Tipping the Scales of Justice: Fighting Weight Based Discrimination

This book is very helpful and has been cited by numerous authors.Great book!

The quiet, measured, dignified prose style of the author, a sort of removed reportage, makes the horrors of discrimination in education, health-care, social life, employment, the world of entertainment, and so forth all the more starkly ugly, cruel, dangerous, and damaging. The damage, however, is not confined to those fat people who are so viciously discriminated against. It extends to almost everyone who is infected with fear and hatred of fat, everyone who would rather be blind or deaf or lose a limb than be fat, everyone who succombs to the blandishments of a greedy, fear-mongering, prejudice-supporing bariatric industry. In other words, we're all in this together and we've all got to get out of it together. And the legal considerations Solovay brings to our attention, the suggestions she makes about extending legal coverages against discrimination already in place, and the compassion she displays for victims make this book one of the important beginnings for recovery from anti-fat hysteria. Thank you for this book.

In perhaps the first and only authoritative book on fat prejudice, attorney Sondra Solovay paints a disturbing picture of widespread mistreatment of the obese and urges extension of current law to remedy these problems. Proclaiming "fat discrimination" as the civil rights issue of the millennium, she calls for increased legal protection, detailing a litany of abuse afflicted on fat people by peers, teachers, employers, and even judges. She disputes the prevailing notion that fat people's size is their own fault, saying scientific evidence shows that obesity is not within the individual's control. Because body size may be immutable and not reflective of a person's abilities, she argues that anti-discrimination law should apply. She touts progress against fat discrimination, including laws passed in Michigan and California that specifically prohibit discrimination on the basis of weight in employment and housing. The author recommends applying disability laws to the obese, a controversial stance which puts her at odds with other so-called fat-rights advocates who resist using the disabled label. After examining several cases involving the Americans with Disability Act (ADA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, she concludes that the courts' treatment of larger-sized people under these laws too often is inconsistent, confused, and tainted by fat prejudice. She proposes a clearer, more logical way of categorizing and analyzing these cases, and reiterates how de-stigmatizing obesity helps correct pervasive misperceptions of fat people's abilities. The book's strength lies in its focus on education and reform and the human face put on the problem of fat prejudice. However, even the author's extensive use of footnotes can't compensate for the dearth of legal materials involving weight discrimination. The appendices list organizations devoted to fat-rights advocacy, recommended readings, samples of anti-discrimination laws and excerpts from the ADA. But the paucity of published opinions reflects the reason why the book is a "tool of legal scholarship" as opposed to a "handbook" -- the still novel issue remains largely confined to academia and talks shows, not the actual practice of law. In our progressively heavier society, fat people may be closer to tipping the scales as the majority, but one wonders whether protection against fat prejudice will ever become the prevailing legal norm.

Tipping The Scales of Justice is a very well written examination of the legal and personal issues surrounding weight based discrimination. Ms. Solovay touches on all the relevant issues with clarity and insight, born out of a devotion to Justice and the desire to make this issue understood to all who read about it. She is a passionate activist and a marvelous writer. Without a doubt this book will stand the test of time as a solidly researched, superbly written book. Congratulations, Ms. Solovay!