Many fat Britons 'face bullying'
Updated on 13 October 2008
Fat-related jibes are "endemic" among Britons with nine out of 10 overweight people experiencing name-calling because of their excess pounds, researchers have said.
The old adage that bullies are often bullied themselves applied, with many of those hurling insults emerging as overweight or obese.
The paradox was revealed in a survey of 1000 adults which also calculated the respondents' body mass indexes (BMIs).
Almost half of people (46%) surveyed admitted to having referred to or thought of an overweight person by a derogatory name.
This negative attitude was shared by many of those who had felt the brunt of insults, with a third (33%) of obese or very obese respondents among the name-callers.
Researchers found that despite the rise of political correctness, such weight-related name-calling was most widespread amongst the young.
The numbers calling names fell the older people were, from more than half of 16 to 24-year-olds surveyed (56%) to just over a third (35%) of 55 to 64-year-olds.
Misguided banter could be why men were readier to insult friends and relatives in this way, with nearly a third (28%) doing so, in comparison to just 11% of women.
And overweight people in London faced a harder time than their Scottish counterparts, with twice as many Londoners (30%) prepared to call a friend or relative a nasty name compared to Scots (15%).
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