Body Size, Societal Views of

Robyn J. Abeles Silverman

Overweight and obese individuals are susceptible to discrimination due to their body size and weight in many of their social circles (school, work, family, and home). Coined “the last acceptable form of prejudice,” such discrimination makes targets of ridicule of those who significantly deviate from America's thin ideal, from kindergarten (Davison & Birch, 2001) through the school years (Eisenberg, Neumark-Sztainer, & Story, 2003; Strauss & Pollack, 2003) and into college and adulthood (Puhl & Brownell, 2001; Wee, McCarthy, Davis, & Phillips, 2000). Overweight and obese girls receive negative feedback about their weight at an early age. Research conducted with young participants suggests that school-aged children and adolescents give fewer peer nominations and fewer best friend ratings to peers who are fat (Eisenberg et al., 2003; Strauss & Pollack, 2003). Strauss and Pollack (2003), whose National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health consisted of more than 17,500 participants, collected information on the ...

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