Fat Trauma: Overt and Covert Manifestations
When most people hear the word trauma, they think of catastrophic, life-threatening events: car accidents, natural disasters, or physical violence. But trauma is not defined by what happens, it is shaped by how an experience impacts the nervous system and a person’s sense of safety, dignity, and belonging. For many people in larger bodies, trauma doesn’t come from a single dramatic event but rather from the accumulation of everyday harm.
This ongoing harm can be called fat trauma: the chronic psychological, physical, and relational injuries caused by living in a world that stigmatizes and marginalizes fat bodies. Fat trauma emerges from both blatant discrimination and subtle, often invisible forms of exclusion. It is real, it is valid, and it has profound effects on mental and physical health.
What Is Fat Trauma?
Fat trauma describes the unique set of harms that fat people experience due to systemic weight stigma. It is not simply “hurt feelings” or insecurity, it is the psychological injury that comes from living in a culture that consistently tells you that your body is wrong, unworthy, or undeserving of humanity and care.
Trauma researchers often describe trauma as any event, or series of events, that overwhelms a person’s ability to cope, leaves them feeling powerless, and disrupts their sense of safety. By this definition, repeated exposure to anti-fat bias absolutely qualifies as trauma.
Consider:
Being laughed at by strangers in public.
Having your doctor refuse to run tests until you lose weight.
Struggling to find clothing in your size in any store.
Seeing your body type constantly portrayed in media as a joke, villain, or cautionary tale.
One incident alone may be painful. But the cumulative weight of these experiences over years or decades changes how the nervous system operates, leading to hypervigilance, shame, isolation, and distrust.
Overt Fat Trauma
Overt trauma refers to harm that is direct, visible, and often socially acknowledged as cruel or discriminatory. These experiences mirror other forms of abuse or marginalization and leave little ambiguity about their intent.
Harassment and bullying – Many fat individuals recall being mocked in school, called slurs, or targeted with physical aggression like tripping or spitting. This often continues into adulthood through workplace harassment or online abuse.
Medical neglect and harm – Studies consistently show that patients in larger bodies are less likely to receive standard medical screenings and more likely to have their concerns dismissed or attributed solely to weight. One 2012 study found that higher-weight patients are less likely to be referred for cancer screenings, even when they present with risk factors.
Physical assault – Some people experience direct violence, including strangers assaulting them “as a joke” or partners abusing them with size-related insults and control.
Infantilization – Fat adults are often treated as though they lack discipline, intelligence, or self-control. Decisions may be made for them by doctors, family, or even strangers.
Overt trauma leaves clear wounds. Yet many fat individuals say the quieter, covert traumas cut just as deeply.
Covert Fat Trauma
Covert trauma is subtle, normalized, and often invisible to those who don’t experience it. These are the erasures and systemic barriers that wear down resilience over time. Because covert trauma is often denied or minimized, it can be even harder to heal.
Erasure of fat bodies – In media, fashion, and advertising, fat bodies are rarely represented. When they are, it is usually through caricatures: the comedic sidekick, the butt of the joke, the villain, or the “before” picture in a weight-loss story.
Stereotyping – Fat people are often assumed to be lazy, unclean, unhealthy, or lacking willpower. These stereotypes shape social interactions, employment opportunities, and even romantic relationships.
Social isolation – Family members may make “jokes” about weight. Friends may stop inviting someone to activities like hiking or going to amusement parks because they assume they won’t “fit” or enjoy it. Romantic partners may hide relationships out of shame.
Workplace discrimination – Fat employees are frequently passed over for leadership positions, assumed to lack discipline, or judged more harshly in performance reviews.
Where Overt and Covert Trauma Overlap
Many forms of fat trauma sit at the intersection of overt and covert harm. They may not always involve direct cruelty, but the exclusion is so systemic that the wound is undeniable.
Physical accessibility – Airplane seats, restaurant booths, and public transportation often exclude larger bodies. The humiliation of being forced to buy two tickets or being told you “don’t fit” is both overt and systemic.
Dehumanization – Fat bodies are treated as public property, strangers feel entitled to comment on diet choices, pregnancy, or exercise habits. In advertising, fat bodies are used as “before” photos to sell weight-loss products, erasing individuality and humanity.
Clothing accessibility – In most stores, sizes above XL or 14 are excluded, especially for professional attire. The unspoken message: fat people don’t deserve fashionable, dignified clothing.
Fat Trauma in High-Demand Groups
High-demand groups, such as certain religious, political, or wellness communities, often intensify fat trauma. These groups tend to regulate not only beliefs and behaviors, but also bodies, and fat bodies frequently become a target of control. The result is both overt and covert trauma that reinforces shame and dehumanization.
Overt Fat Trauma in High-Demand Groups
Shaming from leadership – Leaders may call out or discipline fat members, linking body size to sin, weakness, or lack of discipline. They may also distrust fat members, refusing to allow them to participate in the same way as other members.
Medical or health neglect – Members may be told to rely on prayer, fasting, or “natural healing” instead of evidence-based treatment.
Punitive practices – Weight loss regimens, food restrictions, or forced fasting can be imposed under the guise of “purity” or “obedience.”
Covert Fat Trauma in High-Demand Groups
Moralization of body size – Thinness is equated with holiness, self-control, or spiritual strength, while fatness is associated with laziness, gluttony, or sin.
