So, I'm sitting here this morning at the 'puter, reading from several other message boards, trying to glean more info about lap band surgery, and stumble across a thread about weight discrimination. The discussion became heated about halfway through, with some members saying it is wrong to put down skinny people, just as it is wrong to diss on fat people. I agree with that statement as it stands.
However........
When a person (skinny or otherwise) -- or just an idiot in general -- disses me because I'm fat, ugly, skinny, tall, have huge feet (which I do), stinky breath, and WHATEVER, I then have the right to feel any way I wanna feel -- angry, sad, upset, WHATEVER -- and diss right back and call them whatever I deem fit.
Period.
Now, concerning weight discrimination, I'm here to testify that it is real. I've encountered it a lot in my life. The first time was at the age of 24 when I applied for an office position. The hiring manager showed me around, explained the job briefly, and then made a point to show me the cubical from where I would be working. He said, "Do you think you'd fit in here?" I said, "Oh, yes. I can fit in anywere. I'm very good with getting along with others, and I'm a team player."
Then he said this, "I'm not talking about personality-wise. I'm talking about PHYSICALLY. I don't think you could possibly fit into this cubicle at your size. So, I cannot hire you."
I left feeling totally defeated and full of self-loathing. That was many years ago. What I SHOULD have done was to look at him straight in the face and called him everything but a milk cow, then marched myself to a lawyer and sued the snot outta the place.
Anyway.........just felt like venting about this this morning because many of the folks from the other board -- upholding the 22-year-old store clerk's rights to diss on a fat woman in her store -- are quite young and very Politically Correct. Well, I'm not PC at all when it comes to making people feel less than they are simply based on weight or (fill in the blank) physical criteria.
Anyway.........just felt like venting about this this morning because many of the folks from the other board -- upholding the 22-year-old store clerk's rights to diss on a fat woman in her store -- are quite young and very Politically Correct. Well, I'm not PC at all when it comes to making people feel less than they are simply based on weight or (fill in the blank) physical criteria.
I'm not sure I understand...I would say it is FAR from PC to "diss on fat women" in a store, whether you work there or not.
OK tell me one thing: would you have honestly fit in the cubicle?
If not then he did the right thing. Just like the airways require a fat person to buy two seats a workplace should not be required to alter their workspace for you.
First off, if Witch Hazel was a man, that comment probably would've never been directed at her. I weighed up to 364 lbs and I never had a problem with weight discrimination or fitting in a seat or what not. I never trusted those little white plastic chairs but even those were fine to sit in.
Secondly, if Witch Hazel had weighed 500 lbs and that manager wanted to hire her, he would've. Cubicles can be re-arranged, office space can be re-arranged, etc. I've worked in an office with cubicles before and trust me, if there was a cubicle that someone who weighed well under 300 lbs couldn't fit into, that is not a cubicle you would want to work in. It would have to be smaller than a bathroom stall. The manager took one look at her and probably thought to himself "she must be lazy, she is fat" or something like that.
And lastly, no one has the right to make someone else feel like crap. So if you go into a store and someone makes fun of you for being fat, I'd walk out of the store and write a letter to the company. If you are discriminated upon in any manner, you can always contact the company and tell them so. We all have our own struggles and those are things we have to work out.
Sometimes weight discrimination does happen. I remember a story I saw on TV where an obese lady was suing an ambulance company for discrimating against her working for them as a paramedic. The job would entail taking care of pt's in the back of an ambulance. Was this wrong? To me, it wasn't. If me or my family member were in that ambulance, I'd want the person caring for me to be able to have room enough to reach emergency equipment that could possibly save our lives. The company shouldn't have to buy a larger ambulance to accomodate this person's weight issue. IMHO. There are instances where a more FIT person is required for a job.
I know this isn't the type of job you were talking about. . Would the cubicle have been accomodating for you? I am surprised that any prospective employer would say that to an applicant. Seems he'd know better. Most would have had the good sense to say "thank you for your interest, but the position has already been filled".
