Societal Stereotyping Due to a Persons Weight - Literature review Example

Your Full Your 5 March Discrimination at Large Fat or overweight people will always have it the hard way. Their appearance elicits different reactions out of different people with none of these reactions being positive. These people are ridiculed on television and in movies, attract a bunch of very creative names and titles and are generally viewed as lazy and gluttonous. From a reader’s perspective, Jennifer A Coleman’s article was an interesting read. In Discrimination at Large, she talks about societal stereotyping due to a person’s weight or body type. She describes how overweight people are made fun of and constantly told to improve themselves. So the essay is about the ridicule (and the types thereof) fat or over-weight people are subjected to. Interestingly enough, she has merely stated the opinions of other people and steered away from how she feels about herself; whether she is comfortable being the way she is has not been discussed by her. She briefly touches upon her attempts to ‘conform’ to the general view and thus be able to “infiltrate the ranks of the nonfat and thereby establish [her] worth” (Coleman 198), as she puts it. Her desire to change is thus not prompted by any attempt at self-improvement but a try at not being singled out. My outlook on life is very different from the author’s. Despite agreeing with what she says about people’s perceptions, I am unable to relate to her desire to change in order to be accepted. I get things said to me along the lines of what Coleman says are said to her, for instance, I get told “you’d look so much better if you lost weight!” by the likes of my friends or girlfriend. Coleman also mentions being told: “you would really be pretty if you lost weight” (Coleman 199). However, unlike her, I do not let the remarks get to me. I believe that one has to be comfortable in one’s skin no matter what their body type so I never take such remarks seriously. I know that I can manage things without having to worry about my appearance. I am as fit as any average individual and do not find it hard at all to carry on with my day to day routine. And unlike the common perception of people regarding the hindrance weight is in a person’s life, I find that my weight does not pose such a problem for me. Beauty is skin deep and not how people perceive it from outward appearances. In my opinion and from what I have read and seen, fat people fall in two broad categories: there are people who put on weight due to their eating habits and then there are people who are genetically fat. The former can probably lose weight if they put their minds to it and controlled their erratic eating patterns, a feat apparently impossible in this day and age of convenience foods and calorie overdose, I might add. Many bravely try but find themselves back at square one. However, they should only do it with the right intentions: of being healthy and fit and not because it would make them be accepted by their peers. Genetic obesity, on the other hand, is much harder to deal with and overweight people who are genetically programmed thus find it very hard to shed weight. It is like undergoing surgery to change one’s skin tone. Their best bet would be to try and control it as much as possible and to not resort to crash dieting. Another observation I have about this piece is the fact that the author is female. Women have a different reaction to comments such as “Hey lady, where’s the seat?” (Coleman 199), while out riding a bicycle. Being male, I am perhaps unable to relate to her anguish at the advice of “lose weight, you fat slob!” (Coleman 199). Coleman also writes about how such derision forced her to take up exercise, spending every spare minute she had jogging, cycling or swimming. She wonders out aloud at how she became super fit yet remained fat despite all her efforts. I believe this is a possibility. Being over-weight does not mean you cannot carry on with your life. In fact a lot of overweight people do exercise, but do not seem to lose weight. Then she goes on to say how she has finally come to terms with the fact that thin people were put on earth to ridicule the unfortunate, fat ones. I do tend to agree with her on this one. Thin people feel it is their moral obligation to make over-weight people feel bad about themselves in any way possible. But I also feel that thin people are allowed to behave this way by overweight people, a fact confirmed by the author herself by her admission to forced jolliness and self-deprecating remarks just so she would not be taunted by the target of others’ derision. In paragraphs 11 through 14, the author states that singling out fat people for fun or derision is not a trait people are born with. This is something which is taught to them gradually through exposure to society and the media, from a very early age. They see fat people being made fun of everywhere and adopt this behavior as they grow older. On the other hand, fat kids are taught to just put up with this. They are led to believe that there is something wrong with them and the only way to be ‘normal’ and accepted by society is to not be fat. This is the kind of reasoning that makes most females believe they can never be thin enough. Men, not being overly conscious about their outward appearances find it hard to relate to this sort of thinking. I can vouch for the validity of this argument since most females I come into contact with are always complaining about how ‘fat’ and ‘ugly’ they look. This sort of thinking can be potentially damaging for the human psyche. In the concluding paragraph, Coleman states how discrimination on grounds of religion, race, ethnicity and sexual orientation are not tolerated with severe consequences for, for example, employers treating their employees this way. She laments that discrimination due to weight is not only tolerated, fat people are taught to accept it as their due, the whole thing being reinforced by the attitudes of people in our daily lives. I can relate to this sort of singling out and do agree that such ‘offenders’ are allowed to go unpunished. According to her, a joke about fat or over-weight people is as disturbing and as wrong as a racial comment. I also agree with Coleman when she says that such behavior should not be tolerated, though I must admit I am not overly fussed when such remarks are directed towards me. Finally, I want to state that a person’s body type or their weight is not an indicator of their personality. People should eat healthy and stay fit for their own sake and not because they want to please others. The main difference between Coleman’s approach and mine, when it comes to this issue, is that I do not take the opinion of others so personally, nor do I think it is my duty to conform according to what society tells me. If one is comfortable in their own self, and have enough self-esteem, there is no way society can make one feel bad. Works Cited Coleman, Jennifer A. “Discrimination at Large.” Title of Your Book. Ed. Name of the Editor(s). Place of Publication given in the copyright section: Publisher’s Name, Year of Publication. 198-200. Web. Draft Opening lines: Interesting to hold the reader’s attention. Introductory paragraph: What the issue is about. A brief commentary on the topic to ‘introduce’ it to the reader. What the writer wants to say. My own opinion of the article as well as the author’s point of view. Key points to discuss: Can fit equal fat? The fat person’s attempts at conformism. Why such derision is tolerated? Why it shouldn’t be? Fat people’s reaction to derision and the reasons. In conclusion Read More