The impact of pregnancy on fat women's body image and eating practices

Abstract

Fatness is a state that is viewed as undesirable from both a health and aesthetic viewpoint. Fat people are often viewed and treated in negative ways and there is great social pressure for them to become slim. Fat women are more likely than fat men to experience their fatness negatively and to experience discrimination as a result of their size. This difference occurs as a result of the emphasis that is placed on women's physical appearance in patriarchal society. The only way that fat people can become slimmer is to alter their diet in some way. For women this is often very difficult because of the conventions surrounding family mealtimes and the close contact they have with food as a result of their social roles. This study examines the impact of pregnancy on fat women's feelings about their weight and their eating practices. A total of 37 women were interviewed both before and after pregnancy using qualitative research methods. Pregnancy had an impact on many of the women's feelings about their weight and/or their eating practices and some of these changes survived into the post-pregnancy period. In the post-pregnancy period, a link was found between women's feelings about their weight and their eating practices and the factors that contributed to these particular attitudes are identified. The implications for medical professionals of these findings are discussed. An analysis of why fat women feel so negatively about their size and strategies for changing the emphasis on women's physical appearance are examined.

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