Women who decide to lose weight still often face problems of stigma after shedding the pounds.<\/p>\n
This fact was found by researchers from the University of Hawaii at M\u0101noa. A similar finding was also found by both the Universities of Monash and Manchester, which found obese women were still discriminated against even after losing weight. It was as if they were still perceived as fat by others.<\/p>\n
One M\u0101noan University researcher, Dr. Janet Latner told reporters: \u201cPrevious research has shown that the harmful nature of obesity stigma crossed many domains. So we designed an experiment to look at whether obesity sting persisted once the weight had been dropped.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dr. Latner added: \u201cWe were surprised to find that currently thin women were viewed more differently depending on their weight history.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe found that people who had lost weight were viewed more negatively in terms of attractiveness than people who had remained stable.\u201d<\/p>\n
Scientists are currently at a loss to explain the reasons for the negativity still felt towards women who have lost weight. The suggestion is that losing weight is easy to do.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are several theories as to why anti-fat stigma persists,\u201d Latner said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe leading theory is controllability theory \u2013 suggesting that stigmatised conditions are despised more when they are perceived as easily controllable, a widespread perception about obesity.<\/p>\n