Consequences Of Prejudice And Discrimination Against Obese People

In this research paper we will be looking at the topic of obesity and the social ramifications that it holds. We will first look at obesity in a broad way. Then we will focus on obesity and its effects on children. And finally, obesity and adulthood will be covered. The topic of obesity is important to the field of sociology because obese people make up a significant portion of the world’s population. In addition, the manner in which obese people are treated has a significant effect on society as a whole.

Society today has distorted what a healthy physique actually looks like. It tells you, if you don’t have muscles bulging from under your skin then you are out of shape. And that if you are overweight you are just ugly. Another false concept is that if you are overweight you’re lazy or not self disciplined (Bordo 2). There are so many factors that have to be accounted for when evaluating someone’s weight. To assume that someone is lazy or weak because they are overweight, is ignorant. Many people are deceived into thinking that obesity is terrible like a sin. In her article Susan Bordo gives an example of a study taken where children chose obesity to be more uncomfortable or embarrassing than dismembered hands or facial deformities when shown

Obesity is a growing problem and concern in American households today. However it cannot be narrowed down to one main problem. The most prominent underlying issues are psychological and environmental. These issues in turn create deteriorating health and economic problems degrading one’s self-esteem.

Greg Critser author of “Too Much of a Good Thing,” published by the Los Angeles Times proclaims obesity the most pivotal medical issue currently, citing United Nation health and nutrition experts. Rising rates of obesity around the world and in United States, due to several universal factors and underlying parental challenges, have created an environment detrimental for parents educating children in acceptable dietary behaviors (Critser 161). Critser affirms the stigmatization of unhealthy dietary behaviors would result in reduction of risk and harm regarding obesity; furthermore, he cites incidences where the stigmatization of perverse behaviors diminished the frequency of hazardous activities. The author challenges several widely-accepted

Based on background information, a central hypothesis was developed that obesity is an ongoing, gendered and embodied cultural process that has harmful consequences for the obese individual (e.g. Harjunen, 2002&2003). The various social implications of obesity will be explored via interviews (with obese people or former obese people) conducted and the surveys taken of people in the Boston area.

The media has distorted people’s views on the way they look at their own body image. The media has shown what their ideal body type is, while leaving people to feel as if the average weight is not good enough. (Cardosi, 2006) We live in a world where people feel as if having zero body fat is the idea body type to have. Pictures of models for clothing stores, bathing suits, lingerie etc. all exhibit to this to be true. Body image is perceived to be negatively influenced by the media and the way that the media displays their models. Parents, teachers, adolescence and even children all find themselves to be comparing themselves based on what the media exposes. (Levine & Murnen, 2009)

In “Fat and Happy: In Defense of Fat Acceptance” by Mary Ray Worley, a member of the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance (or NAAFA), analyzes the stigmatization of fat people in our society. With the use of both personal experiences and facts, Worley portrays the effects of this social stigmatization on fat people, in comparison to the actual realities of the issue.

There are many problems in the world today, not the least of which is obesity and rising unhealthy habits. Society has been warned since they were young that obesity can cause major health problems, but that apparently means nothing to them. There is a measure called the body mass index, or BMI, which calculates a relationship between weight and height. A BMI of 25-29.9 is considered over weight and anything higher than that is considered obese. In the 1990’s a significant rise in overweight and obesity occurred, likely due to extended time in front of computers and televisions, the prevalence of supersized food at restaurants, and bad nutrition after leaving your parents’ home to start your own life. Technology has made our lives easier, there is no doubt about that, but there is no excuse for being morbidly obese. Stigmatization, or shaming, those that are not the norm has been around as long as man has existed. It is one of

There are more than one billion overweigh adults in the world with at least three hundred of these adults being obese. In North America, obesity has increasingly become one of the most important public health problems (Flegal, Graubard, Williamson, & Gail 2005). With cases of obesity increasing, there has also been more exportation of research being done into the topic. Moreover, social, psychological and biological factors are being investigated to determine aspects that may influence the onset of obesity. This paper will focus on two specific domains of the biopsychosocial model of health with a focus on psychological and social factors that affect obesity.

If you stop overweight people from being able to travel then Airlines are losing money. Today’s generation is getting bigger. “U.S. waistlines grew once again in 2009, with results from a national, annual telephone survey of more than 400,000 Americans showing that national obesity prevalence in adults reached a new high of 26.7%, up more than 1% from 2007, and by nearly 7% from 2000.” Zoler, 2011). If we stop overweight people from being able to fly, that will cost airlines thousands of customers.

Some research have shown that obese children have lower self-esteem and confidence while others do not. Social discrimination and low self-esteem were two areas that seemed to be most affected in this study. This may have been, in part, due to physical limitations, feeling isolated or lonely, and/or teasing from peers, which is common in adolescents who are obese. Interestingly, parents answered the same questionnaires, and their ratings of their children well-being were even lower than the children self-ratings (Patrick 2005). There is some consensus in the literature that the global approach to self-esteem measurement with children who are overweight/ obese is misleading.

I felt the eye of judgment piercing through me as I entered the plane. I could hear people whispering and giggling. While scanning the rows to find my assigned seat, I could see the looks of concern from those who thought I might sit by them. The clicking sounds of seat belt buckles almost sent me into a panic. I was dreading asking the flight attendant for a lap belt extension, or worse, having it offered without asking. Words were not necessary to feel the intensity of mass criticism. To make matters worse, it was a hot day, and my clothes were sticking to my body, outlining my multiple layers of over-indulgence. I was overheating and could taste salty beads of sweat trickling down my face.

Louise Townend in her research concerning the moralizing of obesity addresses the issue across a wide spectrum of categories such as economic, health and social policy. She enumerates the different social contexts of the obesity debate and begins by stating that obesity is no longer a trouble but an epidemic which is now a “significant issue for health and social policy, with major ramifications for general economic productivity across the globe”. (Townend) 2009: 3. She points out obesity is often associated with stigma such as laziness, dirtiness, illness and poverty (Townend, 2009). This connects the problem of obesity with the history of poverty and creates the question of why is laziness connected to obesity? And why does that consequently turn into poverty.

Weight discrimination “generally refers to negative weight-related attitudes toward an overweight or obese individual” (Puhl 1). Obesity numbers started to skyrocket in the 1990s and weight discrimination started to become a problem about five years later. Obese individuals are susceptible to weight discrimination at health care facilities, school, work, and even in personal relationships. Studies have found that the chances of experiencing weight discrimination increase the more an individual weighs. “In our study, 10 percent of overweight women reported weight discrimination, 20 percent of obese women reported weight discrimination and 45 percent of very obese women reported weight discrimination. men were lower, with 3 percent of overweight, 6 percent of obese and 28 percent of very obese men reporting weight discrimination. This finding also tells us that women begin experiencing weight discrimination at lower levels of body weight than men” (Puhl 2). For women weight discrimination is more common than race discrimination.

Body-Shaming is known as criticizing or humiliating someone by making impolite comments on an individual's body shape or size. Body-shaming is a subject that has been recently brought to light with the use of social media; many celebrities have talked about body-shaming along with quite a few other individuals who have even went out to do social experiments. Generations and generations have passed and as the years go by, the problems only seems to get worse. Comments like “you should put more meat on your bones” and “you should go on a diet” are both equally demeaning and overused. It shouldn’t matter what someone’s body size or shape is to anyone as long as that person is happy and content with himself or herself. Almost everyone has