Stores and manufacturers who sell children’s clothing labeled as “plus,” “husky,” or even “slim” size may be contributing to discrimination and shaming of overweight or even thin or small youngsters, a Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health researcher told BuzzFeed News on October 14, 2016.

“For children to have to lead a movement to fight weight stigma is a tough battle for them to take on,” said S. Bryn Austin, director of the Harvard Chan School’s Strategic Training Initiative for the Prevention of Eating Disorders (STRIPED) and professor in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, at Harvard Chan School. “I would rather just not expose them to that stigma and for them to be treated fairly and all children to know they’re loved and valued at any size.”

“What would be better is if we didn’t employ these methods of discrimination and shaming that create higher and lower statuses in community,” she told BuzzFeed News. “How about we just have children be treated equal?”

Read the BuzzFeed News article: These Moms Are Angry That Old Navy And Gap Call Kids “Husky” And “Plus” Size

Learn more

A call to regulate starvation of ‘Paris thin’ models (Harvard Chan News)

Eating Disorders, Mental Health and Body Image (Harvard Chan Forum webcast)