Study: ‘Weight-ism’ Is Bigger Than Racism (via emilyposts)
… weight discrimination is spiraling upward, and that’s a dangerous trend that could add fuel to the obesity epidemic.
The study argues that discrimination against fat people should be illegal, just like discrimination based on race, age, or gender.
Personally, I don’t see the connection… being overweight is just as much of a lifestyle and personality decision as smoking, being annoying, or listening to bad music. Sure, it’s hard to change it once you’re there. But it’s not impossible, and it’s not the world’s fault that you got there in the first place.
People shouldn’t be prohibited from thinking negatively of people who are overweight because of their decisions.
(Also, this picture… they couldn’t have picked a better representative? Is that a pair of 2-liter soda bottles in that shopping bag?)
Totally agree with Marco.
There’s a huge difference between “thinking negatively” and treating differently. Morbidly obese people are the last bastion of legal and socially acceptable discrimination. Don’t believe me? Put on a fat suit and see how drastically the world changes for you. The easiest way to become invisible in America is to be huge. And if you think it’s a choice, or you think it’s “hard to change it once you’re there but not impossible” then you’ve obviously never been through that particular struggle yourself. Losing 10 or 20 lbs is a completely different experience than losing 100 or 200. Try exercising when you can barely move without getting winded, or eating less when your stomach is huge and constantly demands food. And what of the people with medical conditions that cause obesity, or the people who had irresponsible parents, causing them to be obese before they were even old enough to choose their own diet or lifestyle? It smacks of the old “sexuality is just a choice” excuse people used to (and still do) bring out.
I’m not going to go so far as to say anti-discrimination laws need to be passed or enforced. But obesity is a disease, and it’s an affliction that affects both the body and the mind, and ignorance of the difficulty of that particular existence is just as widespread as ignorance of the equality of blacks before the civil rights movement in America. Maybe people shouldn’t be prohibited from thinking negatively, but perhaps proper education and a little compassion is in order.
