It's Not Weightism. You're Just Obese.

While the Democrats publicly grapple with their own faux liberalism -- who's a "lucky" black man and what's a "typical" white person -- researchers at Yale university would have you believe there is another, insidious "ism" that is even more widespread than racism, sexism and age bias.

They call it Weightism.

Let's call it discrimination against, oh, Plus Sized-Americans.

According to the researchers whose report is published in the International Journal of Obesity (and, yeah, there really is such a thing) apparently Weightism is so prevalent because, unlike other isms "there are no federal laws that prohibit discrimination on the basis of weight, and only Michigan has such a law."

Sorry, but it's a little...no, actually it's a whole lot insulting to equate girth with race, gender, age or sexual orientation; aspects of ourselves with which we were born and over which -- except, apparently, for Jimmy Kimmel -- we have no control.

I can't change my race or my gender. Despite my best efforts and millions of dollars spent trying to locate the fountain of youth, I just keep getting older. Yet, same as millions of Americans I can moderate the number of Big Macs I shove in my pie-hole.

But in the Everybody-Give-Me-A-Hug victim culture in which we live, the obese want a spot at the table along with those who face discrimination based on the way that God or Nature or our Intelligent Designer created us.

For the vast majority of those who are obese -- those with a Body Mass Index over 30 -- their size is their choice. They choose to take in more calories than they burn. They choose to take in high fat calories over low-fat ones. They choose to fad diet, if they choose to diet at all. They choose to go back to their poor eating habits when those diets failed rather than get down to the hard chore of eating right and exercising.

That's not meant to abase the obese. I don't advocate ridicule (mostly). Obesity in America is a serious issue. The affects of which, like smokers with secondhand smoke, are felt beyond the individual offender. According to the Center for Disease Control "a study of national costs attributed to both overweight (BMI 25-29.9) and obesity (BMI greater than 30) medical expenses accounted for 9.1 percent of total U.S. medical expenditures in 1998 and may have reached as high as $78.5 billion ($92.6 billion in 2002 dollars)."

The heavy get heavier, and you and I pay for it.

But if they choose to get big, if they choose to bilk us, why in the world would we choose to mollycoddle with laws which encourage the obese to continue to both live an unhealthy lifestyle and stick us with the bill?

There is no reason.

And there is no need.

For those whose obesity is the result of some actual medical condition, should they find themselves discriminated against they can seek redress under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

A lawyer familiar with the ADA told me that "despite the absence of any laws specifically addressing obesity as a disability, courts can interpret the ADA to include obesity, since it defines "disability" broadly and doesn't enumerate any specific disabilities it covers."

Such individuals deserve protection, and they've got it. But let's not water down the fight against real bigotry and prejudice by adding unhealthy lifestyles to the mix.

Comments

[PhDiva]

The only valid point here is that discrimination based on weight is qualitatively different than that based on race and gender because of issues of choice and change. However, there are overlapping issues as discrimination based on weight is MUCH MORE INTENSE for women. Weightism and sexism intersect in a way that is not only emotionally damaging to women but physically dangerous as it can lead to anorexia and bulimia.

[NCGigi]

Here's the study that shows slim "healthy" people cost more over their lives than fat people or smokers: http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2008-02-05-obese-cost_N.htm.

As for me, I've seen family members live in a relentless cycle of longing and regret regarding food, maintain a "slim and healthy" weight only to live into their 80s and 90s lying a in a puddle, babbling, with their bones leaching away due to osteoporosis. And that's with the best care money can buy.

Sorry folks, I'd rather have a short, happy, fat life than a prolonged torturous life, useless to anyone, consuming vast familial resources, so that what, I can sit in my own waste for another year or two? That's the goal? Frankly, I'd rather have a heart attack and die and get it over with than stroke out and lie around out of my mind for another 4-6 years.

Far, far better to go out like my granddad: he fell down dead in his own kitchen with a beer in one hand, a porkchop in the other, with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth. He was 72. Now that's an exit.

[Missmn]

People need to stop lying and saying that fat people (and smokers) drive up healthcare costs and cost more than "healthy" people. A study came out earlier this year that clearly shows healthy people cost governments and the healthcare system more because they live longer.

Some people can eat all day and not gain weight. Some people gain weight no matter what they eat. Genetics plays a role. Perhaps one day we'll find a gene for being a judgemental a**hole and you can be cured as well.

But I think that actually looking at what has happened with the food supply over the last 30 years may be a better place to start. People weren't fat as a rule 30 years ago. What's changed? Over-processing of the food we eat, and the replacing of sugar with corn syrup. Pigs are fed corn to "fatten them up." Why do we think that humans are somehow immune to this?

[scinoir]

I am reminded of a situation when my roommate came home from work and pointed out to me that his boss, who was on a 500 calorie dietary shake diet and obese had two pieces of cheesecake at the christmas party. He relayed it to me as though it was the most scandalous and juicy piece of gossip of the day. He has a really good body. He eats twice as much food as I do however. He seems to maintain this body partly through his visits to the gym, and partly through his constant use of a special tea that causes him to poop out everything.

