Size discrimination needs to be banned from Wrongplanet

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It is not considered a matter of opinion, if someone comes into the WP chatroom and starts ranting about how someone of an ethnicity is bad. Yet it is perfectly reasonable for size hate, to be a matter of discussion currently in the WrongPlanet chatroom.

So here are some facts:

Fat people are not all lazy, it is not allowed for people to make wide-based assumptions on people of race, yet it is okay for someone to make harmful and hateful statements about fat people. This also goes for presuming that fat people are fat because they overeat, or that fat people all cause their own condition of being "overweight" I put "overweight" in quotes, because in reality there is rarely a situation where someone is "overweight" enough for it to be a health problem. People come in all shapes and sizes, and there is nothing wrong with that. Fat is mainly an issue of genetics, therfore harassing someone for being fat, is directly akin to harassing someone over the color of their skin.

The only way to make a fat person thin is by starving them. When any person goes on a diet their body goes into starvation mode, when that person inevitably goes off their diet due to their body not putting up with their self-deprivation of food, they will gain the weight back plus more weight. This is why the diet industry is so lucrative, they know the truth is that fat people cannot become thin, they make money off of guilting and humilating people for being born fat.

Most fat people eat just the same as thin people, if not better. Since they always have to be sure they appear to be eating properly in public, lest face someone telling them that they need to diet, or that they're killing themselves with food. Being thin is not a guarentee of good health, if thin people eat poorly they will be in bad health too. It is simply a matter of bias, that the focus is only on fat people when it comes to health.

Wrongplanet needs to be a safe place for everyone. There is no reason that a person should be subjected to fat hatred on here. It is not out of a concern for health, it is simply someone who knows that our society feels it's still okay to discriminate against someone for their body size. The people who want to bully fat people, know they can get away with it as long as they feign empathy. A person who cares about fat people does not tell them to go on a diet, remind them that a extra spoon of peanut butter will make them fatter, or any other condescending behavior.

If you would ban a person for making fun of someone for their skin color or ethnicity, the same should be done towards someone who joins the chat room for the sole purpose of upsetting and demeaning people who are fat. It is the same discrimination. You cannot change your genetics, and cannot change where your body's natural weight setpoint is.

I hope this will help, I left Wrongplanet at least 2 times because this has remained a problem. I was on last night, and someone who had suffered an eating disorder was told to simply ignore the bully making anti-fat statements. If we can say you're not allowed to discuss cutting because it may trigger someone, surely you can say someone who discusses fat in negative terms may trigger someone towards old eating disordered habits.

This should be a site safe for everyone, and there needs to be a zero tolerance for bullying. Someone who comes into a chatroom calling fat people lazy or disgusting, clearly does not have fat people's health concerns on their mind. I'm tired of it being a matter of opinon, hate isn't an opinon. It is someone who seeks to hurt someone else for their own sick pleasure.

Stop telling the victims that all they can do is ignore their tormentors, and remove those who torment others from WrongPlanet.

It is difficult to lose weight and I've been made fun of for it in my past.
Nope, bullies should not be tolerated. It's also a good idea not to give
too many details to people you don't know.

It's a bit of a double standard if you ask me..

Racism, hate, discrimination would not be allowed.. but obviously it's okay to hate on people for other reasons. It's pretty rude.

I'm more of an equal-opportunity discriminator. In other words, I dislike all people until I am proven otherwise.

Seriously though, no discrimination on body type should be allowed.

Thanks for understanding Quatermass. Imnotaparakeet, by simply advocating for the position of size acceptance, it's presumed you are fat. This is the type of double-speak bullies like to use to manipulate people, you are siding with someone who is victimized for a certain characteristic, therfore you must have the same characteristic and also are available as a target.

Hale_bopp, it is an issue of double standard, not in the sense that you are seeing as an issue of being able to hate on people for other reasons. One of the main tenants of size hatred, is the false belief that with enough effort someone can make themselves thin. This has time and time again been proven wrong. Diet industries make money because they know that the diet won't work, and that customer will return to give them more money to try and loose weight again. This goes on, despite dieting behavior being seen as unhealthy in a majority of people, including those who are fat.

Other groups are exempt in most cases from public discrimination, because they can't change their skin color. Well most fat people cannot change their pre-set weight, it's a matter of genetics. If someone is genetically destined to remain 200+ pounds, discriminating against them is no different than discriminating someone for failing to change their skin color. That is reality, it's not an issue of double standard. It's an issue of Wrongplanet for a long time allowing a discussion of "opinons" about weight to devolve into, "Well you don't exercise, well you must eat alot of food, no wonder you're fat!" That isn't based on logic, it's based on myths and lies. No different than assuming if someone has darker skin they must be stupid, or less than human.

I find it very interesting for a group of people who have been discriminated against for having Asperger's Syndrome, that they will behave in a way that is discriminatory towards people who are fat. You would think after understanding how it feels to be beaten up just for having a certain way of thinking, or a certain body type, that there would be more sympathy towards discrimination in the chat rooms. You would certainly believe that there would be stronger punishment for the bully, and that the victim wouldn't be accused of making a personal attack, when trying to defend themselves from the cruelty of another.

I don't see any purpose in hating fat people, but some of your facts are just inaccurate. You attribute far too much to genetics. Weight can be influenced by genetics, certainly, but the main determining factors in a persons' weight are lifestyle choices.

I could reverse your logic and say that skinny people are only skinny because that is the size their body is genetically determined to be. Does that mean that if I stopped exercising and started inhaling Big Macs by the dozen, I would remain my current size and weight? I am currently in the area of 150-160lbs (I think) and if you're right and body size is purely genetic, I can just stuff my face all day for years and I will never be 250lbs?

I agree with your main point, that it is inappropriate to bash on fat people, but I disagree with your justification for that. Weight is certainly not as genetic as skin color, no matter how much some people want to claim it is.

People gain weight when they take in more calories than they burn off. Thus, any person can loose weight by eating less calories than they burn off through exercise.

Genetics plays an important role, but is not the sole determining factor in weight gain. Obesity is more greatly influenced by external factors: lifestyle, race, and environment.

Hypothyroidism is very rare - something less than two percent of all obese people have a glandular disorder, and it is debatable as to whether the disorder caused the obesity or the obesity caused the disorder. So to state that genetics or "glands" are the sole causes for obesity is to make a false claim. Obesity is primarily the result of lifestyle choices, in spite of the apparent fact that few people choose to be obese!

Because a major cause and cure of obesity is choice of lifestyle, obesity is not considered a disability, so it is not discriminatory to withold or terminate employment from a fat person if their being fat somehow prevents them from doing the work - being able to stand or walk for extended periods, or to walk up a flight of stairs in a building that has no elevator, for example.

And it is certainly NOT discriminatory to avoid or ignore an obese person in an entirely social context. The word "Fat" is not an obscenity, either.

Eat less + Exercise more = Feel better + Look better

^Not simple for one who's got weight issues even if they're eating less and exercising. As for lazy, I find that stereotype really insulting and demeaning. I've known overweight coworkers hard at work and I've known skinny coworkers who hardly lift a finger. Since for some people who use food as a drug of choice, I wonder why it's less acceptable than one who uses alcohol or other drugs of choice on public forums. Not saying either is healthy but there does seem to be a lot of irony in this.

Me too. I am 6 feet tall and weigh 220+ pounds. I am far from lazy, but my physical limitations also limit the amount of exercise I can do and I'M FREEKIN SICK OF EATING SALADS, STEAMED VEGGIES, AND BROWN RICE!! !!

But at least I haven't gained any weight since my heart attack...

Didnt't mean for that to sound overly dramatic but as someone who hasn't had a weight problem, I do see an aweful lot of people who are as bold to joke at someone who is overweight. I find it just as bad as any type of bullying and see enough of it in life as well as the internet.

It depends on people, as different bodies have different metabolisms, I think genetics play a role, there are people who look thin and have cholesterol problems while some who look fat or chubby and they don't.

I believe lifestyle and something congenital or genetic to be the case, depending on the individual, if someone is very obese I would certainly doubt that he is like that solely because he likes fat food or something like that, so it is very likely to be part of his nature, congenital or genetic, I know I am not a doctor but I knew someone who was fat and all of his family were fat, suggesting a genetic trait, I could say that I eated more than they did, and I am thin.

I think discrimination against fat people exist, and yes it is not a disability (unless the person is extremely obese), I tend to think that it is some sort of ignorance from people that always assume who are obese to be because they asked for it.

So we get to the thing about stereotype and discrimination in this case, I think it may exist and it is, heck, you just need to visit a few highschools and you will see, so yeah, discrimination just as for race, gender and sexual orientation, an obese people can gain low self steem because of it.

That's true. Most people who claim their weight is due to genetics don't have any understanding of just how much exercise physically fit people do.

I'd ask violet_yoshi how many hours she spends in the gym each day. If her answer is more than 3, then I will believe the problem is genetic. Otherwise, I am calling BS on this "genetic" cause.

Because I spend that much time in the gym and I know plenty of others who do as well and I only see physically fit people in my gym so I can only conclude that overweight people are less likely to do very much physical activity.

But the thing is that not all of us have the same metabolism in our bodies, exercise can work for some, for regular people, but not for others, an obese person could do all the exercise and yeah, he would lose some weight, but not enough, I don't think this to be all or nothing, all genetics or all lifestyle. I asume both depending on the person's metabolism.


I knew an obese guy who wanted to lose weight and made exercise and stuff, he lost a little of weight but always looked fat, he had to and had to follow a diet because of colhesterol problems, nevertheless he always stayed fat, his all family was fat, it is reasonable to think a highly possible genetic trait in this case.

As I said I am not a doctor, and I don't have any study to say anything for certain, but I consider the possibility, my "common sense" tells me of the possibility to be all not just one, genetic, congenital and lifestyle, our bodies are different in each person, and I won't make a definite conclusion towards one reason for it, when I think of the possibility to be actually true with some people.

I can say that some fat people go through a lot to lose weight, with problems of self-steem and trying hard, even anorexia, and yes, fat anorexic people exist, as strange as may sound.

Last edited by greenblue on 11 Sep 2008, 8:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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That's your observation as I've seen people who were overweight in the gym. I had a friend who lost some weight but never got back to her normal size or at least the size she wanted. I have never really had weight problems but neither has most of my family. I don't know if that's genetic or not.

Isn't that more of an assumption in your conclusion alex?

I'm not saying that all overweight people are components of genetics but there's defintely more jokes poked at them than there would be with people who are addicts of other things. While I'd think it unhealthy I still wouldn't put someone down just because of their weight, I don't think bullying just b/c of the way someone looks is the best encouragement to solve their problems.

Gold's Gym at least had cost me about 75$/month, but between working around 14hours a day at two jobs, walking 20 miles to get to work, and occasionally getting sleep, there just wasn't any time to put into the gym.

That's probably a sufficient amount of exercise.