By: Alex Wang

A Tik-Tok star named Remi Bader was recently shamed for weighing 240 pounds. She was kicked out of a ranch and laughed at by one of the ranch’s employees. This terrible behavior brings to light an extensive issue of weight bias in the U.S.

Obesity is increasingly common in the United States. Obesity among Americans grew more than 10 percentage points over the past 20 years, according to the CDC. The CDC also found 41.9% of adult Americans are obese. Additionally, 1 in 5 Americans aged 2 to 19 are classified as obese.

But how does this play into an issue in the U.S? Overweight people know they have a weight problem and do not need to be reminded of it. Fat shaming is harmful to health, because it could push them away from doing exercise or things they love. Fat shaming has also been proved to be associated with low self-esteem, anxiety, depression and eating disorders.

In a published study in 2021, German and Swiss researchers revealed 3 main reasons why overweight people avoided exercises through interviewing 30 obese adults. One of the causes for this was fear of stigma, the participants citing that they avoided public places that could cause stigma.

Another study conducted in Australia showed some obese people were prevented from using exercise equipment and facilities that could not accommodate them. Along with this there is a lack of suitable clothing for overweight people. Increasing the accessibility of workout equipment for obese people could encourage more people to lose weight.

This incident was not only a terrible experience, it also highlights some of the longstanding issues in the world in general. Not having discrimination is the right solution to this issue, the worker could have informed Remi Bader, but instead chose to ridicule her, this is the problem. The global obesity “pandemic” needs a longer approach than what we’re doing now that has a lot more appreciation and acceptance.