Gimme Laksa or Gimme Death

An interesting article was chanced upon by myself yesterday, on the bus home from work. From the attas men’s magazine, The Lexean, the writer gave his take on society’s fat-phobia, with low-fat this and that. My take is that we ought to eat in moderation for health’s sake but listen, we live only once. Chocolate in the next life? We wouldn’t know, would we? So slurp up the laksa, or chomp down that chocolate bar — while remembering to listen to your body: it will know when enough is enough [personally? I ODed from chocolate after I had a chocolate rampage, post-eating disorder. Can't say no forever to Margerita's brownie & ice-cream though...]

An interesting thing I read from the Love You Body website.

Fact Sheet: Size Discrimination

• People who are larger than “average” encounter discriminatory attitudes and are denied equal opportunity in many areas of their lives.
• Overweight and obese women have lower incomes ($6,700 a year less) and higher rates of poverty (10 percent higher) than their non-obese peers.
• Studies show that overweight and obese students, especially girls, are less likely than the non-obese to be accepted by the more competitive colleges. This is true even if the girls’ grades, standardized test scores, and other variables are the same as for other boys and girls.
• Overweight people are less likely to attend college even though they score high on standardized tests and are academically motivated. Also, overweight women are more likely than other men or women to pay their way through college.
• Overweight students are more likely to be refused letters of recommendation from faculty members.
• Overweight people are not hired as often as those of average size, are not promoted as often, are paid less than their thinner counterparts, may be charged more for employee insurance coverage, and are sometimes fired because of their weight.

It makes me so sad/angry to think that people can do things like that do others. Why do we judge people based on their weight or their looks in general?

How You Can Raise Awareness on this Issue

• Put pressure on companies that discriminate against overweight people or force employees into weight- loss programs.
• Fight accessibility problems within restaurants, theaters, airplanes and other forms of public transportation. If you are an “average-sized” person, your advocacy on this issue will more likely result in change. (this probably isn’t so much so for us in Singapore. I think accessibility issues will lie more so for the handicapped & the old)
• Try to ensure that there are programs in schools that teach tolerance and non-violence and that they include teaching that overweight kids should not be harassed, put on diets, or denied food. (think TAF club)
• Challenge attitudes; challenge fat jokes. (many of us follow our parents’ actions – if they say something of someone of another race/size/religion, it’s more than likely to stick in the child’s mind)
• Do not judge people by their size.