Guest Post: Graicey

Note from Alex: We had an assignment to post on somebody else's blog and under their lens. My friend Graicey is posting here, and soon I'll have a post on Meghana's blog. Hope you enjoy!

 

Hey everyone! I'm one of Alex's classmates, and I'll be writing this post as a guest blogger. If you want to read my blog for our English class, feel free to check it out here! The lens I write about is feminism and women's issues, so if you're interested go on ahead and explore. However, for this blog post I'd like to examine an issue that doesn't fit under my lens, but works with Alex's lens of discrimination and minority groups.

Since I'm well versed in feminism, other groups with stigmas against them ignite a similar interest. As I was doing research for another blog for another class (it's in French so I won't link it here) I stumbled upon a concept that I'm continuing to struggle with as I'm writing this.

The thing that I can't wrap my head around is this: is discrimination against obese people acceptable?

As a not-overweight person myself, I don't have any personal experience with the issue of discrimination based on weight. However, after researching and doing a bit of reading, I'm not so sure where I stand.

I read this commentary about a writer's feelings on a hospital that refuses to hire someone with a BMI higher than 35, and another news article that talks about the issue with much more professionalism.

I like to think of myself as accepting. I don't discriminate based on looks, I'm sensitive to cultures and attitudes different than mine, and when I hear some politician ranting about how birth control is the work of the devil I only get incensed instead of murderous. But reading articles on this topic made me feel uncomfortable because I felt as if either way you look at it, it's a lose-lose situation. 

For example: All medical conditions aside, weight is a thing you can control to some extent through diet and exercise. That leads me to believe that discrimination against obese people is okay because a healthy weight is attainable with a healthy lifestyle. And I'm not saying everyone should look bikini-model thin, because obviously people have different body types and a unique healthy weight. There is no 100% goof-proof healthy weight for everyone, so there's a flexibility therein. So what it comes down to is I think it's okay to discriminate against obese people because it will make them healthier in the long run if they change their diet and food choices.

But on the other side, I'm also knowingly making life more difficult for a person because of something about their appearance. If I condone discrimination against obese people, I'm saying that yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus and also it's okay to judge people based on how they look, which isn't something I believe in.

When it comes down to it, there's not really a better or worse side to be on. I guess this is one of those things I'll have to puzzle over for a while before I can form a more firm opinion about the topic.