Thoughts on Fat Discrimination? Do you agree or disagree that it should be illegal? (Page 2)
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i don't know why fat people get offended when someone call themselves fat :S its their own choice that they are fat, they should be proud like the skinny, and honestly if someone calls u fat it is actually good to motivate to loose u weight, i was very fat when i was a kid and i did lose a lot of fat by hard work
It's because fat is used as an insult in the US. In Latin America, we call people fat and ugly all the time. In fact, even our nicknames are like that. I noticed the the US has a weird obsession with being beautiful.
if u are fat then u are fat why shouldn't we call them fat :S they want us to lie? lying is a sin
Some people struggle with weight against their control therefore discrimination on the grounds of something they can't change without surgery is more or less immoral. If fat discrimination can be proven in fields where appearance doesn't affect job performance then yes they should be able to do something about it.
So are you for or against?
i am for fat discrimination being illegal
Interesting.
I have other questions if you don't mind me asking. :)
What do you think of Japan's approach to obesity? They made it against the law to be fat. The citizens have a limit to waist size.
Yes, that seems a bit much. But remember that Japan has a large population. If even 1/3 of their citizens were obese like in the US, can you imagine the strain on their healthcare system? The costs of the insurance would skyrocket.
I think culture matches government policies. For instance, I did big paper once on how rape is treated really casually and almost ok in terms of what's allowed to be shown in movies/tv/videogames in Japan but America takes such a hard stance. I would imagine there's a lot of fat hate in Japan. You could not cover obesity related problems, no?
I guess. The US has more of a weight acceptance stance, despite some being completely opposed of overweight people. But a lot of people want to push a more weight/size acceptance agenda.
Also, I meant China, they have like 1billion people. They make the people workout before they start work, so you go to your job and workout before you start working. Asia is just anti obesity I guess.
And what do you mean I can't cover obesity related problems?
like in terms of health care just say "we don't cover all obesity related ailments" or whatever. oh and china the government is not a democracy so they can do stuff like just make crap against the law which has its pros and cons.
Oh I see lol
And yea China doesn't have an ideal government. But they are taking a more proactive approach in the obesity epidemic that's so horrible in today's times.
you don't care for fat people... do you? lol
I do. But I don't like people in general eating badly. Thin or fat, we have people stuffing their faces with horrible garbage that we dare to label as "junk food", chugging our faces with horribly refined sugary drinks like pop, etc.
I'm a Nutrition major, so it's just torture to see people consume this on a daily basis. Once in a while, yea, I'll admit, I'll have a go at some brownies or something. But to eat brownies for breakfast everyday, McDonalds for lunch, chips as a snack, and all this garbage substituted as meals is what bothers me. Thin or fat person.
Then I'm also a Biology major. So seeing someone who has so much extra weight, like morbidly obese, you know their heart and circulation system is pumping extra hard to keep them alive, their livers and pancreas are suffering extra stress, their knees and joints are being weakened and strained. Seeing how the human body tries to so hard to maintain survival through obesity is both fascinating and sad.
I think New York got rid of super size drinks
Lol where there's a start.
Idk, I find it weird that if a person is severely underweight and is under-eating/anorexic or bulimic, we immediately agree they need help. Yet if we see a severely overweight person, who over eats, we aren't in such a rush to help them. I think over eaters perhaps do have a problem like under eaters. Some people eat their emotions. I think perhaps they aren't Body Dysmorphic like anorexics or bulimics, but morbidly obese people do probably have some sort of mental or psychological thing that causes them to eat their emotions.
I saw this very interesting documentary on YouTube called "Fat", because I wanted to gain perspective on obesity and morbid obesity. It was very eyeopening and I recommend it to anyone.
Some of the ladies had phobias of being under 300lbs. One of them even said that she wanted to see how big she can get before she DIES. If a thin person said they wanted to see how small they can get before they die, everyone would rush her to
a mental institution or have her seek medical and psychological guidance. But this morbidly obese woman said it on camera, even to her husband, and no one thinks anything is wrong with her. I'm not saying her weight is wrong, but she said she wanted to see how big she can get before she DIES. In what world is that considered healthy?
yeah, it's context, fat people have been historically abused and discriminated against where as anorexic people are judged somewhat but there body type is also the ideal if the fashion world so people have less sympathy. Then you have to look at the current generation coming into power (those born after 1986) and see how we have been raised to think good self esteem is more important than anything more important than health more important than getting good grades for instance (there have been many fights to get rid of "Ds" and "Fs" from grading as they discourage children and make them feel stupid. The answer probably lies somewhere in not putting so much focus on "feeling great about yourself all the time no matter what" and more on pushing yourself to your potential and accepting when certain things are outside your limits to change.
