in the street. Maybe it’s an age thing?

I don't like the proliferation of the suffix '-phobic' where it isn't intended to describe an irrational fear.

What you describe is someone being cruel.

Why are people especially cruel to the obese? Well, because they are cruel, and perhaps trying to be humorous, but not in a particularly clever way. Cheap and cruel laughs.

I think the perception is that obesity is self-inflicted, which is essentially accurate, although very simplified.

I'm not scared of fat people, no.

The latest estimates are that the obesity crisis costs the tax payer £126bn a year:
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/jul/02/obesity-overweight-cost-estimate-nhs-study

Youre right, even slim people in amazing health can get cancer, I've known a few. So we should absolutely be focusing on what we CAN control, and that's lifestyle-related illness.

Do I have a phobia of fat people? No.
Do I find fat people attractive? No.
Do I hate fat people? No.
Do I judge fat people? Probably a little bit, but I know I shouldn't.

The only time I fear fat people is when they are heading towards the seat next to me on a plane or train.

Otherwise, I couldn’t care less.

Its very bizarre how angry people can get about other people's weight.

My theory is that men as a class of people generally hate women...they put on a good show if they find one attractive, but if they don't find a woman attractive, they don't even pretend.

As for other women... there is a type of woman I've found who is incredibly proud of being thin. It's often their greatest achievement....they loathe fat women... particularly fat women who don't hate themselves or have a nice life despite not having earned their thin tokens.

Having been skinny, fat, standard size, when I was fat I was invisible (or felt it). I get more attention and respect now - I don’t mean wolf whistles, just general acknowledgment.

Literally nothing they do in the way of dietary changes or exercise could shift even one pound of weight.

All the more reason to see their GP for blood tests.

I have an extremely under active thyroid and at age 56, have never been anywhere close to overweight.

I’m pointing this out incase anyone reading thinks weight gain is a fait accompli, if they have hypothyroidism.