What Happens When Your Culture Doesn't Accept Your Body? A Study Found Out
A comment about your weight can stick with you long after the conversation ends.
So can a family member's diet talk, an ad celebrating a smaller body, or a joke about what someone "should" look like. These messages may not feel like direct discrimination, but they can still shape how you see your body.
A recent study of 1,865 adults1 explored whether personal experiences of weight discrimination, broader cultural attitudes about body size, or both were associated with well-being.
About the study
Researchers surveyed 1,865 adults in the U.S., Portugal, and Mexico who identified as overweight. Participants were roughly evenly split between men and women.
The survey measured two forms of weight stigma.
One focused on personal experiences of discrimination because of weight. The other measured how negatively participants believed their culture viewed people with larger bodies.
Participants also reported on psychological distress and emotion regulation, or how difficult it was to manage their emotions. Researchers then looked at whether these patterns differed by gender and country.
Women experienced more personal weight discrimination
Women reported more personal weight discrimination than men across all three countries. But perceptions of cultural attitudes toward larger bodies varied.
In Portugal and Mexico, women were more likely than men to perceive their culture as having negative attitudes toward larger bodies. That gender difference wasn't significant in the U.S.
Personal weight discrimination was associated with greater psychological distress and more difficulty regulating emotions among women in all three countries.
The association was strongest among Portuguese women.
Cultural attitudes toward larger bodies were also associated with these measures of well-being in Portugal and Mexico, but not in the U.S.
Your cultural environment may shape weight stigma
There's a difference between being treated poorly because of your weight and growing up surrounded by messages that certain bodies are more acceptable than others.
The second can be harder to recognize because repeated messages from family, media, and everyday conversations can start to feel normal.
The researchers suggested that differences in traditional gender norms may help explain the country-specific findings. In cultures with stronger expectations around women's appearance, pressure to fit a particular body ideal may be greater.
The study can't prove that cultural attitudes cause psychological distress, and other factors may explain some of the differences between countries.
Still, the findings suggest that weight stigma extends beyond individual interactions and can be shaped by the social environment around us.
How to create some distance from weight stigma
You can't control every message about body size, but you can become more aware of the ones you've absorbed.
When you notice a negative thought about your body, consider its source. Did it come from something someone said, or is it a belief you've heard so often that it now feels like your own?
It can also help to question the idea that there's one "right" way for a body to look.
Understanding where these beliefs came from can help you separate your own values from expectations picked up through family, media, or culture.
The takeaway
Weight stigma isn't limited to direct discrimination.
The messages surrounding us can also shape how we feel about our bodies, and this study suggests that cultural context may influence that relationship. Recognizing those messages can make it easier to decide which ones deserve your attention.
