DISCRIMINATION AT LARGE
DISCRIMINATION AT LARGE
Jennifer A. Coleman is a discrimination and civil rights lawyer and a constitutional law teacher. Her essay “Discrimination At Large”, printed in 1993 in Newsweek, is about stereotyping overweight people, “that makes heavy people the objects of ridicule and contempt”. She says, that “fat people are lampooned without remorse or apology on television, by newspaper columnists, in cartoons”.
Since Jennifer was a kid, she has gotten the comments about her looks, that she is big, lazy and disgusting, and she believed them. As a strong person she knew she was more than just a fat girl, a slob. She started exercising, eating healthy, but no matter how hard she “tried to run, swim or cycle away from it, her weight found her”. Jennifer was fit and healthy, but wasn’t happy with the way she looks. “The worst discrimination I have suffered because of my gender is nothing compared to what I experience daily because of my weight. I am sick of it”, Jennifer A. Coleman says.
She is angry because she tried so hard to change herself to fit the society’s standards, but it seems like no one cares how hard, she is still not pretty enough, still fat. Jennifer is angry because it’s not fair - she didn’t fail, but she is not a winner, she will always be “outed” by her appearance.
She is ironic and sarcastic because the situation is absurd to her. Jennifer is a lawyer, a smart, professional and educated person, who doesn’t deserve to be judged by her looks. Does she need a body transplant to match the society’s standards?
The words and expressions such as “object of ridicule and contempt”, “lampooned”, “moral turpitude”, “outed”, “frequency and urgency”, “a fat slob”, “a blimp”, “to be mocked” make the author’s point powerfully.
After so many years of suffering Jenifer finally realized, it wasn’t even her idea to become thin, but the society’s. “Hating fat people is not inborn, it has to be nurtured and developed”, developed by the society.
From the
Jennifer A. Coleman is a discrimination and civil rights lawyer and a constitutional law teacher. Her essay “Discrimination At Large”, printed in 1993 in Newsweek, is about stereotyping overweight people, “that makes heavy people the objects of ridicule and contempt”. She says, that “fat people are lampooned without remorse or apology on television, by newspaper columnists, in cartoons”.
Since Jennifer was a kid, she has gotten the comments about her looks, that she is big, lazy and disgusting, and she believed them. As a strong person she knew she was more than just a fat girl, a slob. She started exercising, eating healthy, but no matter how hard she “tried to run, swim or cycle away from it, her weight found her”. Jennifer was fit and healthy, but wasn’t happy with the way she looks. “The worst discrimination I have suffered because of my gender is nothing compared to what I experience daily because of my weight. I am sick of it”, Jennifer A. Coleman says.
She is angry because she tried so hard to change herself to fit the society’s standards, but it seems like no one cares how hard, she is still not pretty enough, still fat. Jennifer is angry because it’s not fair - she didn’t fail, but she is not a winner, she will always be “outed” by her appearance.
She is ironic and sarcastic because the situation is absurd to her. Jennifer is a lawyer, a smart, professional and educated person, who doesn’t deserve to be judged by her looks. Does she need a body transplant to match the society’s standards?
The words and expressions such as “object of ridicule and contempt”, “lampooned”, “moral turpitude”, “outed”, “frequency and urgency”, “a fat slob”, “a blimp”, “to be mocked” make the author’s point powerfully.
After so many years of suffering Jenifer finally realized, it wasn’t even her idea to become thin, but the society’s. “Hating fat people is not inborn, it has to be nurtured and developed”, developed by the society.
From the