People originated from different culture, societies, and ways of life, so there will dependably be a distinction in the way individuals act, dress, and look. The United States has made laws in the previous years to ensure that individuals are treated fairly in light of sex, religion, and race. Yet, there is no official law securing individuals that are being segregated on their looks. So, there should be, as Deborah Rhode states, “stricter anti-discrimination laws…” (248).
Deborah Rhode, the person who wrote the essay “Why Looks Are the Last Bastion of Discrimination”, explains why appearance is the last of the last type of discrimination confronted in the present society. Certain appearances of weight, tallness, skin tone, scars, or marks can make a person judge another person without even thinking twice. This kind of discrimination is out of line, yet it is one that is practically difficult to dispose of. Unessential physical qualities strengthen harmful generalizations and undermine opportunities in view of legitimacy. Furthermore, when prepping decisions become possibly the most important factor, such inclination, can likewise limit individual opportunity. People regularly legitimize their discrimination through false stereotypes, favored treatment, and unintelligent logic. Discrimination is
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For instance, there was a waitress who was size four, but because of a thyroid condition she went to a size six, and when the waitress wanted a larger uniform, she was rejected. She was told that “Borgata babes don't go up in size," Unless, the waitress noted, they have breast implants, which the casino happily accommodated with paid medical leave and a bigger bustier.” (Rhode 245). Another example is Jennifer Portnick was an aerobics instructor and was 240 pounds. She taught classes every day and worked out six days a week, However, she could not get job as an instructor at a national fitness chain because of her
Appearances are really deceptive; They do not show a person's true self. Judging a person based on their looks is not truthful. In the book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee this happens plenty of times. The book To Kill a Mockingbird is about all the craziness in Maycomb, Alabama. In the book the Atticus, Jem, Scout, Tom Robinson and many others deal with Maycomb’s usual “disease”: racism.
After reading “Why Looks Are the Last Bastion of Discrimination” by Deborah L. Rhode and “The Makeup Tax” by Olga Khazan, both readings focus on the concerns of appearance discrimination. Appearance discrimination can be validated, yet it cannot. For instance, it is valid to appearance discriminate an individual when an employer is interviewing him or her because it is the first quality employers examine. An employer is often likely to not hire an individual if he or she comes into the interview wearing informal attire, in contrast to an individual showing up to the interview with formal clothing. Nonetheless, it is not okay to validate appearance discrimination when it comes to an individual’s weight.
Being an upstander when someone is prejudged based on their appearance can impact their life. Looks can deceive people and change their perspective on who that person really is. People can prejudge as quick as the snap of a finger. In the book Warriors Don't Cry, the segregationists prejudged African Americans intelligence to the extent where the whites rioted against the integration of the school Central High. Shouting chants like “Two, Four, Six, Eight….
Many people live life in fear of being judged. Our efforts to be treated equally however, are always beaten down by discrimination. Every passing second, someone in the world is becoming a victim of discrimination. In America the war on discrimination is still raging on.
There are over seven billion people in this world and more than likely one’s prejudicial beliefs will be true at one time or another. For example, a person could be walking down the street and sees a person with a pimple on his/her face with pus and other bodily fluids burgeoning out like magma out of a volcano. The pedestrian could be prejudice and assume because of their appearance this blemished person is lazy, dirty, putrid, and does not keep up with his/her hygiene.
Today people are judged based on the color of their skin and on their physical appearance. In the United States, especially, people are judged based on their skin color and because of the way they look. Usually people care about appearance because they believe in stereotypes and are grouped in many different ways. A lot of people are discriminated against in many different ways; for example, police brutality, racial discrimination, and colorism to name a few. The groups who are usually judged a lot are Latinos and African-Americans and that is because of the color of their skin.
Most bias shows itself very discreetly hiding behind walls : ideas we may not know we have a bias about. While other biases are very up front and obvious, these are the prejudgments seen in everyday life. “While you judge me by my outward appearance I am silently doing the same to you, … there's a ninety-percent chance that in both cases our assumptions are wrong.” (Richelle E. Goodrich) Our preconceived notions about others' appearance limit our ability to read people in the correct way because we are stuck seeing one thing.
The extreme personal discrimination alters peoples’ self-esteem or the perception people look at themselves. On the Tyra Banks show, Banks confronts an Asian American woman who had surgery to make her eyes look more like the European/American ideal of beauty. The 25-year-old woman interviewee made multiple excuses why she got the procedure. The woman claims her “eyes started to sag” and she appeared “tired”; she wants a more youthful appearance.
A girl can be seen as beautiful and attractive, but continued to be shunned - all because they don’t wear the latest trends in fashion (but what if they like wearing solid colors or nerdy shirts from Walmart?). They may have a great personality that would attract many suitors in the nineteenth century, but if it is not up to the status of some people, they’re deemed unworthy. It is honestly one of the saddest things I have witnessed and experienced. Through The Body Project, Brumberg explains how American girls have shifted from judging a girl through her personality and internal character to judging through her appearance.
In an article Menon stated, “We generally tend to judge people just by looking at their outward appearance” (Menon 1). This is true, but why is everyone so quick to judge? Nearly all the population finds it easier to establish groups before getting to know them because they don’t want to take the time to learn about a person. Outer appearance can say nothing of a person’s moral, looks can be deceiving. Menon later stated, “I find it thought provoking how someone could get so attached to another person and trust him or her so wholly after just knowing how he or she looks” (Menon 1).
She says, “Discrimination on the basis of looks is deeply rooted and widely practiced, and there are obvious limits to how much legal and police strategies can affect it.” Some may say that hiring based on looks is just a business tactic, but actually judgement can push people over the edge to develop an eating disorder, undergo cosmetic surgery, and have dissatisfaction with their body image. If someone is discriminated, in view to the fact that they are ugly, they know that there is nothing that they could do about that. This shows the main idea of the author’s argument because she claims that appearance can become a legal issue. She seems to be biased towards women because she is apart of a movement called “WHAT WOMEN WANT”.
All together for a type of discrimination to be viewed
Unfortunately, it’s in our human nature to form judgments on people upon gazing at them. Although it’s not something that can be diminished in us, it is something we can rightfully control. A recent incident happened at the bank where a man, who was on the heavier weight side, came into the bank using crutches to help him maneuver. A co-worker saw him and made a comment on his looks which lead me to reply saying it’s unfair to make impertinent comments on random people. It’s imperative to remember that we are unaware of what an individual’s circumstances may be; what if the person has certain health conditions that cause them to be a certain way?