Recently the Obesity Action Coalition (OAC) approached me to work with them on their new campaign – Stop Weight Bias.
I’m now an official ‘Champion’ and I’m proud to be recognized after years working to educate against weight bias and weight stigma.
So, what is weight bias?
Weight bias appears to be one of the last ‘acceptable’ forms of discrimination. What would not be tolerated elsewhere seems to be tolerated when directed against a large body.
We ask, how are people affected by obesity and overweight discriminated against?
Well, weight bias takes many forms – I’ve listed a few below:
Fat? We think you’re stupid or lazy.
Fat? We don’t want to hire you.
Fat? We can get away with paying you less & promoting you less.
Fat? We are ok to tease you.
Fat? We think you don’t deserve the same levels of health care we do.
We don’t know you of course. We just make assumptions about you.
This is why I’ve fought to change this through my talks, tweets, and blog posts, for instance Weight: Shaming, Stigma and Bias .
This is why the Obesity Action Coalition (OAC) has created an awareness campaign that helps explain why we need to #StopWeightBias. Their Stop Weight Bias campaign is committed to raising awareness, putting a stop to weight bias and pushing equality forward.
I share with the OAC a belief that our words and actions matter. Your body’s size shouldn’t dictate the way you are treated.
Therefore I fully support this campaign and am proud to be a champion of the Stop Weight Bias campaign.
“Together, we can build a better world, free of weight bias, where everyone is treated with dignity and respect.”
-Stop Weight Bias
If you’d like more information on the campaign and how you can support it visit: StopWeightBias.com.
Doesn’t every body deserve respect?
#BePartoftheSolution #StopWeightBias