Weight Related Discrimination

[MANT!]

There IS weight based discrimination in the US, many studies have proven as such and it's getting worse. Some corporations are being investigated for quietly not hiring obese people to help keep the healthcare premiums low. The mass media just seems to be fueling the fire with stories of "Overweight America" and skyrocketing healthcare costs as if weight gain is the problem, when more often than not it's a symptom of some other disorder, whether it's physical, genetic or psychological in origin.

Until this country gets over it's obsession with the "perfect body" and instead tries to show more diverse acceptance of the many body types that constitute the Human race, this problem will continue.

 

[Thespeckledkiwi]

Well, I get crap because I'm a guy and weigh slightly over 100 pounds on my good days. It's simply because my metabolism is like a rabbit on crack. I eat a lot of food. Seriously I can eat double what a person normally eats but I don't simply because I'm too busy doing something or I forget to eat and it's time for my meal.

I also graze which is a problem for people that are skinny because you don't eat an entire meal you simply pace yourself eating. I am also a slow eater.

But I get discriminated against sometimes for my weight and I can't do jack about it. People make fun of me because I'm a skinny er Asian boy.

 

[RJDiogenes]

When I speak to tech support and would prefer to deal with someone that's not struggling with their English, what am I?

On hold.

 

[Maestro]

Some interesting responses so far...

My wife is pretty slender. She spent her high school years with her Dad, Grandfather, Stepmother, and teachers demanding she "eat something!" -- They thought she was anorexic. Her Mother knew that she just had an incredibly quick metabolism and that she was eating very well.

My wife has also commented that random people came up to her during high school and college and chastised her to "eat something!" Even my colleagues over the years have asked about my wife's eating habits.

She's just slender. And I've never seen her do a sit-up, yet the doctors have always commented on how amazingly strong her abdominal muscles are.

Does she get discriminated against because she's thin? She's certainly been harassed. Does this happen with overweight people? I dunno. Random people have never come up to me and said, "diet!" Some of my friends and colleagues give me a bad time about my weight, but I see it as gentle teasing, even if it's not. Those same colleagues have been very encouraging about a weight loss/training program in the school's weight room.

My family, on the other hand, really gives me a bad time about my weight, and it's not gentle teasing. It is the corollary to the comments to my wife to "eat something!"

Just some cheesecake for thought.

 

[An Officer]

I think any kind of discrimination is outrageous. Each and every one of us has at least one for which we can be discriminated against. You can rarely completely know what causes a person's various afflictions, until you've walked in their shoes, and maybe not even then.

You don't have to marry anybody, you can however, keep nasty remarks to yourself.

 

[blablover5]

I find it funny how people are quick to say that attraction is imporant somehow. Because the media claims people are only attracted to one thing then that must be the only thing people strive for.

Ever taken a look at pictures of famous beauties from the past? I've been reading a lot about mistresses, and looking at paintings of them from the time they would be considered obese by our standards today. I've seen quite a lot of double chins and even cellulite in old paintings of nudes.

And answer me this if people can just change their weight by doing the right things and exercising then how come you don't just change your height? I'm sure some people want to gain a foot or so to play basketball so just you know eat the right things and stretch your limbs.

Oh that's right, you can't. Genetics played you that card and it's the same with metabolism. I also find it hard to believe that weight kills. If that were truse "skinny" people would never get heart disease, diabetes, or anything else attributed to fat.

I think we've gone so insane in this witch hunt that people are starting to come out the other end and are beginning to finally think for themselves. So we're the fattest we've ever been eh? Then how come all those old life pictures show fat people? You mean even back in the 13th century there were fat people?! And some of them were considered sexy?

 

[Venardhi]

Some people enjoy food more than others. I have friends who genuinely have little care for food and find no satisfaction out of it other than being not hungry anymore.

I on the other hand find food one of the truest joys in life, I can always find room for something delicious. Different flavors and textures combining. . . it just does it for me. Like sex almost. It isn't that I'm necessarily hungrier than other people, I just feel the constant desire to eat. I can do without just fine, and have off and on throughout my life put myself on diets to great success(combined with going to the gym daily, I get nothing out of pure dieting), but there is always a part of me asking "why?"

It doesn't help that I'm a naturally stocky person, naturally on the heavy side and ill fit frame-wise for running and most sports in general. Add on some asthma (brought on by such things) and I tend towards a little chub more often than not. If I weren't as strong-willed as I am, I could easily see myself having stayed as fat as I was in highschool(I was up around 285 at one point, possibly higher).

Strangely enough though, and more on topic, I get a lot more shit when Im in good shape than I did when I was in bad, and when I'm just 'out of shape' like I am now, I get none. I had friends who would tell me they liked me better when I was fat. Or would actively try to get me not to go to the gym or to eat another slice of pizza because I guess they couldn't handle me not being the jolly fat guy I used to pretend to be.

Either way though, the majority of fat people are fat because they are unwilling to stand up to their genes and fight back like I did. There are worse vices than food though, and If someone is in fact happy being overweight, then I see no reason not to let them go on living their life the way they want.

 

[John Picard]

I just wish the cripples would keep their electric wheelchairs out of my way.

I always ask why they can't take the stairs instead of the elevator.