Exclusion from visibility – Fat members may be kept out of leadership roles, excluded from promotional materials, or treated as unfit representatives of the group.
Subtle isolation – Community members may avoid socializing with fat individuals or pressure them to lose weight to be fully accepted.
Overlapping Traumas in High-Demand Groups
Dehumanization as doctrine – Teachings may frame fat bodies as a cautionary tale, reducing people to “examples” of what not to be. This strips away individuality and dignity.
Infantilization – Fat members may be treated as though they lack maturity, wisdom, or self-control, needing supervision or constant correction. This reinforces power hierarchies and denies their autonomy.
Lack of accessibility – Group spaces (pews, uniforms, ritual clothing, community seating) are often designed for smaller bodies, making fat members feel excluded or humiliated.
Clothing control – Strict dress codes frequently fail to account for larger sizes, creating both material and symbolic exclusion.
In high-demand groups, these overt and covert harms are particularly painful because they are framed as spiritual truths, rather than cultural bias. This spiritualization of fatphobia makes it harder to challenge or resist, since pushing back can be seen as disobedience, rebellion, or lack of faith. Survivors often carry these wounds long after leaving the group, struggling to separate their worth from years of indoctrination that conflated body size with morality.
How Fat Trauma Manifests
Like other traumas, fat trauma leaves its imprint on the mind, body, and spirit. Survivors often report symptoms that parallel those seen in complex trauma.
Emotional and Psychological Manifestations
Hypervigilance – Constantly scanning public spaces for judgment, stares, or ridicule.
Shame and self-blame – Believing the harm they experience is deserved because of their body.
Depression and anxiety – Feelings of hopelessness, fear of rejection, and isolation from communities.
Identity struggles – Difficulty separating self-worth from body size.
Behavioral Manifestations
Avoidance – Declining social invitations, skipping medical appointments, or avoiding restaurants due to fear of chairs not fitting.
Disordered eating – Bingeing, restricting, or cycling through diets as a coping mechanism to manage stigma and internalized fatphobia.
Perfectionism – Attempting to overachieve in other areas of life (grades, career, parenting) to compensate for the belief that their body is a “failure.”
Physical Manifestations
Chronic stress – Living under constant stigma raises cortisol levels, which can negatively impact immune and cardiovascular health.
Medical mistrust – Avoiding healthcare entirely, which can delay diagnoses and worsen outcomes.
Fat trauma manifests not because of body size itself, but because of how society treats people in fat bodies.
Recovering From Fat Trauma
Healing doesn’t mean pretending the trauma never happened. It means reclaiming agency, dignity, and connection while living in a world that still perpetuates stigma.
Naming the trauma – Validating that fat trauma is real can be life-changing. Giving language to the pain transforms isolation into recognition.
Therapy with fat-liberation-informed providers – Trauma therapies such as EMDR, Internal Family Systems (IFS), or Somatic Experiencing can help release body-held shame and reconnect with self.
Community support – Online spaces like ASDAH or in-person fat-positive groups foster belonging and counteract isolation.
Embodiment practices – Gentle movement, yoga, or mindfulness focused on connection, not weight loss, can help rebuild safety within the body.
Challenging internalized bias – Reading body-liberation literature, curating fat-positive media, and practicing self-compassion exercises disrupt internalized fatphobia.
Healing from fat trauma is not about changing the body. It is about changing the relationship to one’s body and finding safety, dignity, and freedom despite oppressive systems.
Fat trauma is not just about “mean words” or insecurity. Fat trauma is a deep psychological injury that comes from a world designed to exclude, diminish, and dehumanize larger bodies. Overt trauma, like harassment, medical neglect, or physical assault is obvious in its cruelty. But covert trauma, like erasure, stereotypes, and isolation, can be just as damaging. Together, they create a layered trauma that shapes identity, relationships, and health.
By recognizing fat trauma as valid and worthy of care, we can begin dismantling the systemic stigma that perpetuates it. Healing is possible through therapy, community, and reclaiming body dignity. Every body deserves to exist freely, safely, and with respect.
Reach out to start therapy or to learn more.
Resources for Support
Books
What We Don’t Talk About When We Talk About Fat by Aubrey Gordon
The Body Is Not an Apology by Sonya Renee Taylor
Fearing the Black Body: The Racial Origins of Fat Phobia by Sabrina Strings
Unshrinking: How to Face Fatphobia by Kate Mann
Podcast
Maintenance Phase (debunks wellness and weight myths)
Organizations
Association for Size Diversity and Health (ASDAH)
National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance (NAAFA)
Disclaimer:
⚠️ The content on this blog is intended for informational and educational purposes ONLY and should NOT be considered a substitute for personal professional mental health care, diagnosis, or treatment. Reading these posts does not establish a therapeutic relationship.
If you are currently in crisis, experiencing thoughts of harming yourself or others, or are in need of immediate support, please call 911 or contact a crisis line such as the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 (U.S.) or access your local emergency services.
These blog posts are written to explore topics like trauma, religious deconstruction, cults, identity development, and mental wellness in a thoughtful and compassionate way. They may (or may not) resonate deeply, especially for those healing from complex trauma, but they are NOT meant to replace individualized therapy or medical care.
