Genevieve Ryan
Fatphobia is a social justice issue that has received relatively little attention in mainstream debate. For trade unionists, that silence is important. Bias against fat people shapes workplaces, employment outcomes and health experiences, and it also shows up within our own movement.
Trade unions exist to challenge inequality at work. That responsibility does not stop at the most familiar forms of discrimination. If we are serious about dignity, solidarity and justice, we need to confront fatphobia as a workplace issue and as a trade union issue.
The term fat has been reclaimed by many activists and is used intentionally throughout this article. Much of the research and official data in this area still uses the word obese; where that terminology appears here, it reflects the language of the source rather than endorsement.
Put plainly, Fatphobia is the unfair treatment, hatred or dislike of people because of their body size/weight. Internalised fatphobia involves a fear of being fat or being perceived as fat. Fatphobia operates via the power differential between fat people and people who are not – those who possess ‘thin’ privilege. Intersecting with this are numerous other identities that can intensify or mitigate the stigma of being fat. For example being a fat middle class cis-man is less stigmatised than being a fat trans woman of color.
Ethnicity and race are central to discussions of fatphobia and understanding its origins and functions. Black academic Sabrina Strings in her book Fearing the Black Body: The Racist Origins of Fatphobia details the way in which fatphobia originated in the demonisation and othering of Black people during slavery. She argues that fatphobia is rooted in anti-blackness and came about as a result of racism during the transatlantic slave trade that labelled people from many parts of Africa as ‘greedy’ and ‘savage.’ Strings is just one amongst the many generations of Black women who have pushed back against colonial beauty standards and the white thin beauty ‘ideal.’
Fatphobia has also developed from historical protestant notions of hard work and deprivation as moral virtues (the legacy of this ideology in its relation to workers rights is something we still come up against as unionists now). Fat people are stereotyped as lazy, unclean or incompetent and fat bodies have long been used to illustrate greed or corruption in union and political materials.
Whilst research shows a positive association between fatphobia and being right wing, we know that many amongst our movement normalise this stigma. And it isn’t surprising, diet culture - a societal framework that promotes the idea that being thin is ideal, often at the expense of physical health and emotional well-being. That emphasises a rigid set of expectations regarding body image, categorising foods as "good" or "bad," and normalises behaviours like calorie restriction and self-deprecating talk - pervades much of our daily lives. The UK weight loss industry, a market that thrives on unattainable body ideals and profits from consumers’ low self-esteem was valued at approximately £2 billion in 2013.
Things are slowly shifting (thanks to fat activists and allies). In the policy sphere, the Parliamentary Women and Equalities Committee recommended that Body Mass Index be immediately ceased as a tool for medical evaluation, that more research be conducted into the issue of weight stigma in the NHS and that a Health At Every Size approach (this prioritises working with people at any size to improve health by focusing on adding in nutrients and joyful exercise as opposed to depriving and harming clients through weight loss) be adopted by the government. This was after receiving testimony from fat people on the treatment they faced in such settings.
Research shows that fat people receive less pay than their counterparts, are expected to work longer hours and are perceived to have fewer leadership qualities. It shows that women are more likely to experience weight discrimination at work regardless of their actual size and that almost half of employers surveyed would not employ someone fat. In fact in 2016 a University of Exeter study found that if a woman was a stone heavier she would earn on average £1,500 less a year than a comparable woman of the same height.
Indeed, research released earlier this year confirmed that fat people face discrimination and stigma at ‘all stages of the employability life cycle.’ It identified three main themes that this takes: organisational stigma, stigma and discrimination from co-workers and compensatory behaviours that fat workers themselves have to undertake (for example working harder than their counterparts, having to appear more ‘put together’ through means such as makeup and formal attire and taking less time off, amongst other things).
We know that this kind of stigma has a real impact on both the physical and mental health of workers and deeply impacts their lives outside of work.
There is currently no protection against discrimination on the grounds of weight/size in the UK. In the United States a number of municipalities and both New York and Washington state have introduced legislation defining weight as a protected characteristic. And research has found that there is significant support for this form of protective legislation in employment amongst the public internationally (Puhl et al, 2015).
Currently fatphobia in the UK has to be addressed through harassment legislation or by bringing claims under the Equality Act (2010) where fatphobia is intertwined with discrimination on the grounds of protected characteristics such as gender or disability. Needs such as wider chairs or larger uniforms can be pursued through the same routes as reasonable adjustments in the workplace but may also have to be argued for on the grounds of disability if employers are reluctant.
In Walker v SITA Information Networking Computing Ltd a worker was suffering from difficulty in his everyday life due to a number of symptoms that had no identifiable physical or mental cause but the worker felt were exacerbated by his weight. The employment tribunal found that the claimant was not disabled, as there was no cause established for his disability beyond his ‘obesity.’ However this was overturned on appeal on the grounds that the cause of a disability does not have to be established and it is the impact and duration of difficulties that define disability under the Equality Act 2010.
Whilst not as relevant to the UK context, it is worth noting that in the European Court of Justice the Kaltoft v Kommunernes Landsforening case established that ‘severe obesity’ may in some cases be considered a disability under EU law.
Trade unions are behind the curve on this issue. If we want to challenge fatphobia externally, we must also address it internally.
We should be asking ourselves:
Is our physical environment accessible? Do we provide seating options, spacious walkways and facilities that do not exclude fat bodies?
Is union merchandise genuinely inclusive? Many unions cap sizing well below the reality of their membership.
Are we normalising diet talk, weight-loss commentary or body surveillance at work? Even “compliments” about weight loss can be harmful.
Are we aware of how religious and cultural fasting is trivialised through weight-focused commentary?
Are we comfortable discussing fatphobia, educating ourselves, and centring the voices of those affected?
Are we influencing policy, both through casework and by pushing for legislative change?
Education and training for staff and reps are essential. Tackling fatphobia requires us to unlearn deeply embedded assumptions about bodies, health and worth.
Read about the experiences of discrimination that fat people go through, follow fat activists on social media and diversify the bodies you are regularly looking at online. Find out more about diet culture, Health At Every Size approaches and body acceptance.
Please reach out to the author, Genevieve Ryan if you are organising around weight discrimination in your union workplace.