I don't even really understand "fat discrimination", I've never seen it in public or at a business. I think very overweight people are unfairly judged but I haven't seen discrimination being so much of a problem that it needs to be made illegal.
It happens. They are actually less likely to be hired or get promoted in jobs. Less likely to be accepted to grad school.
Yeah but you can't really control that, its like saying less attractive people make less money. Okay but unless they were overtly rejected for being fat then you can't really illegally enforce it. It has a subtle and underlying effect that you can "rarely" pinpoint unless the person actually says "hey, I didn't hire you because you were overweight".
So you don't buy that they're being discriminated against for weight?
@Asker
I'm not saying I don't buy it, I'm just saying in "most" cases it's really hard to pinpoint. So you have one skinny guy get hired over an overweight guy.
Perhaps the overweight guy was better for the job but unless the employer suggested that he didn't hire the other guy because he was overweight then it would be extremely hard to prove that he was discriminated against. Outwardly we might guess that in our heads but you need legal proof.
I don't wanna be hating on fat people but if you can't respect your body how will that influence other aspects of your life. This is your health your neglecting. I don't know I could see it being practical in some industries tho. Imagine going into a non-fat water park (if only these were real). But I mean I don't think its too radical of a concept. Its one thing to discriminate against race but weight is something that can be managed. And the genetic aspect only causes an over production in leptin which I'm sure can be masked with modern day technology. At this point I see no excuse except for neglect. Fat says something about you and people judge its a fact.
I say no because if we make it illegal it's say it's okay to, be fat and it's not okay to be fat (overweight) for health reasons. Being overweight causes many health issues and people need to learn that it can be bad for their health. And they shouldn't be seen as class.
It depends on what you mean...
Not hiring a fat person when they're the best candidate is wrong.
Not being sexually attracted to a fat person not.
Barring them from venues is wrong.
Charging extra if they don't fit into standard accommodations (airline seats) isn't necessarily.
Also, poor diet and exercise can contribute to more than just excess weight. It effects mood, cognition, endurance, immunity, focus, etc. So the stats may show that they recieve poorer grades and job reviews, on average, due to these side effects.
I don't agree it should.
Sorry, but if you're fat and out of shape. I'm not gonna hire you as a security guard to protect people. They classify that as discrimination if they make that a law
health insurance agencies are going to love this if it ever passes
What about in schools? Fat people are less likely to be accepted to grad schools for their weight. I can see the reasoning behind discrimination at work. But I fail to see any reasons of how obesity would affect education?
You're gonna have to show me the statistic and proof that the schools denied them for that reason. Law schools deny great candidates because there was someone better. Sometimes great isn't good enough.
In school, unless it's for a sport. The don't care about your weight. Just your grades and accomplishments. Maybe there's a connection between how fat someone is and their accomplishments. If you don't feel good about yourself because of your weight and that affects your confidence, leading to less success in life.
www.insidehighered.com/.../study-finds-bias-favors-thinner-graduate-school-applicants
It's not clear and cut that the applicants were denied because of weight, but they were more likely to be denied. Who knows what the reasons were. But there is somewhat of a trend.
Eh. That's not really a good study, without showing the average gpa and extra curriculers. From that site, all you know for sure is that fat people were less likely to impress the interviewer or less likely to stand out. Anything else is speculation.
So you don't believe that weight discrimination occurs in grad schools?
Not in the sense that they can't get in because of their weight
Hmm. Ok. Thanks for the input :)
I'm not for nor against it, I just wanted to see others opinions on this.
You will be mailed a free air guitar for your participation :)
Lol thanks!
I hadn't thought of it till I saw someone post here again. But we could always make it illegal to be fat like they do in Japan. Everyone will be healthier, the diabetes cases will go down in America and if they are discriminated against, they won't be any longer.
We shouldn't hate fat people, but we also shouldn't say that fat is okay. People need to be healthy. If you're fat, thats cool, but just know that you're unhealthy and will die probably sooner than if you werent.
So you agree or disagree?
Uh, no. They don't need to be a protected class.
Why not?
They do face discrimination of some sort.
For instance, it's been shown that they are less likely to be hired or promoted at jobs. They are also less likely to be accepted into universities and colleges.
I'm not trying to convince anyone here, but I'm just playing devil's advocate.
Then they can lose weight.
Hmmm. What about the people who can't? The ones with true medical issues.
Yea, I know, it's a relatively low number like less than 5% of the US population that actually has it.
