Do you think there is discrimination against obese people?

[famouslastwords 0]

I agree with you, whoever waited on you was not having a bad day shes just a horrible shallow human being seriously. Its like being a second class citizen. Its ridiculous

[snowbird 2]

I was a fat teenager before I was a fat adult. When I was 16 I had a clerk come up to me in a store and ask me, out of the blue, if I were mentally retarded. Apparently to her, fat = stupid. What was ironic was that I was valedictorian of my high school class that year.

I should have said, "no, but you seem to be."

[Betty Lue 1]

YES I have. People treat you dfferent when your big. It really hurts and can cause you to think bad about yourself.

[jfc193 718]

I have an MBA and some people treat me like I am not very bright.

But the ones that drive me nuts are people who raise their voice as by speaking louder might help me to understand them.

[Loup_Nocturne 1]

I have been large for most of my life, there was a period of time when I was sick and lost a good amount of weight. During that time I was able to experience the difference in how I was treated. Now that I am back to health I have gained weight and am once again experiencing the discrimination.

Within the last month I have been performing my own investigation on discrimination. I find it fascinating to see how people treat veiled thin women vs. veiled large woman.

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It is very ridiculous and silly really, but I suppose that is all based upon society and how people “should” be.

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Loup

[Chrisann 0]

I answered no because if you have confidence in yourself, and the job you can do, you will be hired.

[marillon 0]

I have experienced a LOT of discrimination. Now I live in the Netherlands where there are not so many overweight people so I really used to stand everywhere. Well I used too after loosing 125 LBS I am perceived as more normal. I was fat for 15 years during these years I was discriminated almost anywhere (shops, doctors, work, jobhunting name it) . I have even been declined by a agency as being too fat and so not in the market. Doctors in NL seem to blame everything on your weight and dont take you serious at all. If you have a problem they dont order test no they say its all because of your weight. Then when they fuck up they say diagnosing you is soo difficult with all this FAT. People, collegeaus will treat you differently. You are perceived as lazy, prone to diseases so a risk for an company. Men look at you different. Since i have lost so much weight it is like I have gone from an non-entity to an human being. I am shocked how differently you are treated being smaller. Also I find it is much more accepted in society for a men to be overweight but for a woman to be overweight is disaster. You are suddenly not desireable so not interesting. The whole society is pretty shallow as a lot of people only seem to care about their looks. So yes you are pretty much discriminated if you are obese.

[Sunshine08 0]

Yes, Yes, and YES:

I have been skinny, and obese - and let me tell you, the difference in the way you are treated is PHENOMENAL - and actually quite sad. When i was thin and attractive, life was a lot different, now that i am obese - I have seen it from both sides!

[allykat 1]

I would have answered No to this question about a year and a half ago. But then I applied for this job that I was absolutely qualified for. It is in an academic setting (thought not instructional). I blew them away at my interview and honestly thought I had it in the bag. Then I got a letter that they weren't filling the job. About a month after that, a coworker who was a VP called me in my office to tell me that the VP from the other place told her that they loved everything about me but had real concerns about my size. I was completely shocked! This person who told me was completely offended on my behalf and let them know that it was totally their loss and she was actually glad they were stupid enough to pass me over. I looked at it as a blessing in disguise. Thank God I didn't get the job and go work with shallow people like that!

It ended well, I was promoted at the place where I worked and I wouldn't change it for anything. Incidently, the person who spoke up for me left and had tried to hire me at the place where she is now working, so at least I know I'm not unemployable! The kicker? They ended up hiring someone from within for that job that had zero experience and really, she isn't a tiny thing herself.

[Wheetsin 714]

Chill pill. We were asked our opinion, and I was just sharing mine. It wasn't a personal attack on anyone else, or trying to define a situation.

[coolcrystal 1]

When I was thin (115-135), women hated me and men adored me. But, I was never taken serious by anybody. People thought I was dumb and men just wanted to screw me. When I got over 200 pounds men still flirted with me, but it dwindled quite quickly and then I noticed women being really nice to me and treating me well. I guess I wasn't a threat anymore... I went from having like 1 female friend to having several. Women in the work place were nicer to me and invited me to lunches... and the men finally left me alone.. I got so sick of men sexually harrassing me. When this happened I didn't make much of an effort to lose weight, because for the first time in my life I felt accepted by women and respected by men!

As for being prejudiced at places... the only time I get treated different is if I'm wearing sweats and no makeup and my hair is thrown up. When I wear my work clothes and I look classy people treat me pretty well. I have actually enjoyed being plus sized, until now my knees and back hurt so bad it kills me to walk around a store for more than 10 minutes and I have sleeping issues. But, If I were 200-245 I'd be SO happy still. I'm 290 now. Fifty pounds makes quite a difference. But, since I want to have a baby now, my doctor wants me well under 200 pounds. But I do worry about getting treated differently again. I don't want men sexually harrassing me and women at work treating my like shit again.

[smileyk 0]

I have been fat nearly all my life and the one thing that annoys me most (apart from my size 20 (UK) clothes) are the people who discriminate against 'big' people.

I read in a newspaper article a while back that 'big' people are far less likely to get a job if they are up against a 'normal sized' person. ETC ETC....