Anway, when he told me this story, I got really upset and quickly pointed out that he told me earlier that he himself had 2 slices, that he brought half of a cheesecake home with him, and that he had sense had a third piece. To this he responds that what he eats doesnt matter as much because he isnt fat. No one is looking at what he eats.

I guess fat people must always eat like birds and feel guilty whenever anything goes into their mouths because they are monsters. Everyone knows your self worth can easily be measured by your external appearance.

[kegbot1]

I love living in a country where we so desperately need to look down on SOMEONE, ANYONE so we can feel better about ourselves. Shaming and discriminating against someone seems to be our second national sport next to warmaking. Now that people can't overtly discriminate against blacks, Jews and a host of other people, we have the FATTIES! And it's OK because THEY did it to themselves! Super! Get the hate machine cranked up for the public ridicule that seems to excite people so in our society. And the ignorant, hateful, prejudicial comments of this hateful story only back that up. We love to hate, we hate to love. God bless the USA.

[itsme101]

HuffPost's Pick

I’d like someone to do a study on how much discrimination and ridicule against the obese adds to the downward spiral of obesity. Especially since many people who are obese are emotional eaters. I would think that discrimination (including and especially ridicule) would add to the issue and lead to additional "national costs." Noone deserves this kind of treatment. The word shouldn’t be called Weightism, it should be called “cruelty."

[LeftHandedMama]

It's been done. The study shows that being worried and upset about fatness is more likely to lead to ill health than fat. http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTON07906120080130?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0

Go figure.

[dontshootme]

Although, I agree with the premise of the article, I cannot help but think that the costs of supporting the obese are overstated.

It’s probably fair to say that obese people have a higher incidence of heart disease, as well as many other health problems. This may result in obese people taking up more in the way of health care resources, for a time, but this could also result in them dying of a massive coronary at 40 years old.

So, what is the net result? They do not live as long and they die at a premature age. They do not fill up our hospitals and clinics and consume healthcare resources. They do not live long enough to collect social security. Do the savings outweigh the costs? I honestly do not know, but its something worth considering.

[Star123]

Ooops--the above was meant for the NYT thread on this...What do you think? Can I use the
Twinkie Defense" for this mistake?

[Star123]

If you are not completely annoyed by this whole thing yet, there's more at:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-ridley/its-not-weightism-youre-j_b_95341.html#postComment

An African-American male, and a writer whose novels I used to read, has decided it's a little OK to discriminate based on weight.

[Star123]

I wasn't going to bring this up...but after a few days of this, can't resist. Many heavier people are better in bed--and you disdainers will never find out about it...shame. Yup, it's the oral orientation. And don't even bother to say, fat women are more grateful...unless you spell grateful S-K-I-L-L-E-D. As for the bigger men, they lt you be on top.

[PhDiva]

That's funny.

[nsmavrik]

This is the most asinine diatribe I have ever heard.

Are you saying that you are not prejudice yet refer to obese people as "shoving Big Mac's down their pie-hole"?

John, you obviously have a lot to learn about yourself. It seems to me that your response, to obese people, goes to show that you are a prejudicious.

I might not know about how to express an opinion as well as a so-called commentator or storyteller as you Mr. Ridley, but I do think that any speech which is done to antagonize someone simply by the way they look or are is purly prejudicious. Just like you.

[spinsterwitch]

I wonderwhat it is that you imagine we fat people do all day? Are we all lying on our couches watching television and trying to get disability?

I assure you not. We are both poor and rich. We are uneducated and educated. We have tried diets, most of us finding that like 98% of people who attempt, we regain our weight (and then some?) once we stop trying to starve ourselves.

We hold jobs. We think about the articles that are published of us. We resent the way that the media (that would be you, Mr. Ridley) portrays us as lazy, McDonald's eating, stupid, Americans. It's almost as though many of you think of us as your darkside and take out all the vitriole of what you hate about yourself onto us.

But I am not anyone's analogy. I am a person. I eat...yes, I do. Sometimes, I eat things that have high fat or sugar contents. But I also subscribe to an organic farm and get lots of fresh fruits and vegetables. I don't drink, I don't smoke. I exercise...yes, I do. In fact, the most expensive medical costs that I have had was directly due to a hiking/camping trip where I was bitten by a Lyme infested tick. Is it okay that my insurance paid for that since I made the choice to go on a hike? Or should we leave all those illness and injuries in a separate category of "choice" as well?

[rma2108]

"98% of people who attempt, we regain our weight (and then some?) once we stop trying to starve ourselves"

It shouldn't be a big surprise that you gain the weight back when you go back to your old diet. One of the biggest reasons people can't keep off the weight is that they envision themselves "dieting" for a few months until they've lost weight, and then going back to eating the foods they like, without any consequence. In reality, keeping the weight off requires a permanent change of diet.

