After reading “Why Looks Are the Last Bastion of Discrimination” by Deborah L. Rhode and “The Makeup Tax” by Olga Khazan, both readings focus on the concerns of appearance discrimination. Appearance discrimination can be validated, yet it cannot. For instance, it is valid to appearance discriminate an individual when an employer is interviewing him or her because it is the first quality employers examine. An employer is often likely to not hire an individual if he or she comes into the interview wearing informal attire, in contrast to an individual showing up to the interview with formal clothing. Nonetheless, it is not okay to validate appearance discrimination when it comes to an individual’s weight.
Fat acceptance: A basic primer Critique essay Cynara Geissler’s article “Fat Acceptance: A Basic Primer” was first published in Geez Magazine in 2013. Geissler addresses a lot of issues about fat acceptance and how it is affecting our society and people’s attitudes towards over-weight people. One of the reasons why Geissler thinks that is because many health industries now days have a slogan “Thinner is better” and that makes over-weight people seem lazy or just not willing to put the effort to become better. Most importantly Geissler mentions that health industries and causing people to make a negative attitude towards overweight people which can be seen.
Bordo explains, “When associations of fat and lower-class status exist, they are usually mediated by moral qualities—fat being perceived as indicative of laziness, lack of discipline, unwillingness to conform” (Bordo 489). The working-class however is pictured as slender and thin and therefore successful. We are surrounded by talk shows, advertisements, and reality television, that tell us how we should look, whether we are able to see it or not. Bordo illustrates this by analyzing a talk show where an obese woman stated she was happy; however the audience was in disbelief and tried to convince her that she was in fact not happy and needed to be slim and beautiful to be content. The audiences’ opinions regarding her body and how she should adjust her lifestyle relays the message that life is worthless, unless she fits the ideal body image.
Response to Context Staples has a good point with how wrong the discrimination is and how it is never right to judge someone based on their looks. Although, there are certain cases when a person has to choose a defense mechanism such as fight or flight. The woman that he first experienced the discrimination with was very outmatched compared to the larger
Being slim along with nice hair and a car is now almost a perceived requirement to get a job in today’s society. Years ago people could get a job from hard work and dedication, now it seems as if people do not reach a high visual standard their work will go unnoticed or almost lucky to get a job. Eating disorders are at an all-time high right now while females’ health is on a down fall. Places such as Hollywood have ignored the connection between image and illness. (Goodman)
Supersize Me: It’s Time to Stop Blaming Fat People for their Size, Alison Motluk argues that we live in an “obesogenic society,” one that promotes weight gain and an increasingly unhealthy lifestyle. We do live in a society that makes it easy for people to become obese. For starters, the convenience and the relative ease it is to go to a fast food restaurant, and pick up breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Also the portion size that is offered at restaurants is enormous. We live in a society where most parents do not have the luxury to stay home and prepare healthy meals.
When seeing the title “The Fat Girl” by Andre Dubus, I assumed it to be another story about a fat girl who would be depressed and insecure about her size. However, as I started reading, I learned that Louise, the fat girl, was not ashamed of herself and I became interested because my assumption was wrong. All the conflict about her size came from her mother and other relatives or friends. The title itself tells what the entire story is about. The entire story is about the life of “the fat girl”.
Lastly, Teresa Gonzolez was harassed because she was a bit bigger than the kids at school, but she showed them that she did not care what they thought because their opinion was unnecessary. This quote is important to me, because I think it is a big problem that people just judge people before they even know them, they just see someone that different than they are and bully them, me as an individual I am short and people do not really bully me about my height, but that was something I was born with and I can not change who I am to please someone else, so as I get older there will be always be people who will have an opinion about you. The moral of the story, do not judge someone because of how one looks because everyone is human and we all have
Harrison Davis Mr. Fanara ACP 23 September 2015 Too “Close to the Bone” Summary Roberta Seid, in her article "Too ‘Close to the Bone’": The Historical Context for Women’s Obsession with Slenderness”, examines the positives and negatives of society outlook on obesity. Seids main argument in this article is that societies current perspective on body types are incorrect. Seid argues that the so called “religious” pursuit of having a slender and thin body is becoming way too extreme. She presents the pros and cons on this thin lifestyle.
In Cheryl Peck’s “Fatso”, Peck recalls that many people told her that she had no idea what it was like to be discriminated against because she is a privileged white woman. Contrary to their beliefs, Peck experienced discrimination more than most people thought. She stated that people would treat her differently because of her weight. Anyone can be discriminated against, so for someone to tell this woman that she must have never experienced it is impractical. Race and economic status are not the only characteristics that are being prejudiced
The critically acclaimed, popularly viewed NBC television comedy series, The Office, has become a phenomenon of media, due to its monumental outbreak in the television industry from 2005 to 2013. The Office portrays the lives of Michael Scott, regional manager of Dunder Mifflin Paper Company in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and his employees through a documentary film crew that follows the cast around 24/7, capturing their everyday lives at and outside of work, as well as the ridiculously humorous antics they become involved in. The show’s distinct evolution of characters, plots, and relationships serve as the cultural foreground of the series. Each specifically placed character and relationship has its own distinct meaning, meant to represent a certain ideology for the audience to unearth and adapt.
Throughout my life, I have been identified as a big girl. When I was in sixth grade, my height was 5’0 ft. and weighed 115 lbs. I was bullied by other Hmong children about me being too tall and too fat my grade. As an adult now, I am still facing body image issues. My body size is too big and I am too obese, which it is the result why I am still single and unwed.
Two Sides of the Same Coin In his essay “Brain versus Brawn”, Mark Cotharn talks about the discrimination he experienced as both a hard working student and a football player. He points out that while race and gender are usually what come to mind, there are many ways to discriminate. Even simple things such as being attractive or anything really that gives you an unfair advantage or another person can be considered discrimination to an extent.
Even though these numbers were insignificant, it shows proof that discrimination has a way of affecting individual’s physical and
From an early age, we are exposed to the western culture of the “thin-ideal” and that looks matter (Shapiro 9). Images on modern television spend countless hours telling us to lose weight, be thin and beautiful. Often, television portrays the thin women as successful and powerful whereas the overweight characters are portrayed as “lazy” and the one with no friends (“The Media”). Furthermore, most images we see on the media are heavily edited and airbrushed
