Weight Bullying of Obese Child on the Rise

Feb. 8, 2013 - PRLog -- Weight bullying of obese kids are on the rise. Recent studies show that as young as grade 4 to 6 school kids experienced weight bullying. Obese children are bullied by other children regardless of gender, race or academic achievement.

Weight bullying is defined as having any verbal and physical abuse to overweight people.

What can be alarming is that unlike in 80’s, more children gets heavier, in fact, half of the class is found to be overweight. If the ratio of obese child is on the rise, the increased number of kids that is victimized of weight bullying also continues to increase.

In a study done led by University of Michigan, out of 821 boys and girls aged 8 to 11, seventeen percent of them are obese while fifteen percent are considered overweight. Out of these numbers, a quarter of the children were found to experience weight bullying from their peers. However, if mothers were asked, forty-five percent of the children were victims of weight bullying.

Part of the report also shows that the risk of being bullied is high compared to a healthier counterpart. The risk of experiencing weight bullying is up by at least sixty-three percent.

With the numbers of victims of weight bullying on the rise, going deeper to the issue should be done by the school and families. . It is not a domestic issue anymore but the school should start programs against weight bullying.
As health participants in the study suggest that parents should encourage the school by preventing the discrimination. School officials can prevent weight bullying in their schoolyard by initiating any intervention programs. Intervention programs that deals to all kinds of bullying especially weight bullying should be implemented by school with the help of parents as well.

In lieu of the increasing numbers of weight bullying, an online community http://www.weightism.org was born to help and support victims of weight bullying. In weightism community, every obese children and adult alike are accepted without any weight prejudice.

At http://www.weightism.org/forum-4.html everyone can share his or her experiences about weight bullying without any fear of discrimination. Likewise, survivors of weight discrimination can also tell their stories on how they were able to stand and survive against bullying. Sharing survivor stories may inspire other people experiencing presently with bullying.

We can all survive weight bullying and we can start now by being an active member of Weightism.  Being a member is free. Just register today.