 

[An Officer]

^ Is this supposed to be funny to those actually in a wheelchair?

 

[John Picard]

^ Is this supposed to be funny to those actually in a wheelchair?

A friend of mine recently attended a party where an individual in a wheelchair was present. Someone had moved his chair (he had moved to sit in a booth) when he asked where his chair was. Everyone was looking around and he exclaimed, "Hey, I need my chair because *that's how I roll*!"

I'm sure you would have schooled him not to have a sense of humor.

 

[loldrey]

There is absolutely nothing wrong with not finding large people attractive sexually. However (and I've encountered this situation before), letting that affect your judgement of them as a person, and more specifically, as an employee, is wrong.

 

[JoeZhang]

Do genetics play a role? yes.

Do the five pizzas you had for dinner play a part - yes.

Unless you have some form of medical condition, the fundamental physical laws of the universe apply - if you take in more energy than you expend, you get fat.

I find it funny how people are quick to say that attraction is imporant somehow

Of course it's important, visual cues are how mammals choice their mates. While we have free will and choice, it's just silly to say that our "attractiveness" doesn't play a part in life because it's well understood that it does.

Even leaving aside mating, research shows that fat people are less successful in the workplace because the visual clues provided are interpreted by other people as lazyness and a lack of will-power.

 

[blablover5]

So your agrument is that because people have decided that they aren't attracted to someone they don't deserve to land that job?

And that is different from racial discrimination how?

 

[Maestro]

It seems to me that we have a great continuum of thought on this. Which is a good thing.

Let me fire these questions out...

1.) Should people make an effort to eat healthy foods?

2.) Should people be getting sufficient exercise ... 30 minutes 3-5 days a week min.?

3.) If they are meeting the above and are still medically overweight/obese should this acceptable to them? To society? Is it then discrimination?

 

[An Officer]

People are discriminated against for all sorts of reasons... I hear that pilots are expected to be over a certain height, otherwise, their passengers may not have as much confidence in them...

Assumptions are like assholes, we all have them, and they all stink.
(Someone used to have a similar signature. Loved it - quite apt for this place )

 

[Maestro]

In my 20s, every time I saw a posting in a band publication for a military band job, I always looked at them seriously (my principal in my first job was in the Guard -- I had an in). It would not be physically advisable or healthy for me to meet the Air Force Band's weight requirements. At my height, I would have needed to weigh something like 180 lbs or less. With my skeletal structure, I would look gaunt and anorexic. Healthy for me is right about 210.

 

[Captain Intrepid]

And answer me this if people can just change their weight by doing the right things and exercising then how come you don't just change your height? I'm sure some people want to gain a foot or so to play basketball so just you know eat the right things and stretch your limbs.

Oh that's right, you can't. Genetics played you that card and it's the same with metabolism. I also find it hard to believe that weight kills. If that were truse "skinny" people would never get heart disease, diabetes, or anything else attributed to fat.

You do realize that your metabolism is one thing you can actually change? For the majority of people, it is that simple. Calories out just need to exceed calories in, and they lose weight.

And you can believe anything you want, but me? I'll trust doctors and scientific method.

 

[auntiehill]

Is there weight related discrimination? Hell, yes.

While certain physical qualifications are necessary for certain jobs--being a flight attendant, you must be able to walk down the aisles, being a UPS worker, you must be able to lift packages, etc--there are many times when appearances do NOT have any affect on the way you do your job. Yet it still seems to be OK for people who are overweight or unattractive to be discriminated against.

I'll admit I'm overweight. I have been my whole life. I'm not attractive, either. I've known that my whole life, too. But I'm smart and capable and well-educated. You would think that would be enough, but it isn't.

A few years ago, I was applying for a managerial position for a national chain of upscale women's clothing. I came in, filled in the paper work, and waited for the boss to call me in for the interview. I was well-dressed, and even wore something I had previously purchased from that very store.

I saw the assistant walk down the hall and lean into the office and tell her boss I was there. I also heard the boss ask, "Does she look like someone we want to hire?" The assistant looked at me, and then shook her head. She walked back and told me that the boss was too busy to do any more interviews. I don't think they even looked at my paperwork. I had been a manager for a nation-wide department store and had a degree, but I couldn't even get in for an interview because of the way I looked.

I was crushed. I went home totally discouraged and frustrated.

A few weeks later, a woman from the same company, but in another location, called me up and was telling me about how happy she was to find my paperwork in the company's pool of applicants. She said she was so pleased to find someone so well qualified and asked if I like to come out for an interview.

I told her about my previous experience and that I really had lost any desire to work for her company.

Now I work in a field that I enjoy (re: NOT retail) and in fact, I do all my work over the phone and internet. No one can see me at all. And I get treated a hell of a lot better.

 

[Alpha Romeo]

Is it mean to turn someone away based on their weight? Yes...

Is it illegal? No...

 

[teya]

I on the other hand find food one of the truest joys in life, I can always find room for something delicious. Different flavors and textures combining. . . it just does it for me. Like sex almost.

You've just described my relationship with food.

Unlike you, though, I've been genetically blessed with an awesome metabolism. And I don't overeat--you don't really need more than a few bites of anything to get the pleasure experience.