BMI, microaggressions and weight stigma (V)
Taryn Knox1, University Of Otago Dunedin 1University Of Otago, Dunedin, Region, New Zealand
Abstract
Is the use of Body Mass Index (BMI) in the clinical setting a microaggression that contributes to harmful weight stigma? Microaggressions are brief everyday exchanges that sends a denigrating message to certain individuals because of their marginalised group membership, such as a health professional suggesting weight loss for a patient who has come in for an unrelated issue. While no empirical research is available, it is plausible that some larger bodied people interpret the use of BMI as degrading – a microaggression. A patient might ‘get the feeling’ that the health professional is looking down on them, given the predominant, albeit flawed, narrative that having a high BMI is necessarily unhealthy.
Whether something is a microaggression hangs on whether the recipient (the patient) experienced the exchange as denigrating; the intention of the ‘perpetrator’ (the health professional) is irrelevant. Some may argue that this is a pitfall of the concept of ‘microaggression’; that larger-bodied people perceive a negative attitude when there is none. McClure and Rini’s (2020) structural account of microaggression argues that background societal conditions, rather than intent or experience, are relevant to whether some action is a microaggression. Using this account, I argue that the use of BMI may be correctly identified as a microaggression given the entrenchment of weight culture and stigma in society. Moreover, I argue that as the privileged group, it is the duty of health professionals to ‘go the extra mile’ to ensure that they do not perpetuate weight stigma via microaggressions.
McClure, E., & Rini, R. (2020). Microaggression: Conceptual and scientific issues. Philosophy Compass, 15(4), e12659. https://doi.org/10.1111/phc3.12659
Biography
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