vexual wrote:
sigh. it makes me sad when i see people saying things like the things said in this thread. "fatism" is not the last acceptable prejudice. as a queer woman of color, i can tell you that misogyny, racism, and heterosexim are all alive and well and highly accepted in society! it truly displays a privileged viewpoint to think that "fatism" is the only/main prejudice out there, or to put it above any others. especially when the others end in death far more often.
I'm very sorry you've experienced those things and I most definitely am not trying to say that fatism is in any way worse or the only/main prejudice. I doubt it comes close, frankly. But yes Layla is right, the word "acceptable" in this thread is being used to denote those things that are permissible under the law and which most people who deem themselves "right-thinking members of society" would endorse.
Acceptable in the sense that government, professionals taking decisions about people's lives, etc are permitted to use fat as a reason to treat people differently.
People who are racist/sexist/homophobic obviously exist and perpetrate prejudice. However their views are not (officially) endorsed by the laws of most democratic western states. (Horrified by Russia's current stance on homosexuality however...)
Obviously discrimination still occurs against gender/religious choice/sexuality/race etc, but it is not legal to do so, nor could those in power publicly do so (I speak about the UK) without being criticised.
A gay black man who goes to his racist, homophobic (say) GP cannot be turned down for treatment because of his sexual orientation or race or gender. The GP may still discriminate on those grounds, but he can't do so overtly. S/he will have to find another "acceptable" or non-discriminatory reason to deny him treatment, if that is his/her decision. So whilst I am sure those prejudices still happen all the time, they are not "acceptable".
Being fat however is still an acceptable reason to discriminate. There are no laws (in England & Wales, to my knowledge) preventing it. In fact, it is government policy to discriminate against fat people.
There was recently a local council initiative to encourage fat people in receipt of benefits to attend exercise classes if they wanted to continue receiving that state handout. Fat children are being identified and targeted for action by schools. Local authorities have indicated that they would in certain cases be prepared to remove children from their parents if a child's obesity was such that it was causing the child significant harm (in their "standard medicine"-based view) and was caused by the parenting the child had received.
In New Zealand the immigration authorities have decided not to extend a man's work visa because of his BMI. He and his wife will have to leave the country.
You only need to look at the threads on this website to know that many fat people feel they are denied treatment for non-fat-related ailments and are instead told to lose weight by their doctor.
Fat people are denied certain jobs eg. by Abercrombie and Fitch, apparently perfectly legally (although that may be the subject of challenge and may also be related to societal standards of attractiveness as well as weight).
People who deem themselves "reasonable" or "right-thinking" members of society feel strongly that they are perfectly justified in condemning fat people and in believing that those people should, for health and in many cases "moral" reasons, lose weight. They do not feel it is inappropriate to advise fat people of their thoughts on this subject, invited or not.
So the doctor seeing a fat, gay black man who has come for treatment cannot write in the patient's notes "treatment denied because he is black and gay" but s/he can write "treatment denied owing to obesity" (even if that illness has scant evidential link to obesity) without that decision being challengeable, illegal, discriminatory or criticised by many "right-thinking" people.
It backs up and legitimises the majority's feeling of being "in the right" to criticise fat people, look down on them, and single them out for different treatment.
In my opinion it can result in death and/or chronic illness because the stigma attached to being fat results in eating disorders, psychological/psychiatric disorders and people being afraid to go to their doctor for genuine illnesses for fear of being "told off" for being fat.
That is what I mean by fat being an "acceptable" prejudice and again I am not trying to say for a moment that other prejudices are not happening all the time.
