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Americans increasingly supportive of anti-discrimination laws for obesity
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A recent survey of public opinion showed that a majority of the American public favors laws that would limit discrimination against people with obesity.
At least 75% of survey participants said they support laws that would limit discrimination based on body weight in the workplace, with views growing more favorable in recent years. Most study participants also said that body weight should be protected from discrimination by additions to civil rights statutes.
“As a socially accepted form of prejudice, the issue of weight stigma is largely ignored in much of the public health and policy efforts to address obesity,” Young Suh, MS, a research associate at the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University, told Endocrine Today.“Our findings indicate that in recent years, a majority of Americans have expressed consistent and increasing support for legal measures to prohibit weight discrimination, particularly in the workplace.”
Currently, Suh said, Michigan is the only state to have implemented weight bias laws, in addition to a few US cities.
“Given the pervasiveness of weight stigma in our society and its negative consequences for those affected, our study findings have important implications for future policies that can help rectify various health, social and economic inequities associated with obesity,” Suh said.
These study results, published in Obesity, accompany newly published guidelines for the portrayal of obesity in the media. The Obesity Action Committee, The Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity and the Obesity Society created guidelines that encourage media outlets to respect diversity, avoid stereotyping, use accurate terminology, conduct accurate news coverage of obesity and select appropriate art to represent people with obesity.
Rebecca Puhl
“There is considerable evidence of weight bias in entertainment media, social media and news media. Given how much media our culture consumes, it's not surprising that weight bias is so widespread in our society.” Rebecca Puhl, PhD, deputy director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity, told Endocrine Today. “These media guidelines are intended to raise awareness about weight bias in the media and to provide strategies for the news media to reduce stigmatizing portrayals of children and adults affected by obesity.”
Study design and results
Data were collected in an online survey that was nationally distributed to study participants aged 21 to 65 years in 2011 (n=1,098), 2012 (n=1,202) and 2013 (n=1,202). Besides data gathered on personal views on obesity, demographic data included personal political affiliation, which the researchers said could provide future insights on anti-fat attitudes and weight bias that might influence anti-discrimination legislature.
Statistical analysis revealed that at least 75% of participants consistently favored laws prohibiting weight discrimination in the workplace.
In 2011, 62% of participants supported extending disability protections for individuals with obesity; this support increased to 69% by 2013.
In 2011, data showed that 70% of participants would support adding body weight as a protected class in civil rights statutes, with support increasing to 76% by 2013.
Study participants who identified as politically liberal were more disposed to support civil rights protections that would make body weight a protected personal attribute akin to religion, race and sex; liberals also tended to support laws that would prevent employers from firing or refusing to hire or promote an employee based on body weight. Data did not demonstrate that trends in opinion were influenced by household income.
The study researchers wrote that specific anti-discrimination legislation could improve quality of life for Americans with obesity. — by Reagan Copeland
Disclosure: This study was funded in part by grants from the Rudd Foundation and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
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