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Normative Does Not Mean Inclusive: A Diverse Approach To Size In Public Health Training, Courtney Boggs, Melinda Rule

Showcase of Osprey Advancements in Research and Scholarship (SOARS)

Western cultures, like the United States, typically adhere to the medicalized model of weight and weight loss (Kasardo, 2018; Matacin & Simone, 2019). The medicalized model upholds a Weight Normative Approach which assumes that: weight and disease are positively and causally related, weight loss correlates to better health, bodyweight is controllable, and significant weight loss is possible and sustainable for the majority of people (Calogero, Tylka, Mensinger, Meadows, & Danielsdotir, 2018). This model stigmatizes fat people in order to promote health; it may also create socialized internal weight stigmas (Calogero et. al., 2018). Internalized weight stigma is associated with stagnate …