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Why Slim People Don't Like Fat People
The UK Independent reports on an interesting "discovery":
...the immune system can be triggered into action at the sight of obesity because it doesn't like the look of what it sees, and associates it with infection.
The authors of the research (abstract here) believe that "obesity serves as a cue for pathogen infection".
Apparently - when someone sees an obese person - an evolved behavioral immune system triggers a sense of avoidance and disgust.
The researchers used various tests including word associations.
...people who agreed with comments such as "it really bothers me when people sneeze without covering their mouths" were more likely to agree with statement such as "if I were an employer looking to hire, I might avoid hiring a fat person". The greater the fear of disease, the stronger the negative feeling about obesity.
Personally I feel somewhat skeptical. I believe that prejudice is a learned behavior.
What do you think?
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Created / Updated: January 8, 2012
This sounds plausable, but I still think its more learned. My understanding is that most people who have a fat prejudice see obesity as a completly self-inflicted desease. The more that people see obesity as something that happens TO people, the less likely they seem to be to have a fat prejudice. If everyone saw obesity as an "infectous desease" that could happen to them too, then there wouldn't be many weight biggots.
ReplyObesity DOES happen to people. BIG difference between overweight and OBESITY. I am a clinician in a General Physician's office. Only one obese person (obese defined as being 80 to 100 pounds over weight)was actually that way because of an inbalance. Every one else who comes into this clinic, and weighs 275+, is that way because they eat nothing but fat, and absolutely do not exercise. We have tried to get their weight down but they just don't care. It is a change you have to WANT to make. It does not just happen, you make it happen. The other very personal thing is that obese people smell bad. I personally don't want to go near them or use the bathroom after them. They smell really bad, no matter how much deodorant they use. The fat just permeates through their skin and frankly it is disgusting. I know this from dealing with obese people in the clinic for over 15 years. I feel really bad for obese people because I know they feel helpless. BUT COME ON, they OVER EAT, which makes you fat. Being over weight is one thing, being obese is very unhealthy!!
ReplyFirst of all Ducky I don't think that you should work in a clinic anymore if that is the way you think of your patients and I don't know what patients you are treating but I myself am overweight might even be classified as obese but I will tell you this I do not smell. My home is immaculate and very nicely decorated. I have a girlfriend that is bigger than myself and I will tell you this I have never detected any kind of odor on her whatsoever. How dare you for coming on here and talking about your patients like that I think you need to quit your job if that is the way you think of us we don't need someone like you saying how we choose not to diet or exercise it may be real easy for you and bravo to you but many of us have other issues at hand for instance I have issues with major depression, I have had about 3 or 4 suicide attempts, and some other really bad things have happened to me as well as other people. People that are overweight or Obese as you classify us we don't need yet another person telling us how shameful we are we already do that to ourselves.
ReplyOkay, let me begin by saying that Ducky sounds like an obvious jerk. I doubt he's a clinician, He's more likely just a troll. I think I've met smelly, fat people about just as much as I've met smelly, thin people. That said, fat people seem to always have an excuse as to why they are fat. Lemontree40 here says it's depression. Now I'm not here to abuse the guy, and I certainly feel for him if he has depression. But having an excuse for being fat isn't something new to obese people.
Now I'm not like Ducky here. I don't hate anybody, but at the same time, I don't have sympathy for you being fat. You've done this to yourself. I've always been in good shape, but I always stayed active. A few months ago, I noticed I was getting pretty chubby around my stomach. Although I was still going to the gym, I was not eating right and I drank entirely too much beer. I decided then and there that I would not let this happen to myself. I am now halfway through p90x, and am eating healthy and cut beer right out of my diet. I lost 12 pounds that I didn't think I needed to lose in the first month, and am getting my 6 pack back. No excuses from me, and I didn't try to hunt for that easy diet out. I put in the hard work, and cut out the trash I was eating, and I'm getting the results. Plain and simple. Don't cry. Don't make excuses. Just get off your butt and do it.
ReplyLemontree40 - I recently moved in with my sister and her daughter, who are both extremely obese people, and guess what? FAT PEOPLE REALLY DO SMELL BAD! REALLY, REALLY BAD!
Every one of those folds of flesh is worse than an armpit – arms get lifted up and the armpits occasionally get aired out – yet we still use deodorant under there. Those folds of flesh breed stink way worse than any normal sweat I’ve ever smelled. When they walk thru a room and leave, the smell lingers – and its twice as worse as the smell of vomit, I’ve never smelled anything like it!
