Individuals with overweight and obesity face pervasive stigmatisation, social devaluation, and discrimination because of their body size in our society in the UK. OEN UK has launched the ‘Stand Up to Weight Stigma’ campaign to highlight the nature and extent of this discrimination in various different settings and bring change. The first focus of the campaign is the workplace. In this guest post, Dr Zofia Bajorek draws on recent research to highlight the extent of weight-based stigma people with obesity face in employment.
Continue reading “Weight Stigma in Employment”Obesity? The time to talk is now.
On 23 February 2021, the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) hosted the ‘Obesity? The time to talk is now: Addressing stigma and building confidence in discussions around healthy weight’ webinar.
Continue reading “Obesity? The time to talk is now.”Professor Farooqi becomes a Royal Society Fellow
We are delighted to announce that OEN Steering Group member Professor Sadaf Farooqi has been elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society in recognition of her discoveries of fundamental mechanisms that control human energy homeostasis and their disruption in obesity.
Skinny Genes
It is commonly thought that being thin is down to choices – eating choices and activity choices. This has lead to thinness being associated with a kind of personal fortitude or moral superiority and overweight and obesity being associated with personal weakness and moral inferiority. But current scientific understanding does not support this position.
Continue reading “Skinny Genes”Why are OEN UK Champions so valuable?
Champions are central to OEN’s vision for improving the health and lives of people living with obesity. We spoke with OEN founding member and Champion, Maggie Clinton, about the Champion role and our conversation formed the basis for this post.
Continue reading “Why are OEN UK Champions so valuable?”Working to improve preventative and treatment strategies for obesity
In this post we continue the blog series marking the launch of the Obesity Empowerment Network Strategic Plan 2020-2023 in which we meet the individuals who developed it. This time we are speaking with Maggie Clinton, OEN UK Founding Member and Trustee, about why OEN UK is working to improve preventative and treatment strategies for obesity.
Continue reading “Working to improve preventative and treatment strategies for obesity”People, patients, and professionals
OEN UK was founded as a network by, and for, people living with obesity and professionals working in the field. This is unique to OEN. In this post, continuing the series of blogs marking the launch of the Obesity Empowerment Network Strategic Plan 2020-2023, founding member Maggie Clinton explains why this decision was made and why OEN’s fundamental commitment to collaborative working is important.
Continue reading “People, patients, and professionals”New specialised support to help those living with obesity
On 4 March 2021, the government announced new specialised support to help those living with obesity to lose weight.
Continue reading “New specialised support to help those living with obesity”Applications invited for OEN UK Champions
OEN UK are delighted to be recruiting Champions across the UK. Read this post to find out more about the role and how you can apply.
Continue reading “Applications invited for OEN UK Champions”Stand Up To Weight Stigma
To mark World Obesity Day 2021 we are launching our ‘Stand Up to Weight Stigma’ campaign. In this post we introduce the campaign and how you can be involved today and through the year.
Continue reading “Stand Up To Weight Stigma”