A New Disabled South
May 30, 2023
The Representation Project’s #AllBodies Report was recently featured in a Healthline article about the impact of inadequate fat representation. Our 2022 report examined representations of fat women and girls in entertainment media from 2011 to 2021–the first quantitative study of its kind. Our key findings reflect what fat activists have predicted for years: while 42.5% of US women have large body types, fat women characters are virtually nonexistent. When fat women are featured in film and television, they are often portrayed in supporting roles, and in roles that perpetuate harmful stereotypes.
The impact of this representation cannot be understated: popular entertainment media reinforces fat stigma and sexism by erasing and stereotyping these characters…
The Representation Project is a partner of the ERA Coalition and the Fund for Women’s Equality.
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