Watson 1

Masimius Watson
Mr. Burchett
Honors Government 5
10/23/15
Are we currently under siege by a plague so pervasive and insidious that it has already
infected almost half of our population? Some would say that we have a contagion of obesity that
has invaded our ever increasing numbers. Obesity Rates, a key indicator of chronic conditions
like heart disease and diabetes, have risen steadily since 1994, too. The percentage of Americans
considered obese rose to 26.43 percent in 2007, from 16 percent in 1995. (Universal, 254). Even
with terrible diseases such as heart disease and diabetes, we do not consider obesity its own
disease. This is contradictory because society avoids fat like the plague, advertising impossible
visons of anorexic beauty and almost placing overweight people in a second class state. We
continue to unfairly place our preconceptions of fat as an obvious sign of unhealthiness and
terribleness. Since prejudice exists and is condoned, a bill ensuring the protection from
discrimination for people of different sizes will better protect them in working environments,
show that obesity is not completely the victims fault and bring attention to the struggles of the
overweight person to attempt to bring them to an equality standard that our country seems to
effuse.
Work is a very important matter in our lives because it sustains us, but obese people are
treated unfairly in the workplace by managers and other coworkers. A person that is overweight
is commonly considered less bearable for a job than a person of average weight because
managers harbor a bias favoring people who are skinnier. This creates inequality between people
of greater size and others through pay and treatment. Superskinny Minnies (weighing about 25
pounds less than the norm) earn about $15,572 more per year than women of average weight.
(Slim). Women of smaller weight have a greater income rate than larger women, including
average weight women. Currently, our country is fighting for wage equality for women with
men, but wage equality also exists due to weight. If it is unbearable to treat women unequaly in
comparison to men, then it should be just as ignominious between different weight categories.

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There are some cases that have defended obesity on a very limited scale through the
Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. Court cases
involving overweight issues in the rare cases that it occurs have only helped those cases that
the individual is affected by severe obesity. Even though it is cited quite often that fat people
are mistreated in work environments, not much is being done to address this issue unless they
have severe obesity. While employment discrimination against fat people is well documented
by social science, the question whether the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with
Disabilities Act (ADA) offer protection against this type of discrimination has rarely been
addressed. (Adult). Even though some clauses protect those with disabilities, they only seem to
affect those with severe obesity. All people with a disability who are qualified for their position
are protected from unlawful discrimination, said EEOC General Counsel David Lopez. Severe
obesity is no exception. It is important for employers to realize that stereotypes, myths, and
biases about that condition should not be the basis of employment decisions. (Staman).
Although the court addresses obesity, its only in the terms of severe obesity and does not also
protect overweight to obese people from unfair treatment at work. There is still a lot of
discrimination against obese people in work places that can be solved by establishing obesity as
a disease.
People do not consider obesity as a disease because it is primarily conceived as a
controllable effect through temperance and self-control, which is generally not true. Obesity can
be caused by other diseases and or genes that can affect a persons fat. Some illnesses may lead
to obesity or weight gain. These may include Cushing's disease, and polycystic ovary syndrome.
Drugs such as steroids and some antidepressants may also cause weight gain. The science
continues to emerge on the role of other factors in energy balance and weight gain such as
chemical exposures and the role of the microbiome. (Court). Even though behavior does affect
weight such as: food intake, exercise and other outside sources, there is still a sizable amount of
people who cannot control their weight. These people are most heavily impacted by unfair
treatment because they truly do not deserve to be reprimanded for something that is out of their
hands. There is also a case in which a court had concluded that obesity is actually a disease

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because it can be caused by so many different alien sources. The court concluded that severe
obesity may qualify as a disability regardless of whether it is caused by a physiological disorder,
rejecting RHDs argument to the contrary. (Staman). This truly shows that obesity should be
cited as a disease to help them gain more support in health care and prevent them from being
thrown out of their jobs based on their size. Although diseases are truly bad, labeling obesity as a
disease can probably help draw more attention to their aid which is necessary to prevent obesity
from causing more deaths. Since obesity is more likely than not to not actually be their fault,
treating overweight people as almost a second class citizen, a monster, or gross pathogen is truly
a very shameful act because tormenting an innocent for a disease should fall into the protection
of our countrys supposed standard of equality.
People of more than average weight are the butt of our countrys jokes which can be at
times truthful, but should not be a force in which people use to attack and mentally harm
citizens. Bullying heavily affects overweight individuals because they treat them as more
different than average sized children. Through this, overweight people can feel ostracized. This
bullying is continued into older ages where overweight people can be treated as less than people.
The media, studios and even Hollywood agents are infamous for pressuring celebs to lose
weight: Scarlett Johansson blamed the press for irresponsibly writing about her weight in a
May 17 article in the Huffington Post; Actor Jason Segel most recently told David Letterman the
studio president for The Five-Year Engagement told him to go on a diet and Jennifer Lopez
revealed in Glamour last year she fired her representative for it.(Roberts). Even for actors, skills
are most wanted in looks considering weight. To be successful an actor must be skinny instead
of an artist who conveys message through acting. Our social bias creates an atmosphere of
immediate hatred for obese people that most occupations escape. The Beauty Bias, Rhode lays
out the case for an America in which appearance discrimination is no longer allowed. That
means Hooters can't fire its servers for being too heavy, as allegedly happened last month to a
waitress in Michigan who says she received nothing but excellent reviews but weighed 132
pounds. And the top management at Abercrombie & Fitch couldn't hold weekly meetings, as
they allegedly did, at which photos of its sales associates were reviewed and purged for any sign

