Overweight Men Feel Weight Stigma Too
Heavy Guys Feel Body Shamed Too and It’s Bad for Your Health
When we talk about body shaming and body positivity, it’s often directed toward women. However, guys struggle with their weight too.
A new study suggests that overweight guys are not only sensitive about their weight, but also often feel stigmatized by society for packing on the extra pounds.
Mary Himmelstein of the University of Connecticut and lead author of this recent research said that men's issues often go unnoticed as they pertain to body image and overall appearances.
“It's often assumed that conversations about weight loss, poor body image and dieting are more salient for women,” Himmelstein said. “Men are frequently overlooked, but that does not necessarily mean that men are less affected by weight stigma or less likely to internalize negative biases.”
And, the stigma can be bad for your health. Researchers engaged a pool of 1,750 men from all corners of the United States and found that overweight guys who reported feeling weight-related stigma were more likely to be dieting (and to display depressive symptoms). Almost half of all men surveyed admitted to feeling anxious, uneasy or depressed by the judgment of their weight either by society, or internalized by themselves.
Beyond that, the team of academics studying the subject were quick to point out that it was a major problem that while so much research and focus had been placed on female body issues, men's issues in the same arena went relatively unnoticed.
"Our study shows that weight stigma is not a gendered issue. It can affect men's health in the same damaging ways in which we already know that it harms women's health, and neglecting these issues in men, either in research or clinical practice, may put them at a serious disadvantage in treatment,” Himmelstein said of the results.
Men are body shamed over everything from baldness to body hair to so-called “man boobs.” Despite the somewhat tongue-in-cheek claim that dad bods are in vogue, the reality is that you’ll often find a strong (and perhaps predictable) biological bias toward the lean and fit especially in the dating world.
According to the recent research, even for men, dealing with the stigma of being overweight is harmful in more ways than one.