My neice gets gas a lot, but you can never smell her farts as they’re not strong enough to overpower her body odor!
So all you porkers please do the rest of us a favor and boycott polite society. Believe it or not, we REALLY DO find you more offensive to our noses than you are to our eyes.
JUST PASSING THRU…
ReplyGo Lemontree, you rock! You told the truth and I appreciate it. As for that lady who said you were overemphasizing your house and your personal hygiene, you were replying to someone who said obese people have poor hygiene... she's a crazy!
ReplySo I guess "All" clinicans know it all huh?
ReplyAll Fat people stink? Give me a freakin' break!
The Traits of Prejudice
In his book The Nature of Prejudice, Gordon W. Allport outlines five types of behavior spawned by prejudice. A person who is prejudiced usually displays one or more of these.
1. Negative remarks. A person speaks disparagingly about the group that he dislikes.
2. Avoidance. He shuns anyone who belongs to that group.
3. Discrimination. He excludes members of the maligned group from certain types of employment, places of residence, or social privileges.
4. Physical attack. He becomes a party to violence, which is designed to intimidate the people he has come to hate.
5. Extermination. He participates in lynchings, massacres, or extermination programs
Get a life, and take your head out of your _ _ _!
You rock, Lynette!
ReplyI am not morbidly obese but i am over weight, I have been trying to loose weight for over ten years. the 1500 calorie diet i have stuck to for 9 years. i excersise 4 hours a day three times a week. I am regularly active, i bathe regularly, my home is georgous, there is no odor. I have hypothyroidism and this causes me to be unable to loose weight when my meds need to be switched out, which happens about every 2 months. I do not believe that depression causes obesity but i do know that obesity can cause depression, also people like ducky who discriminate cause depression, which sometimes leads to suicide, so i hope ducky and many others are ready to carry that on their shoulders when it happens to some one close to them.
ReplyRcryer, I have all the respect for you. Even though you know that you can't loose the weight because of your thyroid, you still stay active and eat less. This is the attitude you should have.
And lemontree40 I don't understand why you put so much emphasis on you being clean and that your house is clean....I don't doubt that. But, you fail to admit that your problem really is overeating. You may be a super nice person, but this will not make you healthy. And you should not care about what other people say, you should make the change for your health not for other people.
ReplyI agree with Ducky, the majority of obese people are that way because they choose to be, and they truly do stink more than you can possibly imagine! I've been a gym rat and a fitness nut for the past five years. I have a BF percentage of just under 6% (around olympic athlete percentage)
It's all a mindset. I choose to be the way i am because it's a choice I made a while ago. For obese people, its the same. They just don't care, or it LOOKS like they don't care, which makes them look like lazy slobs in the minds of many, including my own.
ReplyMy obesity started when I got Depo Provera shots. I gained at least 20 pounds every 3 months, then I was put on Seroquel and Lithium, and my weight shot way up there. I finally was weaned off of those pills, but it left me with a low thyroid level, and I am working really hard to lose this weight. I have lost about 30 lbs so far, and now I have hit a plateau for the last week. So, as you can see, weight gain CAN happen when you take certain medicines, not overeating. By the way, several doctors have confirmed this fact. If I knew that these medicines would make me fat and ugly, I never would have taken any of them.
Replyyes i agree i was in motor vehichle accident had a t8 fracture crushed vertebras
Replycouldnt walk i was in pain all i did was eat to comfort myself,all wrong food,,after 23 months i started to walk again but i was also 262 pounds i gained 72 pounds ,,,,i said no i must do something i just started walking went to weight watchers ate very healthy not starving and i did it so i know what you mean about lazy fatsos that dont care,,,,,i was in alot of pain but i lost 70 pounds because i wasnt giving up,,,,,i felt fat unatractive and didnt like me anymore ,,,,,so all you fat asses out there you are fat cuase you want to be
Hamburgers don't HAPPEN TO people. People HAPPEN TO hamburgers. Think about it. It's a choice. It's not like you accidentally bought that burger or bought that quart of Haggen-Daz. It was a conscious choice.
ReplyYeah, it bothers me when people sneeze without covering their mouth, but I wouldn't not hire a qualified obese person for a job solely on their fatness!
I think somebody read that "obesity is contagious" story from last week and is trying to ride the wave...
