Enemy of Entropy
Weight Discrimination As Prevalent as Racial Discrimination
I was going to ask, “This is news to whom?” Then I realized that it’s perfectly likely that people who aren’t fat really don’t realize how much size discrimination there is, while it’s impossible for the rest of us to avoid it.
From the International Journal of Obesity, 4 March 2008:
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Discrimination against overweight people-particularly women-is as common as racial discrimination, according to a study by the Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity at Yale University.
“These results show the need to treat weight discrimination as a legitimate form of prejudice, comparable to other characteristics like race or gender that already receive legal protection,” said Rebecca Puhl, research scientist and lead author.
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The study also revealed that women are twice as likely as men to report weight discrimination and that weight discrimination in the workplace and interpersonal mistreatment due to obesity is common.
(…)
Co-author Tatiana Andreyava of Yale said weight discrimination is more prevalent than discrimination based on sexual orientation, nationality/ethnicity, physical disability, and religious beliefs. “However, despite its high prevalence, it continues to remain socially acceptable,” she said.
I’ll probably be slammed for this, but I honestly thing that weight/size discrimination may be even more prevalent in the U.S. than racial discrimination, because it’s socially acceptable.
1 Reposted in Medical News Today
4 Comments »
I have three strikes against me. I’m old. I’m fat. I’m ugly. Ah, but she loves me anyway.
I’m a lucky woman — my man adores “roundy” women, and I definitely am on!
Even those of us who are overweight ourselves can realize we’re making judgments based on others’ weights, too. It is really sad.
While it’s frustrating, many, many people just don’t realize how built into our culture size discrimination is.