Is weight the new race?

For years it’s been impossible to open a magazine without seeing an array of stick thin women adorning the pages, be it actresses or models.

Everywhere we turn there’s advice on how to look as slim as our favourite stars. The pressure is on to look our best and in this case the word ‘best’ almost always translates to ‘thin’.
UK-based X-Factor presenter Kate Thornton was recently asked by a cereal company to be the face that represents them as a ‘big woman’ saying she would ‘put a wiggle’ in their campaign. The assumption being that a woman with curves makes a more approachable spokesperson. On the surface this sounds like a healthy attitude but when you take in to consideration the fact that she is a UK size 10 (the average UK woman is a size 14-16) who struggled with bulimia and anorexia in her younger years, the message they are sending is that a size 10 is larger than is normally acceptable.
On the other side of the spectrum, Star Jones Reynolds, a founding member of US talk show The View for the last nine years was recently informed that her contract would not be renewed because the public complained that they could not come to terms with her weight loss.
Spain has recently banned models below a certain body mass index from taking part in catwalks during Madrid’s Fashion Week because the government (who happen to be large contributors to the event) believes there is a correlation between stick thin models and an increase in eating disorders among young women. They do not claim to blame the fashion industry for these problems but they do believe that it’s the fashion industries responsibility to portray a healthy body image taking into consideration the fact that fashion is a powerful tool and that young women often try to emulate what they see on the catwalks. The reverse side of that coin has seen several American airlines take on the policy that severely overweight people have to pay for two seats instead of one.
All of this brings to the forefront the question: Is weight the new racism? Have we got to a point in time where we now discriminate against people who are either overweight or underweight?
“I really don’t have any time for people who are obese and think it’s OK to the extent that they will claim to be comfortable with themselves to get out of having to do any exercise.” says graphic designer Andrew Josef, “If I’m honest I pity them. I don’t have a problem with people who have glandular problems because it’s not their fault but people who just eat and eat and eat disgust me. After all, gluttony is a mortal sin.”
Reporter Angela Simmons has always been what we would describe as ‘cuddly’. Although she has always been attractive and has never had a problem attracting men, she recalls: “I went through a time of sevre stress and ended up losing a large amount of weight in a very short of time. I was amazed by the difference in the men that came up to talk to me. All of the men in my life have been attractive in one way or another but when I became really thin I was inundated with date offers from men I would have previously thought out of my league. When my stressful time came to an end and I put some of the weight back on, those same men would say hello and then move on to the next rail thin girl they came across. I have never been more aware of how superficial men can be.”
The flip side of this is a company manager friend of mine who prefers to remain anonymous, so for the purpose of this quote we’ll call him Bob. Bob says: “Although I would never admit this in public, when I interview prospective employees one of my deciding factors is size. I won’t employ anyone who looks too thin because the Kate Moss look just doesn’t do it for me. I would never go so far as to pick someone on looks alone but in my opinion most people who are overly thin are that way due to image issues or eating disorders. That is not the kind of person I want working for me. It is important to be well presented but being over conscious of one’s looks takes too much time and effort and that is time and effort that could be going into the work I need done.”
I’m not sure if I totally agree with Bob but I can kind of see his somewhat warped logic. At the end of the day everything in life is about moderation, but is being one extreme or the other a good enough reason to be discriminated against? To judge someone on looks alone is infinitely wrong on so many levels but at the end of the day it is also an inherently human trait and no matter how much we try to ignore it, we all have moments of judgment.