Stop making weight a personal failure: Australia’s harmful obsession with body size and shape

“As the CEO of Butterfly Foundation, I witness daily how our society’s response to body size creates devastating ripple effects across our communities…When public health campaigns designed to improve health instead contribute to eating disorders and body dissatisfaction, we need to fundamentally rethink our strategy.”

The recently released Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) biennial report has once again thrust weight statistics into the national spotlight, highlighting that 65% of Australians are classified as overweight or ob*se*.

While this represents a modest 2% decrease from 2017, the narrative surrounding these numbers demands urgent reconsideration. As the CEO of Butterfly Foundation, I witness daily how our society’s response to body size creates devastating ripple effects across our communities.

For too long, we have placed the entire burden of weight on individuals, treating larger bodies as a personal moral failing rather than acknowledging the complex interplay of genetic, environmental, social, and economic factors that influence weight. This individualistic approach has not only failed to create meaningful change but has actively contributed to a public health crisis that extends far beyond the numbers on a scale.

The AIHW report identifies weight as the second highest risk factor for health issues. However, what these statistics don’t reveal is the psychological toll of living in a society that consistently stigmatises and discriminates against people in larger bodies.

Research increasingly shows that the stress of weight stigma itself contributes to poor health outcomes, creating a cruel cycle that no amount of individual “willpower” can break.

Research published in the International Journal of Eating Disorders supported the dangerous unintended consequences of traditional anti-ob*sity campaigns. The study, titled “It makes you not want to eat,” demonstrates how these well-intentioned public health initiatives can trigger or exacerbate eating disorders, particularly among vulnerable populations. Participants reported that exposure to anti-ob*sity messaging reinforced disordered thoughts about food and intensified their fear of weight gain, often leading to dangerous compensatory behaviours.

As a society, we must acknowledge that our current approach is not just ineffective – it’s harmful.

When public health campaigns designed to improve health instead contribute to eating disorders and body dissatisfaction, we need to fundamentally rethink our strategy.

The impact extends beyond those already diagnosed with eating disorders; these campaigns can plant the seeds of disordered eating in otherwise healthy individuals, particularly young people who are already navigating complex relationships with their bodies.

The recent announcement from the UK government to provide weight-loss injections to unemployed individuals perfectly exemplifies this harmful individualistic approach.

By explicitly linking body size to unemployment and economic productivity, this £280 million initiative perpetuates a dangerous narrative that larger bodies are inherently less valuable to society and that weight is the primary barrier to employment.

This reductionist approach ignores the complex socioeconomic factors that influence both employment status and body size, while simultaneously stigmatising two vulnerable populations – those living in larger bodies and those experiencing unemployment.

When a Health Secretary declares that “widening waistbands” are “holding back our economy,” we witness the culmination of decades of weight stigma being codified into government policy. Such initiatives not only demonstrate a profound misunderstanding of the complex relationship between health, weight, and societal participation but also risk exacerbating eating disorders and mental health issues among those targeted by these programs.

The solution lies not in abandoning health promotion but in revolutionising how we approach it. We need to:

• Shift from weight-centric health measures to holistic wellbeing indicators
• Address systemic barriers to health, including food insecurity and lack of access to supportive healthcare
• Challenge weight stigma in healthcare settings, workplaces, and public spaces
• Promote body diversity and reject the notion that health has one size or shape
• Invest in preventive healthcare that considers both physical and mental health impacts

At Butterfly Foundation, we advocate for a weight-inclusive approach to health that acknowledges body diversity as natural and valid. This approach recognises that health behaviours are more important than numbers on a scale and that stigma-free healthcare leads to better outcomes for everyone.

We are currently working with KPMG to assess the true cost of appearance-based ideals to the Australian economy, and will be sharing those results in early 2025.

The burden of living in a larger body in our society is crushing – not because of the weight itself, but because of how we as a society respond to it. Every stigmatising comment, every discriminatory policy, and every shame-based health campaign adds to this burden. It’s time we lifted this weight from individuals and acknowledged our collective responsibility to create a more inclusive and truly healthy society.

As we move forward, let’s ensure our public health initiatives promote genuine wellbeing rather than perpetuate harmful stereotypes. The answer isn’t in making people feel ashamed about their bodies; it’s in creating a society where everyone has access to respectful healthcare, nutritious food, safe spaces for movement, and freedom from weight-based discrimination.

The 65% of Australians living in larger bodies aren’t failing society; society is failing them. It’s time we shared this burden and worked together toward real, sustainable solutions that benefit everyone’s health – physical, spiritual, mental, and emotional.

Only by shifting this narrative can we hope to create meaningful change that doesn’t come at the cost of our community’s mental health and wellbeing. The weight of this change cannot rest solely on individuals – it must be carried by all of us.

Written by Dr Jim Hungerford, CEO Butterfly Foundation

*Through conversations with Butterfly’s lived experience community, the term obese has been identified as highly stigmatising. We use “ob*se” and “ob*sity” out of respect for the struggles people living in larger bodies face every day.