Fat as a stigma

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10 Comments

Hello. We all know that many people tease or discriminate (privately or publicly) against the obese and it is done anywhere from restaurants to job interviews. Whether that's right or wrong is not what I am here to discuss. In one of my lecture classes, there is a student who must be four hundred pounds (28 stone for the British). She comes in each day and sits and actively participates in discussion. However, where other students raise their hands to speak and are quietly listened to, when she speaks there seems to be a cloud of disgruntled sighs and irritated stares in her direction.

Everyone but our professor ignores her. Granted, her questions are usually odd and slightly off-topic but so is everyone else's in a general sense. I was wondering if this is normal for university students to behave this way? Shouldn't they be a bit more couth? If I've noticed their behavior, I'm sure she has as well.

Is it normal? Do you find the same thing happening to obese people where you study/work?

Is It Normal?
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Comments ( 10 ) Sort: best | oldest
  • thatchickyouhate
    9 years ago | pl

    people are less tolerant of someone they are already negatively judging. so I feel like the others in your class could be reacting more impatiently to this persons class participation because they already have an opinion of them.

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  • [Old Memory]
    13 years ago | pl

    I'm surprised the professor hasn't challenged this horrid behaviour. It would be a good lesson in RESPECT and LISTENING. He/she surely assigns a grade for participation. Maybe use that as an incentive. Talk with the prof about it.

    By the way, your observation of behaviour is astute ad decent.

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    • Anonymous Post Author
      13 years ago | pl

      Thank you, Ollieo.

      Our professor is a bit scatterbrained at times and only has fondness for what he teaches and his graduates but he is a kind person. I think he finds her enthusiasm slightly refreshing.

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  • wistfulmaiden
    8 years ago | pl

    You're probably right, people don't want to listen to her cause she's fat. If I were her, I'd sit on them!

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  • xxxbeautifullybrokenxxx
    12 years ago | pl

    She is probably just really annoying!!!

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  • mtnw
    13 years ago | pl

    keep an eye out, and maybe someday she'll say something relevant, then you can observe the reaction of others.

    in business meetings and conferences, i've encountered many heavy people, and i've never encountered this, but then again, the comments were always relevant.

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    • Anonymous Post Author
      13 years ago | pl

      Ha! I'm still awaiting the day.

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  • ac1d6urn
    13 years ago | pl

    It might not be because of her weight. When you say "actively participates" and that her questions are "slightly off-topic", to me this is describing the annoying person in the front who wont put their hand down and let the teacher continue their lecture and instead should go see them during office hours. But if you say that EVERY OTHER STUDENT asks the same amount of questions/same kind of "off-topic" questions and the reactions different, then yes something is definitely not right and I have yet to encounter this.

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    • Anonymous Post Author
      13 years ago | pl

      Yes, I agree, I have classmates in other lectures that won't shut up either and the class grows tired of their presence. And yet their reactions to those people are not so severe as the reactions to the woman in my post.

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      • Riddler
        9 years ago | pl

        You are assuming its because shes fat. Maybe no one cares that she is fat. Maybe they just think shes weird. Im skinny and I was rejected as a child when I would raise my hand to answer or ask a question. Though most of my class was just very lazy. I have been known to be a teachers pet in the past. A lot of times no one OTHER than the teacher likes these type of people.

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