“Here are some things I do now in a bikini that I would not have done at 30: one, wear it; two, eat in it; three, sit down in it.” So said comedian Riona O’Connor in a recent viral video, who then slapped her tummy with a grin, adding: “Throw it on you, nobody cares.” A joyful and empowering message to other women: weight consciousness is in our heads. I so wanted to believe it. But depressingly, new evidence suggests otherwise.
Most people know that richer people tend to be thinner. Less appreciated is that this divide is largely driven by women. According to data gathered between 2021 and 2023, the poorest third of women in America suffered an obesity rate 14 percentage points higher than the richest third. For men, the gap was less than a percentage point. In Europe the patterns are similar, though the gender differences are less extreme.