High profile incidents of racism are helping to make black women fat, according to a new study in the Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities.
The new study looks at eating behaviours of black women in Baltimore in the aftermath of the death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray in police custody. Gray’s death in 2015 resulted in protests across the city, and six officers charged in connection with his death were either found guilty or had the charges against them dropped.
Researchers from Johns Hopkins collected data from 254 women living at various distances from the epicenter of the incident, the neighborhood where Gray lived, before and after the high-profile incident. The researchers wanted to examine whether “vicarious racism”—mere proximity to acts of racism—could cause members of minorities, in this case black women, to eat more.
The answer, apparently, was a resounding “yes.”
As it turns out, women who lived closer Gray’s neighborhood after the incident reported higher levels of “emotional eating” and smoking, and also perceived there to be an increase in levels of daytime crime, suggesting they were dealing with stressors including increased anxiety.
The researchers point out that “vicarious racial discrimination” is not limited to police violence, but can be experienced on social media, at school, in the workplace, and even in stories told by family, friends and strangers.
Black women have the highest levels of obesity compared to any other group in the US. Eighty percent of black women are overweight or obese.