Do you think weight discrimination exists? Are fat jokes ever OK?
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The image of a massive woman in dingy clothes sleeping on a bus showed up in my Facebook news feed recently.
“Write a funny caption for this photo,” was the request from the picture’s genuinely cool poster.
I was puzzled.
There wasn’t anything funny about the obviously obese and possibly poor woman’s picture. But while many — including me — criticized the poster’s insensitivity, some added “funny” comments.
There were jokes about the woman’s blubber, rolls and sexual abilities.
She was useless, a subhuman. Her flesh and blood were sickening and might as well have belonged to a rodent.
Her space on the planet, a waste.
Despite constant efforts to address body image issues caused partly by the media, being fat is still just about the worse thing you can be.
Being mean or judgmental ... well, that’s OK.
Like most people who don’t fit the “norm,” the woman was an easy target. When it comes to fat people, many forget that whole don’t be a jerk thing.
“Don’t judge a book by its cover” doesn’t even enter some minds.
The statistics bear this out.
The national prevalence of weight discrimination increased by 66 percent between 1995 and 2005, according to a Yale University’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity study. The rate was relatively close to the prevalence of race and age discrimination.
Disdain for fat people starts young.
Obese children are less liked than their smaller peers, according to several researchers.
In Georgia, where 40 percent of children are either overweight or obese, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta last month caught flack for its “Stop Sugarcoating” campaign, which features frowning fat kids.
Some wonder if the anti-childhood obesity campaign further stigmatizes fat children and adds to the notion that one has to be slim to be acceptable.
“Warning: Fat prevention begins at home. And the buffet line,” one ad reads.
“Warning: It’s hard to be a little girl if you’re not,” another reads.
Few want to be obese or overweight.
I know this because I was raised by a mother who was constantly losing her fight with the scale.
She was often reluctant to do new things out of fear of being noticed or belittled for her weight.
She wasn’t lazy. She wasn’t stupid. She wasn’t a waste.
She simply had a problem that many in this country face.
Spit the pork rind out of your mouth before talking about the one someone else is eating.
About a third of adult Americans are obese, the Centers for Disease Control says. Another third is overweight. Obesity can lead to health problems, and the nation should address it head on. That doesn’t mean fat people are a problem or a reason to chuckle.
Contact this columnist at (937) 225-2384 or arobinson@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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