[spinsterwitch]

You make it sound so simple. Why didn't I think of that?

Oh, wait, been there, done that. When you are an obese person, there is no such thing as imagining a "few months" of dieting. But, seriously, you get tired of being hungry all the time. Of having to be hypervigilant about everything you put in your mouth.

So, yes, I refuse to starve myself into a shape that you may find more pleasing, just because you find it more pleasing. I eat. I move. I love my life.

[azusmom]

It's not journalism, you're just ignorant.

OK, so we tell fat people to go on diets. We sell them "miracle" cures because they are desperate to lose weight. We tell ourselves it's OK to hate them, because they're fat, and they did this to themselves. And then we sell them another diet plan, promising that THIS will be the one they've been looking for! Meanwhile, with every failed diet (because diets DO NOT work!), they gain all the weight back, and then some. And we hate them even more.
Guess what? A lot of fat folks DON"T stuff their pie holes with Big Macs! They DON'T sit around on the couch all day! Many live active lives and eat less than you and I do, but because of the yo-yo dieting (born of desperation and SELF-LOATHING), they cannot lose the weight.

But, hey. It's OK to hate them. They did this to themselves, and that justifies hatred. Just like the guy who rode a motorcycle without his helmet and got in an accident; why should he have handicapped plates on his car? It's his own fault he's in a wheelchair, right?

[xenofile]

Who said anything about "hating"?
If we bring emotions into the discussion at all, I think Ridley is really expressing a kind of tough love, but his core issue is: should there be special legal protections for obesity. I agree with him: I think not.

[Star123]

Tough love? How's this--you black people need to cowboy up. Someone on the New York Times's treatment of this made a great statement: You can't hate someone to help them.

[azusmom]

The tone is filled with hatred. And look at some of the comments posted, and the names used to describe fat people

[Star123]

It just seems to annoy the pullp out of some people--I hope none of them have that hidden fat that is slowly killing them. Again--read the research.

[coffeekat]

I don't approve of *how* John said it, but I agree with *most* of what he says. I don't buy 'genetic disposition'. I don't think the obese should be entitled to considerations not afforded others with bad habits. Ridicule is not acceptable.

One argument - repeated here ad nauseum - is that feeding your family crappy food is cheaper than feeding them healthy food. I beg to differ.

Our local paper recently featured an article about obesity citing this very same argument. The story closed by challenging readers to take the 'poverty challenge'. Feed your family, for one week, with $3.00 per person, per day.

I took that challenge. It is not an easy way to live but it can be done serving a relatively healthy three meals per day plus snacks. I planned meals for the week, shopped at a budget grocery chain, bought no-name brands and less than premium cuts of meat. I was forced to take two items off the conveyer belt in order to meet budget. I wasn't able to purchase a large variety of fresh fruit, but found fresh vegetables affordable. A no-name pail of ice *milk* provided dessert for the week.

It can be done. There are only two excuses as to why it cannot be done; ignorance, which only goes to support the idea that education on budgeting and meal planning should be mandatory, preferably beginning in late junior school, or laziness, in which case.... well, there is simply no excuse.

[farmgirl59]

You don't buy genetic predisposition? Nice blanket rejection of science, not to mention the evidence right before your eyes at every family reunion.

As for the lazy and ignorant conclusions. . .

It may come as a shock to you but fat people have gym memberships, bike, hike, and jog, work at extremely physical jobs, and do all the stuff people like John and you assume they're avoiding. They're not all cramming their faces with Big Macs nonstop while avoiding fresh fruits and vegetables. Conversely, thin people can be unfit, have high cholesterol, develop Type II diabetes, never exercise, and vacuum up junk food. You can't tell by looking at someone if she is ambitious or lazy, healthy or unfit, knowledgeable about nutrition or blissfully ignorant. And, believe it or not, thin people die, too.

You also cannot tell by looking at a person you consider overweight if that person has a metabolic disorder, his family tree is full of stocky, chunky ancestors, he's on medications that contribute to weight gain (e.g., most anti-depressants), or if he's simply a fat slob who eats too much. So can the moralizing -- no one has the right to sit in judgement on anyone other than themselves.

[coffeekat]

I'm not sure where I said *all* obese people are either ignorant or lazy. No. I don't buy genetic predisposition. The disparity in obesity numbers, which continue to rise, in just the last half a century alone is proof itself. How far back does that family tree go? I'm not referring to people of a 'stocky' build. I am referring to the *obese*. Good effort with the medication argument but you are preaching to someone who has been on anti-depressants for a number of years and hasn't experienced weight gain as a result. Why? I don't take in more calories than I burn. *That* would be the science of it.

Moreover, my post primarily addresses the pat argument that crappy food is cheaper to buy.

At *my* family reunions I see the obese and overweight relatives overloading their plates and going back for seconds, choosing to sample three full size portions of the four desserts and going back for more. They all choose the diet sodas for some reason. There is not a single person in *my* family tree who is obese by any reason other than overeating. And not one of them claims otherwise.