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of breakouts, weight gain, or unacceptable quantities of ethnicity.(Lithwick). Weight holds a
much more important role in the minds of everyone when judging a person which leads to people
bullying people who are overweight because fat is seen as sickness which is not beautiful. They
are not even defended by California Law to be protected against bullying! What groups are
listed under California state law: Disability, Gender, Gender Identity, Gender Expression,
Nationality, Race or ethnicity, Religion, Sexual orientation, and association with a person or
group with one of more of these actual or perceived characteristics. (California). They arent
even specifically protected in equal rights! All persons shall be entitled to the full and equal
enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, and accommodations of any
place of public accommodation, as defined in this section, without discrimination or segregation
on the ground of race, color, religion, or national origin. (Public). There is no escape for
Overweight people, even in law; bullying still continues to happen and is seemingly impossible
to stop for overweight people. During my childhood, I had always been slightly larger than
others, but the difference had never been quite as important as it was in high school. Slim,
athletic bodies were the fashion, and I felt as though I were an alien, completely outside the
norm. As an overweight teenager, I was constantly plagued by my peers' remarks. They would
snicker as I walked by them in the halls, and on some occasions I could make out their words.
They would call me fat and sometimes worse. For every day like that, I lost more self-respect. It
was like a punch to my stomach, and I hung my head in shame as I passed these cruel instigators
day after day. (Dilg). Passing kids would break the person through teasing which led to
increasing self-doubt. Appearance anxiety increased after viewing advertisements featuring
idealized images. There was also a significant interaction between self-objectification level and
idealized body (presence vs. absence). No differences emerged for body-related compared with
non-body-related product advertisements. The only result for body shame was a main effect for
time. Participants' body shame increased after exposure to idealized images, irrespective of
advertisement type. (Disord). Our society should not have the power to form childrens minds
into believing that they are under anyone else because they are not confident in their own
disposition; they should be comfortable in their skin. Therefore, obesity should be included in

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anti-bully protection instead of only when they have disabilities..
People who discriminate against overweight people believe that this bill would be
frivolous because overweight people are not discriminated against and they are actually protected
by our divine society. Even though there are some sources of protection for disabilities that have
been amended to somewhat protect overweight people, it is not enough to protect them from
discrimination. The ADA regulations address whether obesity can be an impairment that
qualifies as a disability under the ADA. In general, the regulations suggest that the ADA offers
limited protection to obese individuals. (Kramer). Limited protection is never enough when it
comes to inequality and should be treated as such or else we would all be ruled implicitly as
slaves by rich white males. This evidence shows that the ADA attempts to protect obese people.
But Rhode points out that there are already laws against appearance discrimination on the books
in Michigan and six other locales. This hasn't resulted in an explosion of frivolous suits, she
notes. In each jurisdiction the new laws have generated between zero and nine cases annually. In
Michigan about 30 looks-discrimination suits are filed per year, of which on average only one is
litigated. The unworthy cases will be weeded out by the cost and burden of litigation, she
contends. And the legal system will have taken a symbolic step toward greater tolerance that may
have the effect of shifting social views, as did Brown v. Board of Education (with regard to race
discrimination) and Lawrence v. Texas (with respect to gay rights). (Lithwick). There are looksdiscrimination cases that are not ruled in favor of overweight people which shows that there is
not enough protection for these obese individuals. Furthermore, obesity cases are truly rare
which seems to undermine the belief that discrimination exists: but it still does despite this. But
perhaps the major reason more cases aren't filed is that many who are overweight have become
so accustomed to discrimination that they expect it, and dont believe much can be done about it.
"If they have a serious weight problem, they have probably encountered that kind of
discrimination they have been treated differently all of their lives, and don't think that a
government agency is going to be sympathetic, says Madison's City Wick. In San Francisco,
Babella says, I think most people just kind of feel like, that's how life is." (Weight). They have
been treated so badly their whole lives that they ignore the unnecessary criticisms everyday.

