Socialization often drives the opinions held about people’s identities and how we interact with them. Within this lies implicit biases held by groups of people about groups of which they may or may not be a part. Assumptions about level of ‘health’ and lifestyle are often made and diagnoses can be overlooked in favor of focusing on weight. Additionally, factors outside of lifestyle, such as genetics or chronic illnesses, are often ignored. Examining the biases and their impact on perceptions of individuals with increased weights or ‘atypical’ weight distributions leads us into this next section.
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Fearing the Black Body by 
What We Don't Talk about When We Talk about Fat by What role do our genes play in influencing our body weight and what we like to eat? Why do some people gain weight more easily than others, and is it all down to genes or are there other factors at play? In this episode, we talked with a clinician and scientist Sadaf Farooqi, health psychologist Theresa Marteau, and geographer Thomas Burgoine about the multitude of factors that go into influencing our eating behaviours. Along the way, we hear about the crucial importance of the environment in influencing our eating behaviour, including “zoning” - the effort to keep fast food outlets no more than 400 yards from schools, and learn how our food has become more calorific over the past 20 to 30 years. Our guests discuss how ultimately, communicating information about obesity doesn’t necessarily change our behaviour towards food, as we are much more influenced by our genes and environment than what's inside our heads.
While we don't own these books, they are relevant to this topic and might help provide additional guidance. We recommend checking with your local library. Boston Public Library offers free library eCards for MA residents (and for those living in MA while attending school in-state or who work for a MA employer). These free eCards allow you to access their online resources (which includes large collection of eBooks/AudioBooks/and more from OverDrive and Hoopla).
Tipping the Scales of Justice by 
