Welp

[Content Note: Fat hatred.]

Two studies have come across my desk (so to speak) about anti-fat bias that don't think they're about anti-fat bias.

1. BBC: "A new study suggests obesity in adolescent girls is associated with lower academic results during their teenage years. Researchers from four universities including Strathclyde and Dundee looked at data from 6,000 adolescent girls. They found that those classed as obese at the age of 11 achieved lower results over the next five years than peers of a healthy [sic] weight. The team said more research was needed to establish why this was the case." Yes, I wonder what it could be!

Shaker Crys T, who sent me the heads-up on this one, highlighted this quote from an NHS article on the study: "They also suggest that obese children's academic attainment may suffer because they tend to be stigmatised by other children or teachers, or because excess fat might affect brain function."

LOL FOREVER. Sure. It's probably excess fat affecting brain function. (We've heard this before.) It's definitely not the incessant barrage of dehumanizing hatred, bullying, and eliminationism to which fat people are subjected every waking moment of every fucking day. Good grief.

2. Via Marilyn Wann, this study from the Journal of Obesity which found: "Adults with Greater Weight Satisfaction Report More Positive Health Behaviors and Have Better Health Status Regardless of BMI." Its objective was: "To gain a better understanding of complex relationships between weight satisfaction, weight-related health behaviors, and health outcomes."

But, while the researchers took eating habits and exercise and measurable health and BMI and other things into consideration, what they did not explore at all was what influences "weight satisfaction," particularly in regard to the influence of anti-fat bias. So we get stuff like this:

Our results indicate that men and women who are more satisfied with their weight tend to engage in more physical activity. Individuals who are fit, or become and stay fit, may be evincing motivation that is different in important ways than the motivation of those who are dieting primarily to lose weight, though image also may matter as a motivational issue associated with efforts aimed primarily toward fitness (rather than weight control). It is also possible that these individuals may use physical activity as a means to control weight. Physical activity has been shown to increase self-esteem and body image. Perhaps people who are active, regardless of actual weight category, have a more positive outlook on their weight (i.e., they are satisfied). Active individuals may look beyond weight to focus on what their body can accomplish (e.g., participation in sports activities) and actual weight may not be as important to them.

Yes, perhaps indeed people who are active have a more positive outlook on their weight, and not necessarily because "physical activity has been shown to increase self-esteem and body image," but because there is very little incentive to take care of a body you hate.