Reply"an evolved behavioral immune system triggers a sense of avoidance and disgust"?
What kind of weasel words are these? Do they even know what evolved means? We can't be speaking for the entire human population here, even today. There are lots of societies where being obese means being well-fed and healthy and rich, as opposed to being too poor to get enough food to keep oneself healthy. Even in America, there are some groups of Latin-Americans and Afro-Americans where being full-figured is no detraction from attractiveness.
It sounds to me more a matter of leading people to certain responses based on which questions were posed, in which order, and which possible answers were provided.
No, we as humans are NOT evolved to equate obesity with a sense of avoidance and disgust. It's just culturally the current fad in certain societies.
Replyi think most people have a problem with watching someone spread germs- but obesity is like heart disease- would you stop hugging a family member who has a chronic heart problem, would you?
ReplyIsn't it possible that it is the other way around? Maybe people are learning to accept obesity, rather than people learning to be afraid of it. There's a difference between cultural preferences that say being well-fed and nurished is attractive, and that being 400 pounds should be applauded.
ReplyAnd there is a difference between applauding it, and avoiding the person as if they had festering boils. You don't have to applaud someone just to treat them without outright disgust.
ReplyI am curious, what is the ratio between thin people have to work hard every day to stay thin and healthy and those who can eat whatever they want and never have to work hard at it at all - and yet are healthy and thin?
I have said it before, I am about 90 pounds overweight, although I am working hard to get healthy. I am fat because of laziness, emotional eating, and gluttony. I like the taste and flavor of food and have had very little self control. I have to be honest with myself if I am going to turn my life around. My mother was over 150 pounds overweight. She was for many of the same reasons. The only reason she lost weight was because she had cancer and it ate away at her.
As a fat person myself, I look on others who are fat and at times feel very empathetic towards them, and other times I feel very sympathetic toward them. I know what it is like. Sometimes I am disgusted at them knowing they may just be lazy and lack self control, just like I do.
Sure, fat people can get very down on themselves and blame it on willpower and how hard it is to say no. But a thin person who constantly says no to something they want to eat (isn't that part of staying thin?) or a thin person who takes the time out of their schedule to exercise and work out and puts forth so much effort to stay healthy instead of just giving in to the cravings of food and a lazy lifestyle - perhaps the feelings of disgust come from the fact that - they do work so hard and they know that an obese person has such a lack of self control.
As for an employer not hiring someone because they are fat, I am not sure I would want to. (remember I am fat too) I see it as a sign of laziness and lack of self control. Why would you hire someone who has that written on their resume?
ReplyI used to be slightly overweight and I was always exercising and on a diet. I struggled with my weight because everytime I came home from running for an hour I was so hungry that I would eat everything, I also used food to cover my emotions, and I would also diet in the morning and at lunch and then binge at night. People wondered how I could be gaining weight when I ate so little.
ReplyThen I observed my mom and my sister. My mom has had 5 kids and she is a great size 8-10 (what most guy would consider sexy). She never dieted. She rarely exercised. After struggling for 8 years, I decided to through caution to the wind and do what my mom did.
I wrote down what I ate, and weighed myself everyday. I never deprived myself. I only do "exercise" when I don't consider it really exercise, but fun. For example occasional salsa dancing. My other movement comes from walking here and there, doing chores, running errand, etc.
I am now one of those skinny people (size 6) that others think can eat anything and rarely exercises. But little do they know that I weigh myself everyday, everything I eat goes into a little booklet (I average 2000 calories), and I usually take the stairs instead of the elevator.
I am much happier now being effortlessly skinny and I am glad that I did not lose weight by diet and exercising 6 times a week.
What is funnier though, is people who are trying to get to my size tell me that I am this weigh naturally and that it is genetics, when I know what I looked like last year. They continue to do the same things that put them in the same cycle of weight loss and weight gain.
Dawn,
I can appreciate what you are saying. However, being thin does not mean a person is "healthy." You can have problems just like the next guy with a smaller frame.
I am about 50 pounds overweight. It is really difficult to lose weight because it is a daily adventure. Ironically, my mother is the opposite and tries to gain weight because she does not like her thin frame. I think there is a combination of things that happen in being thin versus being fat.
Most of the thin people that I know have a ton of energy. Some of them fear fat. I fear fat but it still remains on my body. Is it genetics, behavior, psychological amongst other things? I would say "yes."
