Study Concludes 'Fat-ism' Is More Widespread Than Racism

It's illegal to discriminate against someone because of race or gender, but our culture condones a bias against people who are overweight.

There are no federal laws that prohibit discrimination on the basis of weight, and only Michigan has such a law, according to a new study from Yale University.

As a result, the researchers contend, weight discrimination is spiraling upward, and that's a dangerous trend that could add fuel to the obesity epidemic.

Weight discrimination "occurs in employment settings and daily interpersonal relationships virtually as often as race discrimination, and in some cases even more frequently than age or gender discrimination," the researchers report in the current issue of the International Journal of Obesity.

Keep reading story at ABC News.

Visit the website for the National Association To Advance Fat Acceptance here.

Read about "fat blogs" here.

Watch the old Weird Al Yankovic classic "Fat":

Do you think fat-ism is more widespread than racism? Are you a fat-ist? Is Weird Al?

Comments

[MizB]

HuffPost's Pick

I am obese, a smoker, a woman, a person of mixed race, and a Jew. I've experienced discrimination of many kinds. Fat people ARE discriminated against -- and the haters feel justified, see themselves as responsible people who are reasonably disgusted by irresponsible fat people. But it's not okay.
Many people are fat because of how they eat. Many people are fat in spite of considerable efforts to eat well, exercise, etc. Recent scientific research about obesity shows that actually very little is known about what makes people fat and keeps them that way. In many instances, fat is not a choice. But choice or no choice, discriminating against people for what they are is wrong.
If you find fat people aesthetically displeasing, that's your prerogative. But as the saying goes, "what you think of me is none of my business." You know what disgusts me? Illiteracy. Ignorance. Infatuation with technology. Shallow standards of beauty. Celebrity worship. The worship of money. Religious fundamentalism. Meanness. Self-righteousness. Lack of charity. And a complete unwillingness to see any issue from someone else's point of view.
http://mizbviewsfromthetower.blogspot.com

[KPinSEA]

One of my favorite quotes is Kristol's "Democracy does not guarantee equality of conditions - it only guarantees equality of opportunity."

My corollary is that there is no such thing as freedom without the freedom to fail. Any society that allows true freedom of choice will include the freedom to make WRONG choices.

So yes, there are going to be people in a free society who make poor choices, and whose condition will not be equal to the condition of people who made wise, informed choices. Does the society then owe something to those people who made poor choices, or are the consequences of those choices borne by the individual who made them?

As an employer, I am allowed to take the prior bad choices of a person into account when deciding if they would make a good employee? I think you have to be allowed that. So if I see an applicant who could not resist the temptation of junk food ... who could not motivate themselves to exercise regularly ... who is ignoring the very serious jeopardy they're putting their own health in ... can I not take that into account when deciding whether to entrust them with a portion of my company's health? Would it not be a factor in making a choice of who to hire if they're in competition with an equally qualified candidate who appears healthy?

[baldblackman]

Poor is the new black...

No, poor Whites will always think they are (and for the most part be treated )better than Blacks (even upper-middle class).

Of course "fat-ism" is more widespred that racism, fat people come in all races. The interesting question is how many fat White people would want to be Black ?

[eaglecapri]

The fat jokes have got to stop and should be treated as a racial slur or sexist comment!

Love heals all, why engage in negative dialogue...of any kind?

[aFlyoverPerson]

Why poor people in other countries are not fat:

Use your slow cooker (crockpot):
1 bag of dry beans (any kind)
2 cups of brown rice
Vegetables (frozen is OK, carrots, onions and chopped collards are good)
Some meat if you want it (any kind)
Spices (to taste)

Soak beans overnight. Rinse and simmer for 2-3 hrs. Add meat (if you want it). Simmer a few more hrs. At the last hour throw in the brown rice and veggies. Let cool a little and pull the meat apart and add spices.

See - no 2 hrs traveling to get special stuff. And you cook once to get a week's worth of cheap "people chow" that's good for you. It's pretty amazing the ethnic varieties you can come up with when varying the types of beans and spices.

Hope this is helpful.

[singermuse]

I must admit this is a good recipe for health, but last I checked, brown rice, beans and good quality veggies were not available at 7 eleven. On the other hand, things like rice and beans and frozen veggies can be bought once a month on one of those 4 hour round trip by bus shopping hunts.
The point is, why do we penalize the poor by not making good food readily available and then are bigoted against larger people...
prejudice against the poor and against obese people is still WRONG.

[Marmoset]

Wow!! Fat people seem to be just as mean, petty and hateful as the non-fat people! I thought you weere supposed to be jolly? Just kidding.

Be fat, enjoy it,. It gives me job security. And just like not all fat people have heart conditions (yet) or other health problems, not all skinny people are anorexic. So leave them the fudge alone.

I was super skinny through no choice of my own until I was 25 and was constantly teased and tormented about that.