How would we know the difference between an actually medically incapable person to lose weight, and just a person who makes poor food/health decisions?
You can assume they have made bad choices on your own statistics. And where does it stop? Am I discriminated against because Im lazy at work? Should I be a CEO even though I don't try to climb up the corporate ladder? Maybe I have add and can't focus. Maybe I'm a lazy fuck.
Fair enough sir, thanks for your input :)
I'm a fat guy.
Banning fat discrimination is against freedom of speech.
I already feel shit about my weight - I'm a celibate, too, so no more fat people coming my way.
So do you agree or disagree?
I disagree.
What do you mean by discrimination, give me an example?
Overweight people say they are often less likely to get hired for instance. They'll have the perfect resumes and qualifications, but they say that they feel their appearance puts the hiring manager/employer off, and they are less likely. Whether or not if it's because of their weight is the question, but they feel it is.
But even studies suggest that fat people are less likely to get hired and even promoted in their current jobs. Other studies show that fat people are also less likely to get into college than thinner people. Not sure if it's because of their weight, but there is a trend there.
Not hiring someone with a perfect resume and qualifications doesn't constitute discrimination, as long as someone else with a perfect resume and qualification is actually hired in the end.
Besides obesity is a disqualifying for most jobs due to health issues (sick days), customer services (looks matters for customers) or size of furnitures, really obese individuals requires specially enhanced office furnitures.
A lot of jobs requires speed or moveability that a very obese person can't do. Finally obesity shows a distinct lack of self control - overeating is usually not done at gunpoint, so the obese have some physiological issues causing the eating disorder - these could also effect work performances and hence disqualifying the person for the job.
Discrimination is if the law discriminated obese people by grating them less rights then others.
What about overweight people being less likely to be accepted to colleges and universities?
You make interesting points and I'm just playing devil's advocate with you.
In my country acceptance to universities are based on grates and quotas nothing else, since we have free education - no tuition fees.
If the university can have all the students that applies, they all get in.
I hardly think universities in the US of A, cares about fat students as long as they pay the tuition fees. Hardly think any shop will refuse to sell to fat customers, since a customer is a customer, and it's all about making money.
But if a university didn't accepted a applicant, then the reason why is what's interesting - I can't imagine discrimination being the cause.
Here's an interesting article about it:
www.insidehighered.com/.../study-finds-bias-favors-thinner-graduate-school-applicants
For grad schools, there are usually face to face interviews. And some under-grad colleges and universities do have face to face interviews for admission as well. When there are, the overweight people have a less likelihood to get accepted.
I don't know the US system, but it only make sense to not accept the obese students if there are enough non obese students to filled the quota - and if so, then what is the problem.
Would you force the university's to accept obese students and then not accept normals instead, since the number of students are the same no matter who gets in?
Do you mean like filling a quota, like the race quota?
I mean quota like the number of students that can attend the university, like in we have room for 1500 students.
I'm so sorry! I still don't fully understand you! :(
In the US, we have like a race quota. A certain amount of minorities must be accepted. Do you mean like that but instead of race, it be fat people? A certain amount of fat people must be accepted?
If they need to a protected class, well I won't be surprised how many other group of people will need that special treatment.
It's impossible to be the discrimination police no matter how many laws get made.
if weight holds them back when someone needs to be at the top of their game then a little nudge in the gyms direction is not going to be the end of the world. its for the best anyway.
Guess who's doing the discrimination in the US now? It's the illegals. You read it right the contractors and companies hire them and put them so they don't have to pay minimum wage. They put the illegals are the higher positions to hire. Then the illegals hire nothing but illegals.
*Whoosh
This question went right over your head.
Thanks for the response, but this isn't what I was asking for. And I HIGHLY doubt it was the "illegals" who are the ONLY ones discriminating against obese people. -_-
They discriminate against any legal citizen and anything US even against their own race it don't matter what color race or handicap.
Yea sure. All groups do that all the time. And this isn't what I was asking! lol :x
I know I'm just giving you the bigger picture
Lol and who says undocumented people aren't fat? And those undocumented people are probably hiring more undocumented not because they want to, but because they have to. I tried applying where my cousin works, he said he didn't want to. Turns out, he (who was a WHITE GUY) didn't wanna hire citizens cuz his factory was illegal as fuck. They provided low wage, deplorable working conditions, long work days, dangerous jobs. Things citizens would easily sue over.
Again, this is irrelevant because I'm referring to fat discrimination.
-___________-
They're trying to protect the image of fat people to keep the fast food business alive. That's it, that's all. If everyone was pressured into being fit, fast food restos would lose business.
