Perhaps you should stop digging. The study seemed rather idiotic from the get go. I have to wonder if they took into account the fact that possibly people simply choose friends who have attributes in common. It seems likely that people who have issues with weight would be more likely to have friends who do as well.

It's also interesting that scientists can't seem to make skinny people fat any more than they can make fat people skinny. When that happens I'll be more interested in what they have to say. The most interesting studies I've seen suggest that the use of corn syrup solids as a sweetner have more to do with climbing weights than any particular change in eating behaviour. Most of the world is also less likely to work at jobs that involve physical labour, that people would have less muscle mass seems fairly preordained.

And I like your supposition that since bias against fat isn't working we just need to make it stronger. Sort of like if torturing people doesn't get accurate information just increase the severity, they'll get you're serious eventually.

Well,

It seems as if Will decided it was time to clarify his statements in order to please the "Fat Acceptance Police". One problem, his main assertion, that we need to increase the social stigma for being fat again still remains, and deep down, this is what "fat" acceptance people are most offended by. And instead of dealing with that issue, he takes on the "ditching" of fat friends, which in my mind, when it gets right down to it, is going to be the natural result that occurrs when someone decides to change their "evil" ways so to speak.

For example, if Person A (who is overweight) finally decides enough is enough, what is more likely to happen:

(a) Person A convinces everyone in the group to stop watching NASCAR on Sundays and instead go riding 60 miles or;

(b) Person A decides to go riding 60 miles on Sundays. The rest of his/her friends who watch NASCAR continue to watch NASCAR and eat bad food. As Person A gets more involved with people who go cycling on Sundays, he/she becomes closer to to those people, creating new friends. Meanwhile, he/she loses touch with the group of friends who still watch NSACAR and gain weight.

I am guessing B. But before everyone gets up in arms, how is this any different from when two couples are good friends but lose touch after one couple has a child while the other couple still wants to relish in being in their late 20's early 30's?

And as for stigmatizing fat people, I think the decline in those who found fat people fat is not the "honest" answer. Face it, if that were the case, there would be more chubbies on the cover of magazines and less models. Until I see the money flow towards fat people, studies such as the one Will described are nothing more than evidence that the Fat Acceptance people may succeed in getting us to hold our tounges, but they will never change our minds.

The study explicitly controlled for fat people being more likely to become friends with fat people because the study is over time and most people in the study started with a healthy BMI.