- A new report finds that unrealistic body ideals cost the US economy over $8 million a year.
- Body hatred and discrimination can lead to societal costs such as treatment for depression and absenteeism.
- A 14-year-old told Insiders how media body diversity helped her cope with weight-based bullying.
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At the age of seven, Ashton Garrison worried about death. Her doctor put the concept in her head. “He said, ‘Fat kids grow into fat adults and then they die,'” Garrison, now 14, told Insider.
Other trusted adults also emphasized the link between weight and death. Garrison said a leader at a weight-loss camp gave her and other campers a detailed story about a young woman who committed suicide because, it was said, of her height.
Garrison found no relief from her peers, who bullied her for her larger physique — and big personality. “That added to the pain,” she said. Garrison said she wished she could cut away her fat with scissors and asked her mother for liposuction.
Young people like Garrison, a high school freshman in Hazel Park, Michigan, are not only personally affected by hatred and discrimination based on appearance — the economy is too, a report Tuesday revealed.
The Dove Self-Esteem Project study, in collaboration with Harvard Chan School of Public Health and others, found that over $800 billion is lost each year to body dissatisfaction and appearance discrimination.
More specifically, body image issues can lead to poor productivity at work, for example, and healthcare costs like treating eating disorders and depression, the report says.
“What a lot of people don’t realize is that this comes at a price, because people often only see beauty as ephemeral or superficial,” says Dr. S. Bryn Austin, founding director of the Strategic Training Initiative for the Prevention of Eating Disorders (STRIPED) at Harvard and Boston Children’s Hospital, told Insider. People think it’s “not really something that could have such a lasting impact that it could hurt our economy.”
But in reality, Austin said, the cost is “more than the cost of distracted driving or underage drinking by teens.”
The report found that we lose $501 annually from appearance discrimination alone
To produce the report, Austin and economists at Deloitte Access Economics, along with a panel of experts, collated the research literature on both physical dissatisfaction (a strong and constant feeling about one’s appearance) and appearance-based discrimination based on height and race.
They then performed economic analysis to estimate the cost to the economy, using the same methods researchers use to predict other costs, such as gun violence.
The team found that physical dissatisfaction costs $301 billion annually — enough to cover tuition, fees, room and board for 2.9 million girls annually, according to the report.
“If someone has physical dissatisfaction severe enough to show up in our calculations, they may be at greater risk of developing depression or anxiety or an eating disorder,” which can be expensive to treat, Austin said.
The report also found that discrimination based on appearance costs US$501 billion annually – enough to cover two-thirds of the country’s health spending out of pocket, the report says.
“People don’t get hired if they apply for jobs and are seen as living in a larger body. People with darker skin tones will not be hired. They may get hired but get paid less,” Austin said.
Children with darker skin are also given tougher disciplines, which “reduces the chances that they will graduate, which reduces the chances that they will achieve higher education,” she added. “And this has a negative cascading effect, not just for that person and their family, but for jobs and our society as a whole.”
Austin said laws against weight and hair discrimination can help protect against those losses, and that the country must continue to “clean up the insidious effects of diet culture,” for example by banning the sale of weight-loss pills to children.
Garrison said the better visibility of larger black bodies has improved their sanity
Garrison said she struggles with depression and an eating disorder that is related to how others perceive her body and popular culture’s message about who is worthy of being happy and loved.
In movies, people who resemble her are “either an ugly stepsister or a funny fat best friend” or a woman whose “relationship could fall apart because of weight gain,” Garrison said. “You see this everywhere and you’re like, ‘Well, why do I have to go through a lot of sadness just to find some romance in my life?’ It just doesn’t seem fair.”
But Garrison said she’s built confidence over the years, thanks in part to a more compassionate doctor who helps her improve her relationship with food, her mother’s support, and increased visibility of all body sizes, colors, abilities, and hairstyles.
When she first saw Lizzo’s “Truth Hurts” video, Garrison said, “I was just over the moon that I saw someone who was tall and black and dancing around and singing.” She said seeing more black role models of all body types, had “a very big impact on me and my personality, and I realized what I can actually do and offer to this world”.
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