I agree that there is a lot of discrimination, and it's wrong.
But to take a counter view for a moment, just to open things up for discussion. Don't bite my head off, just playing devil's advocate.
BTW, I work with a lot of overweight people, so am quite aware of many issues regarding weight, obesity, food addiction etc. The idea that overweight people should just 'toughen up, eat less, and move more' although in effect true, it just is not as simple as that of course. Lifelong emotional issues, self esteem, childhood, family etc etc all entrench behaviours into us without us realising it.
However, from an employers perspective, and the perspective of many insensitive souls who deride the overweight:
1. The perception that an overweight person is likely to be off work more with illness is possibly a real concern, as is the insurance issue in the States. Even if the stats don't support it, the perception is not entirely without credibility.
2. A perception (which has been said to me on more than one occasion), that if someone doesn't have the 'self respect' to not let themselves get hugely overweight, then why would one assume that they care about other things in their lives, qualities that an employer might want but feel they might not get, rightly or wrongly.
In fact, this came from an employer who I discussed nutrition coaching for their employees, we sat down and had a chat and that was their view.
Now it seems harsh, and it is, but we all have 'perceptions' about others. If you went into pub and the choice was to sit next to a guy in a suit and tie or a skinhead with barbed wire tattooed all over his neck and a pair of size 14 doc martens? A self preservation perception perhaps, but not one based on any knowledge of either person. The suited guy might be a serial killer, the skinhead a youth worker who works in a soup kitchen at night.
I think that it is impossible to legislate entirely against bias, it is human nature, and our biases are oft based on our upbringing and interactions with others.
What do you think?
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