Weight Stereotyping
- Thread starter Gaze
- Start date
Oh yes. This type of stereotyping exists and in many places, it's one of those things that everyone sees, but no one overtly comments on. Once you get out into the professional world, for example, potential employers do judge you based on your appearance. Especially in any industry where there are many qualified candidates and where the employee's image can have an indirect impact on performance, such as any kind of sales-oriented position. A lot of firms are interested in creating a certain 'image' of their team and it's not uncommon for them to look over overweight candidates in favour of more thin and trim candidates.
I've been to sales seminars where the instructor has not so subtly advised his students to hit the gym (as well as invest in a teeth whitening procedures???) the tag line being 'If you look like a success, you will be a success.' I guess the subtext there was this implicit correlation between success/driven = fit and lazy/unsuccessful = overweight. Or at least that is the way it is perceived by most people.
Unfortunately, as prevalent as this is, this is one of the most difficult type of discrimination to prove. It doesn't hold the same kind of stigma that racism or sexism or even ageism does. Because weight, like hygiene, hair colour or fashion sense, is one of the elements of outward appearance that people have control over, it is often taken as a gauge of a person's internal make-up. Or so many people might argue.
I've been to sales seminars where the instructor has not so subtly advised his students to hit the gym (as well as invest in a teeth whitening procedures???) the tag line being 'If you look like a success, you will be a success.' I guess the subtext there was this implicit correlation between success/driven = fit and lazy/unsuccessful = overweight. Or at least that is the way it is perceived by most people.
Unfortunately, as prevalent as this is, this is one of the most difficult type of discrimination to prove. It doesn't hold the same kind of stigma that racism or sexism or even ageism does. Because weight, like hygiene, hair colour or fashion sense, is one of the elements of outward appearance that people have control over, it is often taken as a gauge of a person's internal make-up. Or so many people might argue.
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I have friends who are obese, and I am overweight. I don't know if others judge me by my weight or not, but I know that I tend to a little bit. If you are a health practitioner (or someone who is representing a health product or service) you'd better be healthy yourself, or be able to show a progression from the beginning to the current phase in your not yet complete transformation. It sounds harsh, but there's a direct correlation. As far as non-health related industries...I don't care if my waitress/car dealer/hair dresser/receptionist/cashier etc. is heavier or not. I do find that if I don't like someone anyway, I will incorporate their weight into that view (but I try hard not to.) I'm also more likely to judge someone by their weight depending on how they are dressed. A fat woman dressed neatly and in clothes that fit gives a better image than a skinny woman in clothes that don't fit properly.
Oh definitely, but it's not just overweight women or overweight men, everything comes under scrutiny in an interview which is why you're often advised to dress according to the job you're trying to get.
Most politicians tend to go with a black suit jacket with a white shirt and red tie because black is perceived as a "power" colour and the red tie draws the attention more to the persons lips so people are more likely to pay attention to them when they speak.
Tall people are less likely to pass an interview than shorter people because they are perceived as threatening and a good portion of shorter men won't employ them because they would appear less powerful with you hanging around.
Women are encouraged to dress less girlie to stop interviewers thinking about you in terms of attraction and more are they suitable for the job (though there are circumstances where it would help depending on the type of person interviewing).
TDHT is absolutely right, in terms of selling it is all about how you are perceived, if you're clean, look powerful and sound confident people will want what you're selling because they think by doing this they too will be more like the seller or they will gain some sort of acceptance by them.
Overweight people are more likely to have low energy levels, diabetes, a form of mental aliment, they are more likely to become sick, have less social connections and less general influence than people who are in good physical shape. (statistically)
I know this makes me sound like a utter dick but it's kind of the way of the world, we are hierarchical animals and it's just how things tend to work out statistically.
Most politicians tend to go with a black suit jacket with a white shirt and red tie because black is perceived as a "power" colour and the red tie draws the attention more to the persons lips so people are more likely to pay attention to them when they speak.
Tall people are less likely to pass an interview than shorter people because they are perceived as threatening and a good portion of shorter men won't employ them because they would appear less powerful with you hanging around.
Women are encouraged to dress less girlie to stop interviewers thinking about you in terms of attraction and more are they suitable for the job (though there are circumstances where it would help depending on the type of person interviewing).
