When I contact Fatima Cody Stanford, a leading obesity expert at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital, one of the first things she does is to gently correct my use of obese person, redirecting me to the most neutral obese person instead (and demonstrating, in the process, that fat people are very capable of getting into the culture of fatphobia). “When we call a person obese, we don’t take into account that there is a real disease process controlled and regulated by the hypothalamus in the brain that causes each of us to regulate our weight differently,” explains Stanford. “When people look at patients with obesity – whether it is mild, moderate or severe – they assume, ‘Oh, it’s something they did to themselves and got that way because of something they did.’ We don’t put that same thought processing on or blame individuals who have cancer ”.
Stanford agrees that doctors, in general, are one of the “worst groups” in terms of perpetuating fatophobia, but she is determined to set a different standard of care for her patients. She takes care to insert obesity in its larger socio-cultural context, remembering that racial minorities are more likely to have obesity, in addition to being already at greater risk of contracting COVID-19. “When obese patients come to me and ask if they should get the vaccine, I give them a statement that is unequivocal yes, because the data shows that the results of COVID-19 are significantly worse for patients who are obese. I will give you all the advice I can to make sure that you are better protected against this virulent disease that has affected all of our lives, ”says Stanford.
Although medical prejudice is a risk factor for many – if not most – of fat people, our own internalized fatophobia and self-judgment can be psychologically damaging. “At first I thought [my BMI qualifying me for the vaccine] it was ironic because I might not have qualified if I hadn’t gained the weight I gained during the pandemic, ”said Catherine, 24, who will soon receive her first dose of the vaccine in Brooklyn. “I am already afraid of some things that people may say or think about me getting the vaccine, not only because I gained weight, but also because I am unemployed. It is very difficult not to feel that being fat and unemployed means that I am useless or lazy. ”Catherine is happy to receive the vaccine based on BMI, but she is also aware of the dissonance that a society deeply confused by the food culture instilled in her:” It is strange that I am apparently being rewarded for failing. “