I have seen first hand that when you are big you are treated differently in society, in my opinion we are sometimes seen as being intelectually slower than 'normal sized' people or sometimes we can be seen as being lazy etc..

I believe that society should not be allowed to discriminate against obese people just as you are not allowed to be racist or discrimitive against people's age, sex etc..

Over here in the UK there are some NHS hospitals that will not give some treatments to obese people because they are obese!! It is disgusting. My mother needed an urgent scan and she was in an NHS hospital for 1 week. The nurse asked my Mum how much she weighed, soon after this each day the scan was cancelled (without explanation) I believe it was because my mother was classed as obese. Also people who need hip operations etc.. are being turned down because they are classed as obese (this particular lady was 14 pounds overweight)

We need to stop this discrimination now, obesity is a illness that is affecting more and more of us, we should all live in harmony no matter what we are like on the outside.

Lauren xx

It is discrimatory, it's real, it's raging in society AND it's ok... to most people out there. I'm 42, a nurse, been fat 42 years, been obese at least 25 yrs. My highest wt recorded 397, banded 12/31 wt 355, lost 14.5 lbs since banding... with all that out there here's what I wanted to say, I have walked into stores had people completely ignore me , mostly avoid eye contact so they don't have to wait on me. Had people passing me in hallways move so far to the side of the hall they rub the wall never making eye cotact almost like they are scared they'll catch '' being fat'' ... I see the disgust in others eyes when they do attempt to make eye contact ,only to be looking at my stomach because it so big. I 've had men open doors for people 2 feet ahead of me and let it go in my face, YOU can say they would do that to anyone BUT no it's almost understood when your as obese as i am. I've had people I work with ask questions about information they should ask me, and they knew it, they would ignore me and ask my co worker who had to inturn ask me... I finally would leave the area , making them have to hunt me to answer their questions , NOW they ask me first , I can handle my business , hope they can... sorry i strayed ... bottom line is ...people ignore you talk about you, dismiss you, don't invite you, there are some who feel sorry for you. There are so many different discrimatory ways and actions out there I think I have almost accepted them as normal...

[Wheetsin 714]

CoolCrystal, how tall are you? DH and I are trying to get pregnant. Before we started, I spoke with my doctor about the pregnancy vs. age vs. weight triangle. She told me my weight wasn't such that it would be a reason to postpone trying to get pregnant, and that especially considering my age, if I want to have a baby, I need to get started. (She wrote me a rx for prenatals that day).

I'm 31, between 5'10 - 5'11, and 230 - 240.

And I've had the same experience as you. When I'm bypassed is when I look bad - or poor perhaps. hair thrown up, baggy pants, hoodie, crocs... basically my "I'm way too tired to be here" look. :eek: When I'm dressed normally, I get "normal" attention.

[coolcrystal 1]

I'm almost 5"4''.. right in the middle, so I'm quite a bit shorter than you are, which is why 290 on me is really becoming a nuissance on my knees and back. Me and my hubby were pregnant when I was about 250 and I had a miscarriage due to the weight issues, so, the doc would like me to be between 150-165. I think I could be fine to get pregnant at like 190'ish. I'm 34, so if I can get approved for my band and get it done in like February, I'm hoping that I can lose enough to get down to a good weight for pregnancy in a year. Which would put me at 35. My sister just had a healthy baby at 40, so if she can do it, I think I can do it at 35. LOL. Let's hope :-)

Oh, it's funny, a week before Christmas, I was at Hancock's getting a bunch of material to make ornaments and I looked like crappola big time.. My face was broken out.. I had no makeup on.. and get this.. I wore my slippers in. HA HA... and the lady carded me since I paid with credit card. I go in all the time when I'm in my work clothes and the same lady never cards me.. but I look COMPLETELY different when I'm all wearing my relaxed stuff.. it was so funny. I said, "you never card me when I look good" and sort of giggled and she said, "well, it's procedure" and I said, "it wasn't procedure when I was here last week".. No comment.

CoolCrystal, how tall are you? DH and I are trying to get pregnant. Before we started, I spoke with my doctor about the pregnancy vs. age vs. weight triangle. She told me my weight wasn't such that it would be a reason to postpone trying to get pregnant, and that especially considering my age, if I want to have a baby, I need to get started. (She wrote me a rx for prenatals that day).

I'm 31, between 5'10 - 5'11, and 230 - 240.

And I've had the same experience as you. When I'm bypassed is when I look bad - or poor perhaps. hair thrown up, baggy pants, hoodie, crocs... basically my "I'm way too tired to be here" look. :eek: When I'm dressed normally, I get "normal" attention.

[kyteachjules 0]

Well, honestly, I've never really felt discriminated against. In fact, random people usually come up to me and ask questions, opinions, etc when I'm in stores. My best friend continually is embarrassed when we are shopping ... one time a lady at Kirkland's walked up (they were carrying these GAUDY quilted jackets for ladies at the time during Christmas) and asked which one I would prefer and WHY! The same day, we were at a Chinese restaurant and ... (keep in mind that the restaurant was PACKED) this lady walked up and asked me for directions! Honestly, it happens ALL the time! I'm sorry our society is so shallow!