Nothing will change the fact there are a lot of fat people in the hospital and a lot of elderly people in the hospital, but there are hardly any elderly fat people. (Over 80 years old.)

[journeytoithaca]

I was fat as a baby and I struggled with my "baby fat" all the way through high school. In my 20s and 30s I struggled to make ends meet financially, which meant I ate a lot of cheap food, and I moved from pudgy to seriously obese. In my 40s I lost 142 pounds by switching to a diet of healthy local produce, grass-fed and pasture raised meats, complete elimination of high-fructose corn syrup (as well as all the other by products of #2 commodity corn), and basically following the rules later succinctly summarized by Michael Pollan: Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants. I also started regular exercise. But, in the process, my grocery bill tripled, I have to drive an hour each way to get to where I can acquire these good foods, and I also spend a huge amount of money on gym memberships and martial arts classes. Luckily I'm in a position to afford this lifestyle -- if I was back in my days of 3 simultaneous minimum wage jobs I couldn't afford either the high-quality groceries OR the time required to cook my own meals, much less work out. There's a good reason that obesity increases dramatically as you move down the income ladder, and I have nothing but empathy for those trying to fight the battle under those conditions. They deserve our compassion, not our scorn.

[eaglecapri]

For those who can't afford the 'high-quality' groceries:

1. Breakfast: Instant oatmeal (Making your own tends to involve overload of butter, sugar and milk.). A glass of orange juice (4 oz). Water.

2. Snack: Energy bar (My recommendation is the Lara bar - https://www.larabar.com/secure/index_.php). Water.

3. Lunch: Sandwich (whole if I make it myself, 1/2 if I purchase it from a gourmet store), chips (the individual bags), string cheese (1) and a cupcake (1 (individually wrapped)). What? I like junk food, so why deprive myself?!?!?!?

4. Snack: Grapes, watermelon, cantaloupe, etc. Amount? Limitless! OR 1 candy bar. (Again, why deprive myself?) Water.

5. Dinner: Broiled chicken (no skin - leg and thigh or one breast), frozen green beans, baked sweet potato (no butter). Water.

6. Dessert: One serving of stewed strawberries over one serving of angel food cake (a faux strawberry shortcake. Water.

7. Snack: None.

Tips:
Everytime you put food in your mouth, drink 1-2 glasses of water.
Get up and out and MOVE! Walking costs NOTHING? Got a bike? Ride. Don't have a bike? 'Invest' in a jump rope, less than $10, and start-a-jumpin'. 200, 400, 600...work your way up.

The moral of the story, you don't have to buy 'high-quality' groceries or buy gym memberships or classes (pilates, ballet, etc) to lose weight.

[singermuse]

Not bad,
I myself follow a healthful (and somewhat rigorous) diet and exercise program, but this is something I chose for myself, not at the behest of prejudiced people. Lots of posts here from people trying to "fix" and "give advice" to people perceived as "fat"....this is in some circles called "co-dependency" and is also still indicative of non-acceptance and prejudice, why not just live and let live and accept people whether they are thin or "fat" or tall or short??
It's like the abortion debate, if you're against it, don't have one; if you are against "fat" don't be it yourself, but let others make their own choices. The problem is within us and our inability to just let people be themselves. We seem to have to "fix" them or HATE them or ridicule them instead of just accepting people as they are, whatever they are.

[skahimself]

Nope. Not skinny. 232 lbs and built like a brick. Work hard to keep it that way.

But yes. I am a prick. If by prick you mean someone who expects people to take a certain amount of responsibility for their lives and doesn't have endless amounts of sympathy to dole out.

Not going to apologize one bit for calling bullshit on the notion that everyone is equal and perfect just the way they are. Its called self-improvement.

I suspect that all the years you spent in school, learning, working, developing, and growing as a human being were just fun simple exercises in futility if you buy into the "we're all perfect just the way we are" jibber jabber. "No, I don't want to be better. god loves me just the way I am." HA!

If expectations make me a prick then so be it.

So if that makes me a prick,

[WRPrintz]

Perhaps it would be better to call bullshit about it being OK to hate or discriminate against people, rather than puffing yourself up by claiming to be something that no one can prove. This is the internet after all, and you can claim to be what ever, and who ever.

But you can and have proven, via writing, a part of you needs to learn sympathy, and to not judge others by their appearence.

The old saw of claiming to be superman, and then condeming others who fall short while attempting to appear perfectly reasonable rarely works with strangers...and I suspect my attempts to reason with you are just as futile.

[skahimself]

Thats the funny thing about the internet. You can be as honest or as decietful as you like. Since it bears heavily on this conversation, you provide me an email - I will provide proof of my claims. Not as a boisterous act of arrogance or pride but as simply trying to be as forthcoming as possible.

