Discrimination Toward Obese Individuals

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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.

As an overweight kid, I have felt this type of social scrutiny as far back as I can remember. School days were miserable; I was taunted for the way my fat giggled, teased when I ate lunch in the cafeteria, and humiliated during gym classes. Nothing changed in high school, if fact, things got worse. The mocking was nearly unbearable, and in my junior year, I finally succumbed to the harassment and dropped out of school. I did not know how to describe what was happening, but I knew I was an outsider, and I knew it was because of my weight problem.

Today, I know that my gut-wrenching experiences have a name, and that name is discrimination. Discrimination of the overweight is real. Fat prejudice has been prevalent in our past and still runs rampant in our current society. "The social stigma against obesity is extraordinary in its magnitude and pervasiveness" Garner (1991).

In a restaurant, a heavy person can order the same type of meal everyone else is having, only to be looked upon as a glutton. Publicly ridiculed, the ...

... middle of paper ...

...this flight because I am checking into a weight loss clinic where I am scheduled to undergo gastric bypass surgery. The flight attendant comes by offering pre-packaged meals. I decide, what the heck, give me two, after all—this is my last fat flight.

Works Cited

Garner (1991) http://www.lectlaw.com/files/con28.htm retrieved on August 13, 2010

Puhl, R. and Heuer, C. (2009) Epidemiology obesity 17 5, 941–964. doi:10.1038/oby.2008.636The Stigma of Obesity: A Review and Update Rebecca M. Puhl1 and Chelsea A. 1Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA

www.smartmoney.com/spending/deals/10-things-the-weight-loss-industry-wont-tell-you-13677/?page=3 retrieved August 17, 2010

Buchwald, H. (2009) Metabolic/bariatric surgery Worldwide 2008 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19885707 retrieved August 17, 2010

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