TDHT is absolutely right, in terms of selling it is all about how you are perceived, if you're clean, look powerful and sound confident people will want what you're selling because they think by doing this they too will be more like the seller or they will gain some sort of acceptance by them.
Overweight people are more likely to have low energy levels, diabetes, a form of mental aliment, they are more likely to become sick, have less social connections and less general influence than people who are in good physical shape. (statistically)
I know this makes me sound like a utter dick but it's kind of the way of the world, we are hierarchical animals and it's just how things tend to work out statistically.
Oh my god the dead have risen!
Hope you're well!
(sorry to derail your thread Ame)
- to remain on topic -
It's a fairly accurate conclusion to reach that overweight people
will have more health problems so employers desire not people
who are skinny, necessarily, but who are healthy, to employ.
less awkward wording:
employers desire healthy employees
Also in the United States employers such as hallmark encourage
their employees to be in good health but offering free fitness
classes and memberships and running groups at lunch to their
employees.
I'm half tempted to get a job designing greeting cards knowing this.
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I think the cultural change over the last 100 years is quite astounding and most definitely media driven and almost certainly intentional (as in people are making a lot of money out of weight bias so they perpetuate it).
The media do a very poor job of reporting the science of body weight and almost always takes a hysterical approach, there is a lot of evidence to support the fact that overweight people have the lowest mortality for instance, and moderate obesity has the same mortality as normal weight add to that the fact that most of the health benefit of weight loss is in the first 5% of body weight you lose, if everyone lost 5% the population would be much healthier by far but there would still be fat and thin people.
There is zero evidence that getting a fat person down to an arbitrary normal bmi will improve their health in the longterm as there is no way to measure it, it's all an assumption.
The media also often give the impression that the health risks of fat are similar to those of smoking, which shows an extremely clear cause and effect relationship whereas with BMI you're really splitting hairs between small changes in risk except for the very extremes of the bell curve. For instance smoking has a relative risk of lung cancer of 20, overweight generally has a relative risk less than 2 (relative risks less than 2 are often considered unmeaningful, especially when there are obvious confounding factors such as stigma that are rarely taken into account).
There is a very vested interest for the media, the researchers and the weight loss industry to keep people in a slight state of panic regarding their weight. The media get more views, the researchers get more funding and the weight loss industry cream it.
The media do a very poor job of reporting the science of body weight and almost always takes a hysterical approach, there is a lot of evidence to support the fact that overweight people have the lowest mortality for instance, and moderate obesity has the same mortality as normal weight add to that the fact that most of the health benefit of weight loss is in the first 5% of body weight you lose, if everyone lost 5% the population would be much healthier by far but there would still be fat and thin people.
There is zero evidence that getting a fat person down to an arbitrary normal bmi will improve their health in the longterm as there is no way to measure it, it's all an assumption.
The media also often give the impression that the health risks of fat are similar to those of smoking, which shows an extremely clear cause and effect relationship whereas with BMI you're really splitting hairs between small changes in risk except for the very extremes of the bell curve. For instance smoking has a relative risk of lung cancer of 20, overweight generally has a relative risk less than 2 (relative risks less than 2 are often considered unmeaningful, especially when there are obvious confounding factors such as stigma that are rarely taken into account).
There is a very vested interest for the media, the researchers and the weight loss industry to keep people in a slight state of panic regarding their weight. The media get more views, the researchers get more funding and the weight loss industry cream it.
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People will always have their prejudices, fairly reasoned or not.
What I don't like about all the stigma about obesity is how it discourages larger people from pursuing health and happiness. A lot of obese people may think "oh, I'm already fat, so there's no point in working out and eating healthily, it'll take so much effort" or "people will laugh at me for working out or doing xyz" or "I can't possibly see myself as a successful or worthy person" or a whole myriad of things, directing them towards negative perceptions about their physical shape and in turn distracting them from the aim for a healthy lifestyle and positive self image that everybody should work towards, regardless of their size.
What I don't like about all the stigma about obesity is how it discourages larger people from pursuing health and happiness. A lot of obese people may think "oh, I'm already fat, so there's no point in working out and eating healthily, it'll take so much effort" or "people will laugh at me for working out or doing xyz" or "I can't possibly see myself as a successful or worthy person" or a whole myriad of things, directing them towards negative perceptions about their physical shape and in turn distracting them from the aim for a healthy lifestyle and positive self image that everybody should work towards, regardless of their size.
