Scientific American looks at the racist stigmatization of black women's bodies and obesity

So we already know which graphic we’re going to use with this post … the shot from Cosmopolitan declaring “This is healthy!” as an obese black woman holds a yoga pose. We specify black women because the fight against obesity has racist roots, according to Scientific American, which is one of those magazines that used to have some credibility. Who’s stigmatizing black women’s bodies, anyway? It hasn’t cost Lizzo her share of fame and fortune.

The heightened concern about black women's weight reflects the racist stigmatization of their bodies. It also ignores how interrelated social factors impact black women’s health. https://t.co/sqVv8wpHyJ

— Scientific American (@sciam) December 28, 2022

It turns out this was published in 2020, but Scientific American thought they’d tweet it out again. Sabrina Strings and Lindo Bacon explain that “prescribing weight loss to black women ignores barriers to their health.”

Black women have also been identified as the subgroup with the highest body mass index (BMI) in the U.S., with four out of five classified as either “overweight” or “obese.” Many doctors have claimed that Black women’s “excess” weight is the main cause of their poor health outcomes, often without fully testing or diagnosing them. While there has been a massive public health campaign urging fat people to eat right, eat less and lose weight, Black women have been specifically targeted.

This heightened concern about their weight is not new; it reflects the racist stigmatization of Black women’s bodies. Nearly three centuries ago scientists studying race argued that African women were especially likely to reach dimensions that the typical European might scorn. The men of Africa were said to like their women robust, and the European press featured tales of cultural events loosely described as festivals intended to fatten African women to the desired, “unwieldy” size.

Normalizing illness among a marginalized racial group is racist.
Yes, it takes social change to help people eat better. But pretending that poor black people have zero agency is racist. The Ital and vegan soul food movements are out there leading the way.

— Tom Swiss, HMSH (@tom_swiss) December 28, 2022

The soft bigotry of low expectations, what can’t it do?

— Skeptical Stoic (@StoicSkeptical) December 28, 2022

Conversely, being obese is super bad for your health. Full stop.

Delete your magazine.

Put down the donut.

Go outside.

— Han Brolo (@bxlewi1) December 28, 2022

When you tell people that being obese isn't unhealthy, that men can have periods, or any other unscientific claim designed to make you seem like a Very Good Person, you're putting their health at risk to earn that label. That isn't compassion, it's selfishness.

— Wonderbeard (@WonderbeardShow) December 28, 2022

Scientific American is now actively working against the heart health of one of the highest risk cohorts for heart attacks.

I'd rather they live with a made up racial stigma than die on the alter of racial politics.

— Kyle Beckley (@Kyle_Beckley) December 28, 2022

So what’s the conclusion to draw from this? “The most effective and ethical approaches for improving health should aim to change the conditions of Black women’s lives: tackling racism, sexism and weightism and providing opportunity for individuals to thrive.”

Weightism?

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Related:

‘Sleep is racist’: Teen Vogue explains how two women are addressing systemic racism in sleep https://t.co/J4POpnqliq

— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) July 16, 2020