I get rejected for jobs because I’m overweight, fatphobia is last ‘acceptable’ prejudice & it’s time we’re given respect
READING yet another rejection letter, I couldn’t believe how tough it was to find a job.
I was a hard worker with a good degree, but after finishing university, I’d struggled to get a foot on the career ladder.
Then my dad asked a question that stopped me in my tracks: “Do you think it’s because of your weight?”
It hurt to hear and I was outwardly outraged — but inside I realised he was right.
It’s a sad fact that in our fatphobic society, people with bigger bodies are perceived to be comparatively less competent and committed.
Worse still, they’re thought of as lazy, slovenly and morally flawed, with their body size assumed to be a personal choice.
One study led by Dr Stuart Flint, an associate professor of the psychology of obesity at the University of Leeds, found that overweight and obese individuals were less likely to be offered a job than thinner applicants.
This was true even when they had higher levels of qualifications and job performance.
And research by Vanderbilt University Law School revealed that women earn less as they gain weight, with those categorised as obese more likely to have lower-paying, physically demanding jobs such as caring for the elderly or food prep.
Another survey, which tested the attitudes of more than 500 hiring managers towards potential employees, found that 21 per cent described the largest woman there as “lazy and unprofessional”. Only 18 per cent said she had leadership potential and only 15 per cent said they would hire her.
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It’s clear that there is a plus-size glass ceiling which holds back larger women, like me, from achieving our potential and fulfilling our dreams.
This prejudice, which is often unconscious, means creating a truly diverse society, that is inclusive of all experiences, remains a pipe dream.
Ask yourself — where are the real plus-size women at the top of politics, culture and business?
Other than comedian Dawn French, presenter Alison Hammond and singer Lizzo, they are fairly thin on the ground — pardon the pun.
Yes, some brands use “larger” models these days, but these tend to be tokenistic, barely bigger than a size 16, and fit a certain “curvy” mould, rather than reflecting genuine bigger bodies. There’s an acceptable plus-size and anyone above that is deemed to be promoting obesity — something I’ve had relatives accuse me of. It’s not just your career that suffers due to prejudice towards your physical size.
From shopping for clothes and taking holidays abroad, to relationships and seeing a GP, bigger people are judged, shamed and made to feel like the only thing they are is a body. For example, I was refused IVF on the NHS unless I lost 14st, despite the fact my fertility issue wasn’t related to my size.
You might say: “Why don’t you just lose weight then?”
But I spent huge chunks of my life trying to do just that and feeling terribly unhappy.
At the opposite end of the scale is “thin privilege”.
This represents all the social, financial and practical benefits a person gets because they are thin or in a relatively smaller body.
How often do you see thin TV personalities, but they have nothing going on upstairs?
That individual may not realise they have any advantage because it is normal for them not to have to think about finding clothes that fit, if their menu choices will be judged and whether they can fit into public spaces like a bus or restaurant seat.
But these are day-to-day concerns for me and many others, making us walk through life apologetically and dreaming of how much happier we would be if we were thin.
I have a wonderful family who love me very much but I grew up in a household where diet culture and criticism of how you looked was rife.
Break the cycle
I was put on my first diet when I was eight and sent to Slimming World at 13. I know my parents had my best interests at heart but the message it sent me was that my worth was equal to my weight.
My body was a topic for others to critique and comment on and I lived in fear of what relatives would say.
I talk about the impact of my childhood in my new book, Diet Starts Monday, and how it’s taken two decades to try to undo the harm.
I know opening up about it will be distressing for my parents but I want to break the intergenerational cycle of this problem.
Before I appeared on Bake Off in 2020, I did workplace diversity training for my job as a digital manager. I was mortified and embarrassed to find out I had a very high bias against larger people and was less likely to give them a job than someone who is thin, or even find them trustworthy.
I’d internalised all the messages I heard about myself and was continuing the cycle. I doubt the same process would occur if I was gay, black or disabled. Nor am I biased against women.
Fatphobia seems to be the last “acceptable” prejudice.
A 2019 study by Harvard University in the US analysed 4.4million tests of implicit and explicit bias to examine changes over time in people’s attitudes towards body weight, along with sexual orientation, race, age and disability.
While attitudes about most social groups improved over a decade, explicit bias towards people who are “overweight” increased, as had implicit bias.
When I applied to Bake Off, shortly after cancelling planned bariatric surgery to reduce my food consumption in a bid to qualify for fertility treatment, my excitement was tempered by the expectation my body would be a talking point.
A size 26 contestant on a baking show who unashamedly enjoys food was just ripe for jokes. Sometimes the trolls are other plus-size women who find it hard to see a bigger person who is confident and embracing life. It makes me sad because they deserve to be happy as much as anyone else.
For so long, I told myself that once I was thin, my life would start and that I couldn’t possibly be happy in the body I had, which society told me was “wrong”.
But as I faced gastric surgery, I realised that if I could step off the hamster wheel of dieting and body hate, and accept who I was, perhaps I could be happy anyway.
It’s taken a huge amount of work but I’m genuinely comfortable in my own skin. I’m also living life instead of waiting for it.
I’ve found a wetsuit so I can enjoy wild swimming and I’ve stopped hiding behind black clothes. I embrace jeans, shorts and sequins on my Instagram.
Rather than body positivity, I practise body neutrality where I accept it and try to be at peace with it. I call on everyone to challenge their perceptions about body size and bigger people. They don’t need advice on how to lose weight and judgement about their health.
There are so many things at play that make some of us prone to being bigger, like hormones, trauma and socio-economic factors.
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Everyone deserves dignity, respect and the same chances in life, however they look.
- Diet Starts Monday: Ditch The Scales, Reclaim Your Body And Live Your Life To The Full by Laura Adlington is out today (£20, Welbeck Balance)
