Harassment against overweight people.

Harassment is a hot topic in today’s world. People are stepping up and saying how we treat gays, minorities, pay wages, women, are hot topics for discrimination, and we are not going to ignore it anymore. However, through these groups there is one particular group that gets overlooked or even to some, think these people should be treated horribly because they are overweight and are those who caused themselves to be this way. In America at the time of 2010 the percentage of overweight people were up to over 63% and rising. (Hendrick, 2010). This particular group should be heard and not picked on, should have laws to protect those who mean harm to them. Also with this particular group, are women harassed more than men and are women judge far more harshly for being obesed compared to men that are merely thought of as being big boned. In today’s world, harassment against any person in the world is not easily tolerated, but for obese women it is something that is not really talked about and happens more often than not. As of today there are a few states and cities that will recognize people are overweight are protected legally under the civil and human rights. (Puhl, 2012 ). While victims of harassment and discrimination have tried to get restitution in different states that they are not covered in under the Disability Act of 1990. The Disability Act of 1990 defines disability as those with a personal or mental impairment that limits one or more major life activities (Puhl, 2012 ) is covered under them. However, those that are obese and tried to get restitution through the court system prior to 2009 (Puhl, 2012 ) and used ADA as a way to show they were disable and discrimination against had to prove that them being overweight was physiological cause, (Puhl, 2012 ), before being heard through the court system, most people could not do this and therefore were not protected by the ADA against being discriminated against. As of 2009, the courts ruled that the ADA expand to include those that are severely obese will be covered, however those who are just overweight or moderate obese are still not covered under ADA. (Puhl, 2012 ). There is talk of a law to be proposed that will cover all of those who are obese and have been discriminated against. When it comes discrimination against men and women and who is more likely to be discriminated against, there have been studies done that stated women are the one who this would more likely happen to. One of the studies have stated that women that are overweight are more likely not to be paid as much as those who are skinner. (Obese women likelier to face job discrimination, 2012, May 01) Obese women are more likely not to get pay raises, promotions or even a job at all for being overweight. In a workplace setting an overweight person may experience being a brunt of a joke, having to join a gym in order to get active and fit where those who are skinny would not have to do this. These employer might have those that are overweight pay a higher healthcare plan than those who are skinny. (Ogunjimi, 2012). Proving that a person is discriminated against from their employer or co-workers may be harder to do because there is no clear law to saw what is right or wrong in protecting those that are overweight and experience this on a daily bases. However, men are obesed are not really focused on as closely as a woman might be. If a man is overweight they are often looked at as being big boned and accepted for who they are. They are more likely to have the same pay as a skinny man and get the job over an overweight women. Many would say that men do not let those who will judge them as being different affect them as it would affect a woman. Either it is a man or a woman being judged in the workplace by the way they look is not a way that a company should run. It should be run by the ability and the qualifications of what a person does or brings to the company. However, in today’s society that way of living is not highly practiced and therefor people who do discriminate against those that are overweight get away with it more than once. In today’s world when going to a clothing store or seeing models on billboards, a person might see someone who is a size 5 and that is considered normal by today’s standards. When looking around on the streets or in a mall a person might see more people are an average a size 10 or more but yet this is considered overweight in some people’s eyes. What society is not accepting is that most people are not size 5 or look like superstars who are stick thin and should not be judge on what these rich and famous people look like. What the media industry needs to do is be more accepting of those who look like an average person and start putting more pictures and movies out there so that people who are average or above don’t feel bad about themselves because they don’t look like what the media says they should. Harassing a person by calling them fatty or lard butt is not a going to make someone go out there and lose the weight. In a study done in Florida showed that those who have been harassed about how they look are more likely to go right back to food for comfort. (Adkins, 2013). In this study it showed that those that are picked on about their weight are three times more likely to be obese. (Adkins, 2013). When going to a doctor one would think that they would be bias and not make a person who is overweight feel shameful about the size that they are. However, in a recent study showed that medical students have little respect to those that are overweight and up to 54 percent of doctors are willing not to accept those that are overweight. (M, 2013). Those in a medical profession got into that type of profession to help those who need help and instead of helping those who might really need it, these doctors make their patients feel even more shameful and wrong about the amount that they way. Another study was done with those that are on a jury trial and that are male jurors. This Yale study showed that male jurors were more likely to convict a woman who is overweight then of a skinny woman for the same crime. For these males’ jurors an overweight woman is more likely to be aware of what she did and be a repeat offender. (M, 2013) In today’s world cyber bulling is the easiest way and in some aspects safest way to harass a particular overweight person. If a person knows someone who they don’t like, and what to make fun of them without the person knowing it, all they have to do is right click on the overweight person’s photo and save it to their computer. They now have the power to put an innocent person’s picture out there for the world to hate and the person whose photo it is may never know who did it. This innocent overweight person is now the target to others out there to save their picture and upload it to more social media and become a bigger target for more to hate. Instead of dressing up in white robes and burning cross’s in people’s yards, cyber bulling has become the fastest and cowards way of ruining an innocent person’s life. However, what if the person whose photo is used finds out, and then decides to kill themselves because there are hundreds of people commenting that they are ugly and should kill themself, who then is responsible for pushing that person to far over the edge. Being overweight and harassed is something that no one wants to be nor is it right. However, for both men and women it probably happens on a daily biases. Instead of tearing down those that are overweight, as a society we should be looking for ways that would offer those that are overweight, safe and productive ways to help them without shaming them. There should be more states with better laws that makes sure those that are harassed are protected and can go after those that are harassing them legally. In today’s world, harassment against any person in the world should not be easily tolerated and more people need to speak up against the harassment of those that are overweight for no person should be treated as they are.

Works Cited
Adkins, S. (2013, July 31). Weight Discrimination against Fat People Leads To More Weight Gain, Study. Retrieved from University Herald: http://www.universityherald.com/articles/4069/20130731/weight-discrimination-fat-people-gain-overweight-obese.htm
Hendrick, B. (2010). Percentage of overweight, obese swells america swells. WebMD.
M, M. (2013, Sept 27). 10 Frightening Ways We Discriminate Against Fat People. Retrieved from Listverse: http://listverse.com/2013/09/27/10-frightening-ways-we-discriminate-against-fat-people/
(2012, May 01). Obese women likelier to face job discrimination. New Delhi: Al Bawaba (Middle East) Ltd.
Ogunjimi, A. (2012). Workplace Discrimination Against the Obese. Retrieved from eHow: http://www.ehow.com/about_6532865_workplace-discrimination-against-obese.html
Puhl, J. L. (2012 ). New Developments in the Law for Obesity. www.obesityjournal.org.