This is a graphic from this doctor's website. It's hilarious how little my experience resembles this.
I went to a new gynecologist today and had a dreadful experience. The (female) doctor was rude, cold, and openly disapproving and judgmental of my fatness. Her disapproval and conduct was not a simply matter of professional concern, she acted in accordance to the fat bias ingrained in her socially as well. ‘Bitchy’ does not adequately cover how this doctor behaved and she made no real secret that it was because of my size. Her tone with me was venom-filled– literally as if I had run over her dog or murdered a child. This experience was a useful reminder that fat stigma is real and it is damaging.
I just sent her the following email:
Dear Dr. Roberts,
I am writing to express my disappointment with the quality of care you showed me today. I left your office in tears after feeling hurried and unimportant through our appointment. Perhaps your bedside manner is abrupt with all of your patients, but my impression was that I was being treated especially gruffly because of my weight. I appreciate that you spoke candidly about my obesity as a medical concern, but your tone and flippant attribution of symptoms as directly and singularly related to my fatness felt off-hand and dismissive.
I went into your office today as part of my efforts to better my health and overcome a 24-year fear of doctors that stems from a brain disease I had when I was seven. I expressed this journey to you but I feel that you did not hear it, or maybe did not believe me. Instead of joining me in a dialog about my body and its needs in order to plan a path to health, you recommended weight loss surgery and then pushed the point with the anecdotal example of your brother. Weight loss surgery is the fast way to a result that I am interested in, but not through those means.
A couple of months ago the LA Times wrote an interesting article on fat bias in the medical field and its negative effects on overweight patients. The jist is that when doctors forcibly express their concerns about obesity ‘for the patient’s own good’ they increase the likelihood that person will avoid treatment in the future. Some Fat Studies scholars have even suggested that this aversion to routine checkups contributes to the increased rate of illness associated with obesity. You can see the article here: http://articles.latimes.com/2010/dec/13/health/la-he-the-md-weight-bias-20101213
I will not be returning to your office for further treatment. In the event that my pap smear results require follow up I will do so with another doctor.
Rachel Herrick
Being a lifelong fatty, I hear your pain — and empathize. I congratulate you on being so courageous in letting the doctor know how you felt after your visit. It does not matter if she acknowledges or not, you did the right thing for you. Should you want even more proof of the fat bias from medical professionals I recommend you read Dr. Kelly Brownell, et al’s “Weight Bias: Nature, Consequences, and Remedies”.
I wish you luck finding a doctor who has learned how to deal more professionally with fat patients.
[...] This work stems from my personal reaction to the way I have been treated daily since I’ve been fat. MOCS is about the lived, social experience of fat. More specifically, it is about MY lived experience of fat. Because the thing of it is that in my own head I am empowered, smart, pretty– all that good stuff. But it floors me that every time I meet a new person (for one example of fat stigma in action) I can perceive in their eyes, posture, and tone that their first impression is that I’m probably stupid and lazy. This is 80% of the people I meet in both personal and professional contexts. (I’ll grant you that since I work in the arts fat stigma may be more prevalent then in other fields.) So everytime I meet a new person I have to perform this delicate dance of self-promotion just so that I can be treated as equal. And then the light goes on (and I can see it happen) and then everything changes and we’re buds. I’m proud that I can make that transition happen, but it’s emotionally draining to do it several times a day. For an account of my recent encounter with fat stigma at the hands of a new gynecologist click here. [...]