The paradox of fat embodiment
Date
2025
Authors
Sturgess, Clea
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Abstract
Fat people frequently and regularly face discrimination due to weight stigma, which can result in a stigmatized. or spoiled, identity, and can ultimately result in psychological distress. This dissertation examined the ways in which public weight stigma might result in psychological distress, and the activities fat people are engaged in that help mitigate these processes. Data was collected from students at the University of Victoria and from fat people who were engaged with fat liberation-focused social media. Results showed that public weight stigma was associated with increased internalized weight stigma, which in turn was associated with lowered embodiment, which was in turn associated with increased psychological distress. The research also found that both positive physical engagement and understanding of societal weight bias and its impacts on fat people helped to attenuate these pathways. These findings indicate the need for societal shifts in weight-based discrimination, as well as potential avenues for individual and group-based interventions. A number of considerations for measurement of various constructs were also explored.
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Keywords
fat liberation, embodiment, weight stigma