I totally know that there is fat discrimination out there. But I don't agree that it's okay to meet rudeness with rudeness. If somebody disses you, then complain to their boss or the government or the courts or whoever has the ability to rectify the situation. But to go off on somebody like a shreiking harpy and call them names does nothing but raise the level of noise and rudeness in the world. Ugh.
This is a touchy subject for me as well as is the subject of bullying (to which I mean the torment by children toward other children).
The OP states that some people on another message board think that it is wrong to "dis" skinny people. I would like to know when a skinny person has ever had to seriously worry about being discriminated against because of their weight. There are plenty posters at 3fc and people I know in real life who I consider skinny, who I get tired of hearing their "oh pity me" stories because they had one day off track, or they couldn't get into those size 8s or only *needing* to lose 5lbs (and to clarify, I am speaking of the NEVER-OBESE, not of those who have lost and are close to goal).
I just flat out don't allow skinny people to b**** to me about their weight. Cuz they don't have a clue what life is like as an obese person and how hopeless to rest of the world can make you feel.
One of the most disturbing moments I have ever had with weight discrimination came from the gals in my nursing class.... they ALL figured I was doing the worst of the class and had the lowest gpa - and they were talking about it one day...they asked me what I had and I told them I had a 3.9 (which was the highest in the class). They were stunned. Weight was clearly the issue as I am the ONLY obese person in my class of 18 students.... I otherwise fit in well with the others and didn't do anything that would have made them think that. The whole stereotype that being fat/obese is equivalent to being lazy and stupid really pisses me off!
I also find that even though I have lost a large amount of weight, people don't really believe that I go the gym and workout or that I like exercise (or that I liked exercise at 350lbs)... unless they see you at the gym actually working out, they figure you're too lazy and it can't be possible because you are fat. These are attitudes that I encounter on a regular basis, which leads to one of my fears.
I am afraid that when I get to goal and look good, that people who would have sneered, jeered, or ignored me at 350lbs will be superficial and expect me to partake in their games. I want to say that I would allow anyone to befriend me, but if you don't like me because of my size, then I really don't want to know you no matter what my size is.
Discrimination of any kind is wrong. But weight discrimination is seemingly acceptable in today's society and happens all the time. No doubt that many people here have experienced it firsthand. Although I would normally agree not to respond with more rudeness, sometimes you just gotta tell a person where to stick it.
I would like to know when a skinny person has ever had to seriously worry about being discriminated against because of their weight.
I'm not gonna get into the whole discrimination against obese people thing, but I have to reply to this. I have a friend who is naturally very thin. She eats a lot - enough that I would probably weight far more than my highest weight if I ever tried to consume that much. She can't do cleanses, even though she'd like to, because she loses too much weight over a couple of days. People have said nasty things to her - I worked with her when we were cashiers and customers would tell her, to her face, that they didn't think the store should let anorexics work there, and that she was far too skinny and needed to eat more. This embarrased her just as much as it embarrased me when regular customers would ask if I'd gained weight. My friend has gone to school to be a teacher, and received some of the top marks in her graduating class. However, one of the jobs she applied for, at a girls school, turned her down because they said that they wanted to foster healthy body images for their students, and they didn't think that she would fit into that. How is that not discrimination? It's completely unfair to claim that a whole group of people can't experience discrimination - you can never know for sure until you've seen it firsthand. And this bothers her just as much as fat discrimination bothered me. She knows that she's lucky in some ways to not have to worry about being overweight, but this doesn't mean she doesn't have any problems.
I have another friend who has the same body type, and she's a mother. She's truly just a tiny person - can't do anything about it. It's discrimination when the other mom's say things to her about eating problems, slip her pieces of paper with eating disorder clinic information on it, and make snide comments about what they think she eats. Again, I spend a lot of time with her - she eats a very healthy amount, and teaches her children about healthy eating. There's nothing wrong with her, but she's discriminated against because of her size.
I'm sorry, but I think it's incredibly ignorant to decide that skinny people can't experience weight discrimination - you can't comment on what happens to another group of people unless you've seen it or experienced it firsthand.
Weight Discrimination
