Parents' Guide to Thick Skin

Media that forces us to examine inherent biases is a good thing, and the challenges faced by these women will resonate with anyone who's ever been told they have "such a pretty face" for a fat girl. Watching Thick Skin, you can see the way weight stigma has cast a pall over many areas of their lives, and it's heartening to see the efforts they sometimes make to overcome toxic generational patterns. It's all very feel-good in nature, and even when they touch on subjects like eating disorders it doesn't veer too deeply into the painful stuff. The overall tone is very "Fats are people too!"

There's some focus on the way anti-fat bias in the medical industry is harmful, and providers like Susanne are right in saying that overweight patients are less likely to be taken seriously when the knee-jerk recommendation most doctors make upon meeting them is to "eat less and be more active" -- even before asking about their symptoms, or how that patient eats or moves. It's sad that providing all patients with respect regardless of their size isn't the standard of care, but that's reality. What's a bit questionable here is in the fine print: this entire docuseries was produced by Novo Nordisk, the pharmaceutical titan behind Wegovy and Ozempic, medications originally intended to treat diabetes that have gained massive popularity as weight loss drugs. Given this context, the unspoken message of Thick Skin could very well be "We love you, now change."