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For anyone who is interested:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_at_Every_Size
http://www.haescommunity.org/
http://danceswithfat.wordpress.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_at_Every_Size
http://www.haescommunity.org/
http://danceswithfat.wordpress.com/
From an HR perspective, healthy employees are cheaper employees to employ.
I find that overweight men are the best laborers. I also find that weight lifters are laziest employees. Its almost like they take all day easy so that they can hit the gym hard. That is from a physical labor perspective, not an office type job perspective.
Office-wise I think that overweight moms or motherly types have been the best to work with. Thin women have tended to start the most drama and trouble.
I find that overweight men are the best laborers. I also find that weight lifters are laziest employees. Its almost like they take all day easy so that they can hit the gym hard. That is from a physical labor perspective, not an office type job perspective.
Office-wise I think that overweight moms or motherly types have been the best to work with. Thin women have tended to start the most drama and trouble.
I guess I'm not certain.
I think or know there are stereotypes.
But I'm not sure if they are unfair or just.
Is it some times they are and some times they aren't?
I know we live in a cruel society, and if that causes people to feel down, like giving up, they can't win, etc. that's unfortunate, but isn't it kinda your problem? I mean you have to find a way to not let others stop you from living.
If I just got fat every time someone wanted to hurt me, I'd be dead.
But for someone that doesn't have a weight problem, it's hard to think someone else is over weight and can't do anything about it. I think to people that don't have the problem it just seems like you gave up, don't care, and a lot of us are trying the hardest we can. So when you see someone that doesn't care, gives up, stops trying, etc. you get judgmental. I think we need clarification on whether this is something that fat people can't do anything about or is it something else. Until that becomes clear, I think people will write them off as lazy.
Hoping to learn more.
I am ambivalent about stereotypes: they can be both unfair and true.
Perhaps one should aim at being neither obese, nor thin; but healthy with a modest layer of padding.
@Deathjam
How do I get the pictures I post to show up larger? They always come out as little more than thumb-nails.
Perhaps one should aim at being neither obese, nor thin; but healthy with a modest layer of padding.
@Deathjam
How do I get the pictures I post to show up larger? They always come out as little more than thumb-nails.
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- Aug 28, 2008
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"But the thing is I can't figure out why I can't lose weight. I'm eating 1200-1300 calories a day. I try to make half of those calories from protein. And I ride my stationary bike 4x a week, an hour a day roughly burning 5000 calories a week on it. And I checked online, If I lay down for 16 hours a day and don't move, I should burn close to 4,000 calories. So add that to the calories I burn on the bike and not even compensate energy I burn for regular activities, I really don't get why I'm not losing weight. And On my cheat day I usually don't go over 3,000 calories." - My friend talking to his doctor the other day.
Doctor's response: *Leaves room*
Didn't even try to answer. My friend has suffered problems with his weight since he was 5 or 6. No doctor, nutritionist, or anyone has ever been able to help him. At one point he was eating 300-500 calories a day and exercising 2 hours a day. When he has still a child his mother was asked by his doctor to record everything he ate on a daily basis, calories and all that sort of information. When she took him the information, the doctor flat out called her a liar. No one will help him lose weight because he's so heavy, everyone assumes he's just a big fat lazy person. But I eat more than him, exercise less, and am smaller by quite a bit. I'm not the healthiest person in the world, but even so.
Doctor's response: *Leaves room*
Didn't even try to answer. My friend has suffered problems with his weight since he was 5 or 6. No doctor, nutritionist, or anyone has ever been able to help him. At one point he was eating 300-500 calories a day and exercising 2 hours a day. When he has still a child his mother was asked by his doctor to record everything he ate on a daily basis, calories and all that sort of information. When she took him the information, the doctor flat out called her a liar. No one will help him lose weight because he's so heavy, everyone assumes he's just a big fat lazy person. But I eat more than him, exercise less, and am smaller by quite a bit. I'm not the healthiest person in the world, but even so.
You need to eat more of the right calories. A lot of sugar in the morning, ie fruit , juice, sugar on cereal. Get your metabolism working. Feed all day. Not 5000 calories but a juice here and there, a pear, apple, etc. keep the furnace on fire. No alcohol late after 6 if you sleep at 10. Caffeine slows you down, not pick you up. But it suppresses appetite. Thing is you want to consume calories at a steady slow pace all day.