Opposed to dietary fat or designed to reduce fat intake; can also mean discriminating against overweight people.
From anti- (against) + fat. The health-related meaning emerged in the late 20th century with dietary science, while the discriminatory meaning is a more recent observation of social bias.
The 'antifat' movement in nutrition reached its peak in the 1980s-90s with the 'low-fat diet craze,' but scientists have since discovered that dietary fat isn't the villain it was portrayed to be—in fact, healthy fats from nuts, fish, and olive oil are essential for brain function and heart health, making decades of antifat messaging somewhat counterproductive.
Fat stigma has disproportionately targeted women through beauty standards and medicalization of female bodies. The 'anti-fat' framing often reinforces gendered narratives that women's body size is a moral/medical problem requiring intervention, while similar scrutiny is not applied equally to men.
When discussing health, use 'weight-neutral' or specify clinical context without moralizing language. Avoid 'anti-fat' rhetoric in favor of evidence-based health discussions that don't reinforce gendered body shame.
["weight-neutral","evidence-based nutrition","health-focused"]
Feminist health scholars have challenged anti-fat stigma as a tool of bodily control and have centered fat women's autonomy, lived experience, and resistance to medical surveillance.
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