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They also say that obesity should not be cited as a disability or disease because they believe it
can be easily avoided when in actuality there are several outside sources that can affect a
persons weight. Basically, they believe that obesity is a personal problem. We cannot avoid
obesity because it is truly a disease that have many outside sources acting on them that it cannot
be solely pinned on behavior issues. Obesity is a complex health issue to address. Obesity
results from a combination of causes and contributing factors, including individual factors such
as behavior and genetics. Behaviors can include dietary patterns, physical activity, inactivity,
medication use, and other exposures. Additional contributing factors in our society include the
food and physical activity environment, education and skills, and food marketing and
promotion. (Court). We cannot simply say that its a persons fault for letting them become fat
because there are several stimuli that affect a person and their weight. For example, a pregnant
woman who goes through a pregnancy is an arduous task which makes them heavier after the
child delivery than before being pregnant. During pregnancy, women gain weight to support
their babies growth and development. After giving birth, some women find it hard to lose the
weight. This may lead to overweight or obesity, especially after a few pregnancies. (What).
Since women seem to be the most heavily affected by beauty standards, then pregnant women
will be targeted for essentially procreating which is their entitlement to life also known as
being overweight. Is this how America is going to treat its people?
A bill to protect obese people from discrimination would help to further civil rights by
increasing fairness in the work place, establish that not all cases of obesity are not at the fault of
the victim, and attempt to bring them to an equality standard that most people see today. Obese
people have commonly been the brunt of many attacks in our society, especially since we glorify
skinny beauties and denounce fat people as ugly. Overweightness is unconsciously considered to
be a form of sickness which leads to their denouncement, even though fat does not necessarily
mean unhealthy. You can be of average weight and be extremely unhealthy, or overweight and
have normal blood pressure and no artery clogging. Therefore, prejudice keeps us from giving
the benefit of the doubt to every person who seems overweight. We cannot immediately judge
them and say that they are unhealthy because it is not necessarily their fault. They are still

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people, their body masses should not be the determining factor of their personality. Therefore,
we must remove discrimination against overweight people. I know its hard, but always have an
open mind when meeting a person and keep your mind devoid of expectations so that every
person is treated equally, including overweight people.

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Works Cited: Books
Hunnicutt, Susan. Universal Health Care. Detroit: Greenhaven, 2010. Print.
Works Cited: Web CCCLib
Dilg, Beth. What Matters. Newton. Young Authors Foundation, Inc. 1 Apr 2003. Print.
Lithwick, Dahlia. Our Beauty Bias is Unfair. Newsweek. 14 Jun 2010. Pg. 20. Print.
Roberts, Soraya. The Skinny on Hollywood Peer Pressure. Toronto Star [Canada]. 22 May
2012. Print.
Slim Pickins: Thin Women Get Paid More. Ebony. Dec 2010. Pg. 64. Print.
Works Cited: Web
Adult Obesity Causes and Consequences. Centers for disease Control and Prevention. 16 Jun.
2015. CDC.gov. Web. 18 Oct. 2015. http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/adult/causes.html
California Anti-Bullying Laws And Policies. Stopbullying.gov. 28 Apr. 2015. U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services. Web. 2 Nov. 2015.
http://www.stopbullying.gov/laws/california.html
Court Upholds Severe Obesity as an ADA-Protected Impairment. U. S. Equal Employment
Opportunity Commision. 10 Apr. 2012. EEOC.gov. Web. 18 Oct. 2015.
http://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/newsroom/release/4-10-12a.cfm
Disrord, Eat J. and Monro F. and Huon G. Media-portrayed idealized images, body shame, and
appearance anxiety. PubMed.gov. (2005). US National Library of Medicine National
Institutes of Health. Web. 2 Now. 2015. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15971241
Kramer, Karen M. and Arlene B. Mayerson. Obesity Discrimination in the Workplace:
Protection Through a Perceived Disability Claim Under the Rehabilitation Act and the
Americans with Disabilities Act. Scholarly Commons. (1994). California Western Law
Review. Web. 18 Oct. 2015.
http://scholarlycommons.law.cwsl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1320&context=cwlr
Public Law 88-352. Reference Files. (1964). Library Clerk House. Web. 2 Nov. 2015.
http://library.clerk.house.gov/reference-files/PPL_CivilRightsAct_1964.pdf
Staman, Jennifer. Obesity Discrimination and the Americans with Disabilities Act. 22 Feb.

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2007. CRS Report for Congress. Web. 18 Oct. 2015.
http://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1025&context=crs
Weight Bias Laws: Tipping the Scales Against Prejudice? Weight Bias. (2013). Minnesota
Department of Human Rights. Web. 2 Nov. 2015.
http://mn.gov/mdhr/education/articles/rs10_2weightlaws.html
What Causes Overweight and Obesity? National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. 13 Jul.
2012. Department of Health and Human Services. Web. 2 Nov. 2015.
http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/obe/causes