Since I have posted far far too much on this topic I will leave end it on this note:

You say: "But you can and have proven, via writing, a part of you needs to learn sympathy". What I said was I don't "have endless amounts of sympathy to dole out". Not that I lack sympathy but that my compassion and tolerance, just like everyone elses, does have its limits. That doesn't make me less of a person or a prick. As a firsthand witness of drug addicted friends, family members, and the suicides of several of them I completely sympathize with people who have issues, addictions, etc. More so than most here I believe. Yes, some people are truly victims of circumstance and that is horrible. However, the larger percentage of people can only point the finger at themselves. And thats where my sympathy, empathy, and compassion starts to dwindle.

[jaydeedoubleu]

fat is the new black

[dijo]

Recent scientific studies have linked obesity and certain viruses. An article on CNN's web page discusses this.

http://archives.cnn.com/2000/HEALTH/07/28/fat.virus.ap/

New things are discovered everyday. Only recently have scientists learned that stomach ulcers are not caused by stress as was the accepted theory for years and years, but they are caused by an infection. The new treatment for ulcers is antibiotics.
If it is definitely determined that obesity is linked to a viral infection, then all of these people who speak with disgust about the overweight might be able to look at a fat person differently. Or more likely, they will find another group to look down at with disdain.

[lieslgee]

We, as a society, have decided that folks who are in wheelchairs and who have other physical issues need ramps and special parking places. I don't see monitors at wheelchair ramps asking folks how they happened to need the wheelchair before they can use the ramp. Do we say "oh, you were drunk and dove into a swimming pool and broke your neck? Your fault so no ramp." No, we say "guy in a wheelchair, here's the ramp." My point is we see someone with an issue and we give them a hand. We don't assign fault, we don't insult, we don't demean. We have compassion. A strange word to most of you, it seems.

Under all this I am a human being and, therefore, I am deserving of respect; most of my hopes and dreams are gone because I am overweight. I can honestly say I have tried to fix this, but I cannot. And yet, somehow, I don't believe that I deserve all this from you people. How silly of me, I know.

And besides -- I'm going to die soon anyway, so why are you so upset? Oh, yeah -- I don't have diabetes or heart disease or high cholesterol. I'm so happy that normal weight people don't have heart attacks, get diabetes anymore or go to the doctor all the time raising insurance rates.

Oh, wait...

[whoissilvia]

"...most of my hopes and dreams are gone because I am overweight."

I hope this is not true, lieslgee. Don't let the thoughtlessness of others be what truly weighs you down. Maintaining a light heart is more important by far than the readout on your scale. You have intelligence and compassion and, whether you realize it or not, people who value you.

I found myself grumbling over being seated in front of a larger-than-average woman on a recent flight. She complained when I tilted my seat back that it pushed her tray table into her. I accommodated her by keeping my seat fully upright through the flight, but I sorely resented it. If the woman had been handicapped I might not have been so peeved. You rightly point out that finding compassion for the predicament of others would be the more gracious attitude in any case. Thanks for your thoughtful posts.

[lieslgee]

And here I have been enjoying the conversation on politics and other subjects of interest to me, and come to find out I have been kidding myself that I had a right to be here. How dare I be so stupid?
You won't have to sit by to me on your next plane trip, because, since I'm not promoted or paid as much as my normal weight co-workers, I can't afford to fly -- especially when I have to purchase two tickets. Not that I would and be exposed to your loss of manners when it comes to me.

Why would you think that I want to be this way. Why do you think that I'm not spending every waking minute trying to figure out a way to not be this way. How can you think I haven't tried. Statistics say that most diets don't work, and if they do work, it doesn't last. The last doctor I saw told me that I needed to eat MORE and exercise LESS. Now what do I do? You all have the answers; you tell me.

I don't compare my situation with racial discrimination, and I would not. What does compare is that because of my weight, I'm not hired as often. If I am hired, I am not promoted as often nor paid as much as you. I haven't missed a day of work in literally years. And I work most weekends. But I'm sure that's true of you, too, right?

[lehrbob007]

"Besides! I just like drinking!" - My friend Jimmy who finally died at 45 from alcoholism.

"Besides! I just like eating!" - My ex-wife, grossly over-weight, but still alive with numerous health problems.

Note any similarities?????

[whoissilvia]

Similarities:
Both were close to you and suffering in silence.
Neither is speaking to you anymore.

[barriosbabe]

"If you can't take care of your own body, why would I let you take care of my business?"

By this standard, we should inspect job applicant's homes to see if hey change the cat litter, brush their teeth, was their car regularly, etc.

[barriosbabe]

Most people unfortunately have a hard time until they deal with the situation. I remember decades ago meeting a couple (one fatter than the other) very much in love and actually thinking some disgusting thought along the lines of who the hell would want to have wild sex with a fat person? 35 years later I am ashamed of how stupid I was.

We all have a couple of awful faults. Some people are downright evil, mean, selfish. Fatism is so painful because a fat person is an easy target.