The thing about something like fatphobia is that it touches every part of your life. It shapes what you desire. It molds your personality. It changes the trajectory of your dreams. You lose sight of which part is you and which part is it. I mean honestly that's true for all of us for one reason or another. You never get to know what your story could be if it hadn’t been touched by gender education or racism or all those years that someone made fun of your knees or a lifetime of being told that your body is wrong and that it's your fault.
Fatphobia is a form of bigotry that positions fat people as inferior. Specifically, we’re believed to possess both a lack of self-control and a poor work ethic. These beliefs have an undeniable impact on the career trajectories of fat people. Add sexist expectations that still pervade the workplace, and it’s easy to see how fat women face a double bind.
In a study published in the journal “Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes,” men and women rated digital resumes that included photos and the resumes of fat candidates were rated significantly less competent than thin candidates. 45% of employers say they are less inclined to recruit a fat candidate, fat people are less likely to be regarded as able leaders, we have lower starting salaries, make $1.25 less per hour than our thin counterparts, are more likely to experience bullying and harassment, and fat women are less likely to get customer-facing jobs. Only one state – Michigan – and a handful of cities legally prohibit discrimination against people based on their weight.
[For more on this story by Virgie Tovar, go to https://www.forbes.com/sites/v...career/#d27dd2c139f8]
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