General

I was just wondering exactly where the hatred of overweight people came from, precisely. What really started it? As we know, in days gone by, people didn’t seem bothered by it; some even admired extra weight, but nowadays the hatred and ridicule given to those who are overweight borders on the fanatical (and often crosses that border). It’s utterly ridiculous and doesn’t actually harm others. What amazes me is that despite its inoffensiveness, the revulsion seems almost naturally instinctive in so many people. =|

But I am interested to know the origin of this hatred, and exactly how it spiralled upwards from there into the self-esteem-rending, socially-isolating, anorexia-causing, stigmatising disaster of today. =o After all, if we know the cause of this, it’ll help us to understand it more and better counteract its effects upon the general populace and those we meet.

I did happen to come across this article today, for example:

independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-wellbeing/health-news/revealed-why-slim-people-dislike-the-overweight-459459.html

People always hated what is different or perceived as marginalised and there was a time when only rich people could be fat and it was revered but now with cheaply available food which will make people fat it is thin people who are revered for because only they can afford good nutritional food and have the time to exercise compulsively enough to be thin. Health may be touted as the reason but really it has little to do with it when someone can do lots of cocaine and be thin but they're really not healthy.

So... it looks like the origin lies in the 40's to the 60's then. I did hear about the 'Twiggy' craze that went on in the 60's, but just one model... that can't be the main cause of it all, surely? =o

I think this is a big question, and has some varied answers.

On the one hand, there's a pattern of curvier and then thinner women being in fashion. Some say this corresponds to women's movements being public, so:
1920s: Suffrage, thin flapper ideal
1960s: Women's Lib, Twiggy

There are other examples. Some say it has to do with economic trends. You can see that easily, too.

But there's a larger issue, which seems to me a permanently growing hatred of fat people, by which I mean fat, not curvy. And that began at least in the 19th C, as far as I know.

There are great books--Hillel Schwartz, Never Satisfied: A Cultural History of Diets, Fantasies and Fat (NY: Free Press/Macmillan, 1986; Anchor paper 1990), Paul Campos, The Obesity Myth, Kathleen LeBesco, Revolting Bodies?: The Struggle to Redefine Fat Identity and many others--that might help think about this question. No one is perfect, of course, but each makes interesting and important arguments...

Indeed, which is why I am trying to discover as many as I can to decipher this dreadful puzzle. Ties to womens liberation? Curious. Did they see fat as too... too much of something that a man would want, and that a skinnier figure was a form of rebellion, perhaps? Economic trends... katsujinken provided an explanation for that which makes clear sense.



Those are very interesting points. Humans like to keep things simple, and it seems humans always need something to hate. We outlasted predators, and now we turn on each other.

I was looking as to a reason why the hatred seems almost instinctual... I think the answer is that humans, especially when young, are capable of absorbing more off society than they normally aware of. Society subtly tells people of all ages that fat is wrong and they integrate that feeling into themselves without really noticing that they've effectively been brainwashed. Similar things happen in different societies, but the subtle social brainwashing infects every single culture. Which is why... different cultures think so differently regarding instincts, an example being of how different cultures find certain appearances attractive. =o

Well, I meant more that we absorb things a lot more readily when we are young, but just because we're older, doesn't mean that the absorption stops. =o Constant bombardment... the whole 'fat people are acceptable to hate on' thing is a big part of that, I think. It can be thrown around all over without anyone batting an eye. =/