A Massachusetts lawmaker has introduced a bill that would ban discrimination based on body size and height, claiming that the prejudice has an impact on factors such as wages and health care. WEEI morning show co-host Courtney Cox mentioned the bill during her news segment on Monday morning, eliciting opposing reactions from her colleagues Greg Hill and Jermaine Wiggins. If the bill were to be passed, Massachusetts would become the second state in the country to institute such a restriction, joining Michigan in this regard.
“Oh Hallelu,” Hill said, who recently signed a multiyear contract extension with WEEI. “Finally – I’ve been waiting for this. You understand that that will limit 90% of what [Chris] Curtis can say about me on this radio show. I just want to make that clear. So fat-shaming would be banned here in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts; the big-boned would finally be protected.”
Wiggins argued that being fat-shamed by others, specifically related to non-physical bullying, actually helped him get on a diet and improve his overall health. Contextualizing it as a form of motivation that inherently helps people, he worried that people would not be as apt to willingly change if it were to be banned. Curtis then joined the conversation to express his point of view about how the way in which people addressed him changed depending on his weight.
“I wish that people said to me how fat they thought I was when I was fat because when you lose weight, people are like, ‘Oh my gosh, I was worried about you,’” Curtis said. “Well you should have said it when I was fat! Why are you saying it now; that’s wasted breath.”
Cox affirmed that some people have a hard time or are unable to lose weight, nor do they necessarily want to. The issue with the bill, she explained, was that even though some people are content with their weight, they are still discriminated against in the workplace. The program played audio of a lawmaker involved with the bill explaining how the effects it has are realized in many different aspects related to employment, including health care and support services.
“It’s a big issue at work,” Greg Hill concurred. “Wiggy, the attractive, skinny people get all the good jobs. Have you ever noticed? Am I on television? No. Are you on television? No…. It’s the thin as a rail, beautiful people who get the good jobs. That’s not right.”
“That’s why fat-shaming is a good thing,” Jermaine Wiggins replied, “because then it’ll make you go, ‘I need to change the way I look.’”
“They’re trying to stop the attractive people from getting every good job and more money than the rest of us,” Greg Hill said, “and I am in favor.”