Hmmm. Interesting take on it.
But there are biases overweight people face. And I don't just mean strangers pointing at them calling them "fatties" or whatever and laughing.
Overweight people are less likely to be hired or promoted at jobs. Overweight people are less likely than thinner people to be accepted to colleges and universities. Is it because of their weight? Who knows. But it happens. They are being denied opportunities of advancement in careers, is it because of weight? Is this just coincidence? Not sure, but it is a trend.
Well being fat certainly says something for most people. It means you don't take yourself seriously enough to find/stick to a way to lose weight. Some clients wouldn't really take a business seriously if their employees were obese, it's human nature to not like people who are different.
they you can put a bunch of other discriminations as illegal as well.. dumb
Not sure about discriminating against fat people. didn't know it existed.
Fat discrimination should be illegal?
Tell that to cancer, diabetes, stroke, and heart disease.
So I take that as you're against that?
lol, if you can convince nature not to discriminate by weight when it kills people, I promise to date a fatty, haha.
Why fight human nature. I read one study, that when people see an obese person, it triggers the same "man I need to be more careful about my health" as seeing someone sneezing globs of mucous or hacking with a cough.
I see. Well, there are actual biases against them. And it's not just the public's perception. Overweight people are less likely to be hired or promoted in jobs.
Overweight people are less likely to be accepted into universities and colleges.
Not sure if it's because of their weight, but it happens. There is somewhat of a trend or bias against overweight people.
Basically, they're being denied opportunities because of their size, maybe. We don't know if these studies are for sure, but it's such a coincidence that overweight/obese people are less likely to have job or school, career opportunities of advancement.
I don't doubt that the same thing happens to smokers, or people who have visible tattoos, or criminals.
For the 95% or more of fat people, being a fatty a simple result of their lifestyle. You live a certain lifestyle, you deal with the consequences. Kinda like if I had a nose ring, that might hurt my job chances, or if I wore a Mohawk. Fatties need to grow up and realize, "Hey, I'm indulging in gluttony, these are the consequences."
Ok, now how do you feel about Japan making it illegal to be obese? They have laws that limit people's waist sizes.
I think the reason behind it is because they have such a large population. So if they had 1/3 of their citizens obese like the US does, can you imagine the strain on their healthcare system?
Japan has a much smaller population than the USA... 127 mill vs 320 mill or so.
I don't think it should be *illegal* to be obese, but they should definitely pay more for health insurance and such, and not be pampered and coddled like they're some abused ethnic minority.
China. I confused them.
But China also forces the workers to do exercise when they get to work.
So basically, anti-discrimination laws would somehow enable overweight people to continue their health risk behaviors? I personally do not like much the "obesity acceptance" because it's really unhealthy. But then again, I think we shouldn't tell people what they can and can't do, if that includes indulging in junk food, so be it.
Not sure how I feel about making them a protected class. Because it is something that is somewhat manageable. Maybe not for every single overweight person, but for the vast majority it is. But then, why should they have to change themselves just to not be discriminated against?
So what next? Make it illegal to discriminate based on appearance? "Yes, I've got a mohawk, but why should I have to change to work on your office?" Or "yes, I'm got skulls tattooed all over my arms, but you shouldn't discriminate, I'm sure your customers won't be scared."
Man, you realize how ironic your statement is? You said, "I think we shouldn't tell people what they can and cannot do."
... as you talk about how people should be forced by law to not take a person's appearance/physical condition into account when hiring. And de facto, give fat people a claim to sue if they don't get a job. Then, what? Government regulator shows up, "I'm sorry, but you're in violation of code 1732, 70% of Americans are overweight, but only 30% of your employees are overweight. You need to hire obese people or be fined."
So in other words, you're saying, "People shouldn't have to be adults and just suck it up if they choose a certain lifestyle. We should force everyone else by law to give them special treatment."
Lol woa, I'm not really for nor against making weight/size a protected class.
I don't really like the idea actually because it makes me cringe how people slowly kill themselves with obesity. The strain on their joints, the pressure on their heart and circulation system, the extra work on the liver and pancreas, overall, obesity is a slow, painful poison that is somewhat manageable.
But I just don't like people treating others worse for their appearance, but it happens.
That's life. Your body is your temple, if you don't take care of it, you'll suffer.
True. Thank you for your responses sir, you will get a free air guitar delivered to your home for your participation :)
just what I've always wanted! haha
Then it's a win win exchange for both of us :p
America is really mean. Wtf
So do you think weight/size should be a protected class?