Weight Stigma is pervasive in society and has implications for healthcare, education, employment and everyday quality of life. Despite rising levels of anti-fat prejudice in all areas of daily life, discrimination on the basis of weight is generally not covered by anti-discrimination legislation. Moreover, intersectionality has emerged as a critical lens for recognising the overlap of various forms of exclusion and discrimination. Although still often treated as mutually exclusive, the intersections of race, gender, class, sexual identity, age, ability, religion, and nationality represent complex identities that must be factored into how we approach weight stigma. The more we can do to understand weight stigma, the more we can undo in terms of the negative consequences that result from it.
The Weight Stigma Conference brings together scholars and practitioners from a range of disciplines (e.g., psychology, medicine, public health, allied health professions, education, sports and exercise science, social sciences, media studies, business, public policy, law) to consider research, policy, rhetoric, and practice around the issue of weight stigma.
We aim to address a number of issues, such as weight stigma across social identities, weight stigma among health professionals, public policy implications, and interventions to reduce weight stigma.
This year’s exciting line-up of speakers span the US and Europe and include Drs. Deb Burgard, Robert Carels, Sarah Riley, Lee Monaghan, Emma Rich, and Noorjte van Amsterdam.
For further details see the event web page.