Comments & Discussion

Boston University moderates comments to facilitate an informed, substantive, civil conversation. Abusive, profane, self-promotional, misleading, incoherent or off-topic comments will be rejected. Moderators are staffed during regular business hours (EST) and can only accept comments written in English. Statistics or facts must include a citation or a link to the citation.

There are 3 comments on One More Unhealthy Legacy of Racism

  1. Did they stop to think that the two AREN’T related and that perhaps the heightened perceived racism of the more over weight women was actually not racism but weight discrimination?

    I would assume that weight gain causes discrimination not the other way around.

    In general the findings are as woman gained weight they became more aware of discrimination. Isn’t it possible that as their weight changes for the worse their confidence goes down and as a result they’re more paranoid about what people thought of them?

  2. I’m certainly not dismissing the suggestions made by this research–they could very well be true–but has perception of ideal body type been considered?

    In popular culture, it seems to be that thin white women are glamorized while “curvy” black women are given more attention. This is plain to see if one observes men’s magazines targeted at those demographics.

    It’s plausible that women of both races have similar perceptions of how far from the “ideal” they feel they can allow themselves to go while still remaining attractive/healthy. The implication of this is that one group would be more likely to be carry some “extra” weight, while the other becomes overweight.

    For example, let’s say both groups think that a 20% size increase over their racial “ideal” is ok. Let’s also say (and this is completely arbitrary) that a 5’5″ “ideal” body would weigh 120lbs for a white woman and 150lbs for a black woman. This means that, respectively, these women perceive that 144lbs, and 180lbs are acceptable. Obviously, one of these numbers is closer to healthy weight than the other.

    I know this isn’t scientific–it’s just a complementary theory that sprung to mind–but it seems to make at least some sense, logically.

  3. She and fellow researchers hypothesize that stress related to perceived racism causes elevated hormone levels in the central nervous system; an increase in cortisol secretion activates lipoprotein lipase, which increases fat retention…..
    is it not possible that it may be due to lack of exercise, poor eating habits and other lifestyle changes necessary to keep one within their ideal weight. Most Americans who are overweight could find any number of reasons to say they gained wieght without first recognizing the lifestyle they lead that may be the number one culprit.

Post a comment.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *