Why is this more socially acceptable?

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Jamesy
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28 Dec 2016, 11:40 am

Why has it historically been (and still is) socially acceptable to make of fun of someone's height yet not as acceptable to poke fun at someone's weight or if there disabled?



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Snowy Owl
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28 Dec 2016, 11:46 am

Making fun of someone's weight has only been "not OK" for a short amount of time (relatively speaking). If you were to watch a few comedy movies from the 1990's, you would see there are almost always scenes where the main part of the humour comes from making fun of someones weight.

It's just a societal thing, as people come to understand more and more about what a particular group of people goes through, they'll be less inclined to make fun of it in a mean-spirited way. It's just an incremental thing I guess.

I also suppose that the height thing is linked to masculinity to some degree so the inference of inferiority has something to do with the whole alpha/beta male thing.


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Sweetleaf
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28 Dec 2016, 12:15 pm

Jamesy wrote:
Why has it historically been (and still is) socially acceptable to make of fun of someone's height yet not as acceptable to poke fun at someone's weight or if there disabled?


I've never heard of this.


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lostonearth35
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13 Jan 2017, 11:07 am

I remember that in the first Shrek movie they make fun of Lord Farquad being so short, and this was a movie where the "Aesop" was not to judge people solely on their appearance. In fact, they made fun of Farquad for being short more than for him being the villain.



EclecticWarrior
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13 Jan 2017, 5:11 pm

Because height isn't a protected class unless it causes disability. Even weight is a protected class in some areas now. Before the fat acceptance movement took off fat jokes were far more common.


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Starfoxx
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13 Jan 2017, 5:50 pm

Jamesy wrote:
Why has it historically been (and still is) socially acceptable to make of fun of someone's height yet not as acceptable to poke fun at someone's weight or if there disabled?

I remember when it was normal for there to maybe be 1 or 2 fat kids in school and everyone would pick on them. Now it's not normal I don't think but then again I wouldn't know since I don't go to school anymore.
I used to get bullied for disability. I took it as to be expected.