Fat talk and self-presentation of body image: Is there a social norm for women to self-degrade?

Gender Differences in Fat Talk Among American Adults: Results from the Psychology of Size Survey

“…Of those reporting the highest likelihood of hearing negative body talk, 73.6% were women, and of those reporting high pressure to engage in fat talk, 71.9% were women. However, only a subset of female participants reported frequent likelihood of (31%) and high-perceived pressure to join in fat talk (17%), a finding that is contrary to some interpretations of Britton et al (2006) by the popular press that fat talk is "mandatory" in American culture (Goudarzi 2007). Thus fat talk remains more of a feminine cultural phenomenon, yet not all women are affected by it.…”

“…Britton et al (2006) further found that American college students expected young adult women to derogate their bodies in a group of women engaging in fat talk. Our gender comparisons suggest that fat talk, is indeed, more of a female cultural phenomenon even beyond the teen and college age years.…”

“…Moreover, perceived pressure to join in any type of conversation is likely a function of the base-rate of exposure to that particular form of discourse. However, when Britton et al (2006) asked female college students how a female target would respond in a group of three other women engaging in fat talk, a strong majority reported that she would join in. Yet, these same respondents did not predict that they would follow suit in that situation.…”

“…Nichter's (2000) ethnographic study of fat talk in U.S. adolescent females documented an awareness of the social expectation to fat talk when companions were doing so. Similarly, Britton et al (2006) found that male and female Caucasian college students perceived fat talk as normative by predicting that a hypothetical college woman would say negative things about her own body when exposed to other women doing so. Nichter (2000) suggested that participation in fat talk may serve multiple functions in female conversation including eliciting social validation, providing an outlet for negative emotions, relieving guilt when eating certain foods, establishing an in-group, and managing one's impression during social conversations.…”

“…Despite growing empirical evidence of fat-talk conversations among young women and the awareness of the norm by young men (Britton et al 2006), the occurrence of and perceived pressure to engage in this phenomenon in the general population is unknown. Britton et al found that although college women in their study reported they, personally, would not participate in fat talk when other women were doing so, they believed that most women would.…”