Should being fat be socially unacceptable

[jonny jeez]

Caught a discussion on the radio yesterday and listend to a talker explaining how fat people are now statistically less likely to be considered for positions of leadership, promotion or high salary.

which got me to thinking. Should we attack this perception (as the radio discussion was) or should we actually defend it and be proud that opinion is making "fatness" unacceptable?

Obesity or being overweight (depending upon your subjective definition) is proven to be bad for us. So should we educate the next generation to find fatness unacceptable...or defend those of us who are carrying extra timber.

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

With the NHS creaking as it is, the more slim people there are the better.

You try telling that to bone idle blobs like my Brother and Sister though.....

 

[tyred]

It's not as simple as all that. Yes, we know what makes us fat and it is bad for us. We know that smoking is bad for us but many still do it. We know that drinking is bad for us but people still do it. There are many reasons for all of this. Modern life can be very lonely and people turn to easily available crutches. People like nurses working long hours in a stressful environment sometimes too tired to care, etc, etc.

It's true that people weren't as fat as a general rule in days gone by but if the sedentry life and convenience foods available to us today were in available back then, they probably would have been.

It is grossly unfair to discriminate against overwieght people. The information is available, we need to help and encourage people to exercise more and eat less but to try and do it by discriminating is more likely to make the person unhappy and eat even more.

 

[deanE]

We should educate the current generations that non health related obesity is unacceptable, in themselves, but to be tolerant of other's failings. Problem occurs though with young girls who think they are fat when they are not.

 

[BSRU]

Maybe if more people tried walking or cycling instead of jumping into their petrol/diesel engined armchair it may help a little.

 

[tyred]

Maybe if more people tried walking or cycling instead of jumping into their petrol/diesel engined armchair it may help a little.

I cycled 5,000 miles last year and still managed to gain a stone.

Obesity is caused purely by eating more calories than you use, how much or how little exercise has little impact on waist size.

 

[smutchin]

We live in a society that values being young, slim and (conventionally) attractive over other values. When it comes to employment, it shouldn't be acceptable to discriminate against a candidate for not conforming to those traits if they're otherwise well qualified for the position.

d.

 

[BSRU]

I cycled 5,000 miles last year and still managed to gain a stone.

Obesity is caused purely by eating more calories than you use, how much or how little exercise has little impact on waist size.

It is strange how the increase in car ownership has been followed by an increase in waistlines, look at the US where car is king and so are the waistlines.

 

[ceepeebee]

So, I'm best part of 19 stone, yet I do Friday night rides and various other longish rides. But yeah, I like beer, and various other fun foods, previously to excess. To say it's a question of "getting off your arse and eating less" though is a wild over-generalisation.

 

[ASC1951]

Caught a discussion on the radio yesterday and listend to a talker explaining how fat people are now statistically less likely to be considered for positions of leadership, promotion or high salary.

And tall people are more likely to get them. Not much to be done about that, eh?

 

[tyred]

It is strange how the increase in car ownership has been followed by an increase in waistlines, look at the US where car is king and so are the waistlines.

If you eat more calories than you burn, you will gain weight. If you eat less calories than you burn, you will lose weight. There are plenty of thin lazy people and plenty of overweight active people. It's much more than just our transport habits that have changed.

 

[marinyork]

It is strange how the increase in car ownership has been followed by an increase in waistlines, look at the US where car is king and so are the waistlines.

There has been a drift in job occupations too. I do a job that is by the standards of the 2010s physically demanding and tiring. By previous eras, perhaps upto about the 1970s this was a walk in the park and nothing particularly to write home about at all - many jobs would have had this level of physical activity and some even more. Pretty much all the miners round here used to walk or cycle to work before and after each shift. Steel working was physically knackering. Many jobs included less sitting down in the same place all day.

 

[ceepeebee]

And tall people are more likely to get them. Not much to be done about that, eh?

it balances out - I'm 6 foot 3 as well....

 

[MrJamie]

I dont think its fair to discriminate at work unless its likely to impact on their job ie. fat police/firemen/air hostess, although it must happen elsewhere already with jobs that have a customer facing image. I do however think that we really need to change the idea that its okay to be hugely overweight, but its usually a side effect of another aspect of life, the same could also be said of smoking and drinking for a lot of people.

For me the trigger to losing weight was realising how unfit i was and that it restricted everything, even walking around the shops or going to a gig. I still eat way too much sometimes and gain a stupid amount of weight when I dont exercise :P

Its an interesting forum to have this discussion though, a community of people who share a love of a form of exercise but also with plenty of people who have been very fat and have lost or are losing the weight.

 

[glasgowcyclist]

We live in a society that values being young, slim and (conventionally) attractive over other values. When it comes to employment, it shouldn't be acceptable to discriminate against a candidate for not conforming to those traits if they're otherwise well qualified for the position.

d.

Agreed.

Maybe job interviews should be held blind, much as they did in the early rounds of The Voice.
If they think you're employable material they hit the button to spin around.


GC