Posted on 03/04/2021
2 min read
People with obesity are repeatedly discriminated against in public spaces, at school, at work, at home and even in the medical field, underlines a survey published by the League against this pathology, on occasion. of world obesity day.
These discriminations occur in the public sphere (50%) almost as much in the school (45%) or professional field, and to a lesser extent in the family circle (22%) or in the medical field (19%), say the people who are victims.
Nearly one in five French people (18%) currently experience or have already suffered discrimination, according to this Odoxa survey conducted among more than 11,800 people representative of the French population (including 2,832 overweight and 1,594 obese). But obese people are particularly victims: nearly one in two obese young women (47%).
45% of young people aged 18 to 24 with obesity and 47% of the young women concerned have been discriminated against, ie ten points higher than the average for young people in general and young women in particular.
Children also suffer discrimination (1 in 10), their parents indicate, but obese young people are victims of it 4 times more often than others. Obese adolescents in particular (54% among those aged 14 to 17).
“Grossophobia takes its toll: higher risk of depression, deterioration of self-esteem, increased probability of suffering from eating disorders, poor medical follow-up, children dropping out of school, desocialization of adults …“, emphasizes Agnès Maurin of the League against obesity, created in 2014.
In France, obesity affects nearly 7 million people, or about 15% of the population, notes the league according to the latest ObEpi-Roche survey.
In 2019, nearly 40 million children under the age of five were overweight or obese worldwide, according to the WHO. More than 340 million children and adolescents aged 5 to 19 were overweight or obese in 2016, according to the UN agency.
800 million people worldwide suffer from obesity, estimates the World Obesity Federation. According to her, childhood obesity is expected to increase by 60% over the next decade, reaching 250 million by 2030.
People with obesity, tested positive for Covid-19, are twice as likely to be hospitalized, continues the federation. She denounces the “stigmatization” of the weight which is based on stubborn prejudices, on the occasion of the world day against obesity.
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