Replyhello, I am new to this site and i really dont understand some of you guys. See i am spanish even my community and in the black community the fat racisim exist. See what skiiny people dont understand that even the ones who try to loose it it take time and its very hard. There another problem for some reason people think being thick, and big bone is fat or obese this is not true. See people people needs to read health book bueacus ethere are alot of big people who are helathy and there are more skinny people who are not healty usually beacuse the waythe loose waigth or ther where melnourish which is a big problem. making your self throw up,starving your self using drug or surgery are not thw way to loose weigth . see i was born thick and i have more muscle weigth then fat and alot of people confused that is is very hard to loose weigth and rember it al depends on your motabolism how fast it it. See most skinny people are so stuck up on how skinny they are they develop there own kind of diease. i exercise, i can run as fast as the average person. I am nor where lazy, i have labor job that requrie alot of labor. I HELL SURE DONT SMELL most pleople compliment me on how good i smell i try east halthy its just hard too loose the weigth and skinny who are usually born skinny fail to realize that and the ones who do loose the weigth they forgget how hard you have to work to loose it and maitain it off.If i was a owner of a company your are rite i would not hire some one lazy,incompetent but mind you to be lazy you dont have to be Fat
ReplyWow,I could not have expressed A more sensical argument myself! Bravo,and keep on keeping on! :)
ReplyMy involvement with an obese family over a
Replyten year period leads me to conclude the extra weight they all carried was caused by lifestyle.
All family gatherings were in orbit around meals.
A favorite topic of discussion was food.
They were all way over weight, loved food and rarely
discussed the long term issues.
Culture plays a strong role. And as you stated lifestyle is also a factor. However, you have to remember that all the people sitting at that table may not be fat. There is more to being "fat." There are very educated people all over the world. They understand the concepts of their behavior may conclude that they will be fat. The stigma of the lazy, fat and useless to society mentality is ignorant.
ReplyI have to say that I do feel a mixture of disgust and fascination with the obese though this research fits in with my own view that people have a natural desire to eliminate negative qualities or mutations from the gene pool.
Not to pick on the obese in general. I have a feeling that the same range of reactions could be found in relation to other negative phenotypes amongst a human population.
ReplyOn the main topic, I think there's a big gap between overweight and obese. Even in the medieval era, obesity was seen as unattractive.
ReplyIt's true. There are definitely thin people out there who are lazy and eat whatever they want and never exercise ... and they're just lucky that it doesn't show in their outward appearance, so they aren't discriminated against for it.
ReplyIf I eat "whatever" I want, I weigh about five pounds more than I do now. That may not be true forever ... But the difference is that whatever I want is very different than what an obese person might want. I just had a chocolate chip cookie after lunch. I wanted it. But what was the lunch I WANTED? A salad with chick peas, tomatoes, and a light dressing (I don't really like the thick, creamy stuff). My food preferences are what keep me thin. It's just about figuring out healthy things that you LIKE to eat.
Obesity doesn't "happen to" people..sheesh, people, take some responsiblity. Also Quito is right, there's a big difference between fat and hugely obese...and people aren't bigots or phobics for finding it disgusting.
ReplyAlso, not everyone can be full-figured like Jennifer Lopez...I have 33" hips and a 29" waist...hourglass ain't me!
Too bad obesity isn't actually caused by pathogen infection.
ReplyObesity as a cue for pathogen infection?
*groan* *headdesk*
Yes, this is building on the "OMG! Don't give me your fat cooties!" attitude now coming to the fore.
Gotta agree with Dr. J on his statement that these divisions aren't helping us. The last thing our society needs to do again is to separate out a sector of the population and accuse them of being the collective boogieman.
ReplyI agree with Judy on this one. How can a negative reaction to obesity be an evolved trait when there are clearly plenty of societies that view overweight individuals as healthy? But as others have pointed out, there is a big difference between "obese" and "overweight". I personally don't think obesity just "happens" to people either. Everyone I've ever known who was obese got that way from poor lifestyle choices. Like Ann, when I want something, I'll eat it, but I think the foods I want (salads, spinach, baby carrots, etc) are quite different than the foods that say, my fairly overweight mom would want (big cans of Chef Boyardee ravioli, potato salad with full fat mayo, etc.).
I still think it's more of a learned response though...it's how you were raised and who you were raised with. Not every thin person hates fat people.
Reply