Being fat (especially for a woman) does not only result in body shaming by the society and unsolicited advice about health from strangers but also discrimination on a serious level.

The mother of a dear friend of mine complained of heaviness in her chest for weeks. Apart from this, her diet had continuously reduced and she was feeling tired all the time. However, every time she visited any hospital, she was advised to lose weight and her symptoms were written off as gastric troubles because of her weight.

There exists an inherent bias in our minds when it comes to fat people. We immediately term them as “unhealthy” and “lazy” without knowing not even a shred of their medical history. But when this bias spreads to the medicinal community with doctors forming a judgement regarding their patients based on their weight, that’s when things get out of hand.

In the above case, after months of doctor’s visits, my friend’s mother decided to lose weight. It is crucial to note here that in spite of being “overweight” this woman was one of the most healthy and active women I have ever met, that is, until the above-mentioned symptoms showed.

After almost a year she lost a lot of weight but her ailments persisted. This time however, the doctors took her seriously because she “looked” healthy. After a lot of tests, she was diagnosed with a serious heart condition whose treatment should have begun months ago.

This is just one of many cases. Cases like these tell us how deep rooted is our prejudice against people who don’t fit the conventional beauty standards of the society. We can talk about body positivity all we want unless change is done on the ground level and more importantly, in the outlook of the society, these would just remain empty words.

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