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What is body shaming?

Causes of body shaming, effects of body shaming, how to turn body shaming into body positivity, turn body shaming into body positivity tip 1: cultivate self-love, tip 2: replace negative self-talk, tip 3: manage time spent on social media, tip 4: make friends with food, tip 5: reach out to someone you trust, how to help a loved one with body shaming, body shaming: the effects and how to overcome it.

Hearing negative comments about your appearance can impact your body image and leave you feeling anxious and self-conscious. But there are ways to manage fat shaming or other critical comments, and achieve body acceptance.

Body shaming involves humiliating someone by making inappropriate or negative comments about their body size or shape. As well as “fat shaming,” you may also hear negative comments if you’re underweight or in reference to a specific body part.

This type of criticism can be made to others or yourself. You may feel unhappy with your weight or how your body looks and judge yourself harshly. You may even engage in negative self-talk, such as “I feel so fat today” or “I need to stop stuffing my face with food.”

The act of body shaming can be carried out in person or remotely via the internet and social media and can be done by your parents, siblings, friends, or people you’re not even close to.

Even in a joking manner, remarks about what you eat or how much food you consume constitutes body shaming. Giving someone advice about dieting or praising weight loss is also considered body shaming, whether intentional or not. Often, your friends and family members don’t want to hurt your feelings, but their comments can still be of a critical nature. They may not realize the negative effect that questions like “Have you lost weight?” or “Do you really need to eat all of that?” can have.

While nobody is immune to societal pressures to look a certain way, comments about your body are unnecessary in any context. Whether the body shaming is being done by yourself or others, there are ways to overcome the problem, build body positivity, and learn to look at yourself in a more compassionate and realistic way.

Social media and body shaming

Social media often emphasizes physical appearance and makes it easy to post hurtful comments about others. The overall message is often that you should strive for the perfect body and find ways to hide your flaws. This can have a huge influence on your body image.

Body shaming on digital platforms is related to cyberbullying, but there are ways to fight back against those who body shame online, overcome the pain and anguish they cause, and reclaim your sense of self-worth.

See Cyberbullying: Dealing with Online Bullies .

Our “selfie” culture emphasizes outward beauty and we’re constantly bombarded with images of glamourous celebrities in magazines, advertisements, TV shows, and other types of media.

What you see every day on TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram can understandably make you feel envious of others or focus your thinking on your physical appearance and any perceived flaws. You may struggle to live up to these standards and experience negative feelings and judgements about yourself. This can become destructive when it diminishes your self-worth and body image.

A fixation with how you look can create unrealistic expectations that are impossible to achieve. Even when you know that these idealized images are digitally altered or enhanced, it’s easy to fall into the trap of unfavorably comparing yourself—or others.

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Body shaming in teens

Adolescents are particularly vulnerable to body shaming, weight shaming, and appearance-based shaming. In the teen years, your attitudes and beliefs about body image and self-esteem are largely influenced by your family members, peers, and social media. Mothers can often be role models for their daughters, for example. If your mother is continually complaining about her own shape or weight, or pointing out problems in how you look or eat, it’s bound to have an impact on how you view yourself.

As you develop during adolescence, it’s normal to be highly sensitive to comments about body shape, weight, and appearance. Weight-related bullying during adolescence contributes to negative body perceptions and preoccupations with specific body parts. Adolescents who are overweight are particularly vulnerable, and this can often lead to depression .

You might think that only teenage girls are the victims of body shaming, but boys can also be affected. They may be particularly concerned about not being muscular enough in relationship to the popular concept of masculinity.

Even supermodels and prima ballerinas have insecurities and imperfections, but we still tend to perceive them to be the ultimate representations of beauty. If you don’t measure up to these standards, you may feel inadequate and unworthy. And if you experience body shaming by others and take their negative comments to heart, it can lead to unhealthy behaviors and mental health problems, such as:

Having a negative body image is one of the main factors for developing disordered eating or an eating disorder , such as anorexia, bulimia, or binge eating.

You may start a diet that involves restrictive eating in an attempt to change your body shape or size. But such dieting can spiral into harmful behaviors like skipping meals, fasting, vomiting after eating, excessive exercising, or overusing laxatives. Over time, you end up depriving your body and brain of essential nutrients that are necessary for optimal health.

Body shaming comments such as “Did you lose weight? You look so much better,” can be triggering and create more disordered eating habits in an attempt to maintain or lose even more weight.

Experiencing body-shaming can interfere with your self-image and make you feel extremely self-conscious. This can escalate into body dysmorphic disorder , where you become obsessed with a perceived appearance flaw that can create repeated avoidance behaviors.

Your daily life can become consumed with concerns about a small flaw, or one that is not apparent to others. You may constantly look at yourself in the mirror or avoid mirrors altogether, conceal body parts you don’t like, pick at your skin, or frequently ask others if you look okay.

If you are constantly ashamed of your body, it can also impair your performance at school and interfere with your relationships with peers, teachers, and family members. Fears about being judged by others may cause you to limit or avoid social activities.

[Read: Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD)]

Severe symptoms of BDD can result in you dropping out of school because you’re unable to cope with the constant level of distress. You may even develop depression or suicidal thoughts and behaviors .

Excessive Exercising

Being physically active is normally one of the best things you can do for your health and well-being. However, if it becomes an addiction and you engage in compulsive exercising, it can lead to persistent fatigue, injuries, and susceptibility to illness or trigger anxiety, depression, or irritability.

If you are exercising compulsively, you may also start to withdraw from social situations as exercise becomes your main focus. Excessive exercising can progress into a syndrome called Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (RED-S) which occurs when your calorie intake is not sufficient for the amount of energy you are expending to maintain healthy functioning.

Anxiety and depression

Body shaming can trigger or worsen existing symptoms of anxiety and depression. If you are body-shamed in public or on social media, you may try to avoid going to school or other situations where this shaming might occur. You may withdraw from others and feel isolated and alone .

Hearing critical comments about your appearance can also be humiliating, heighten your insecurities, and damage your self-esteem. Consequently, you may engage in negative self-talk as you internalize these feelings of worthlessness. You may tell yourself things like “I am a bad person” or “I am completely worthless.” This can escalate into extreme loneliness, depression, anxiety, and poor body image.

Physical Health Issues

Fat shaming, in particular, is rampant in our society as obesity is associated with being lazy, unattractive, and lacking willpower to lose weight. In one study, over 70% of adolescents reported being bullied about their weight in the past few years. This can be harmful to your physical as well as psychological health.

Rather than being a motivating factor for losing weight , fat shaming actually has the opposite effect. The stress has been linked to a reduction in physical activity and the consumption of more calories.

[Read: Childhood Obesity and Weight Problems]

Being the target of weight bias and discrimination can also affect your metabolism, lead to further weight gain, and increase your chances of becoming obese. This in turn can elevate the risk factors for high blood pressure , high cholesterol, heart disease, type-2 diabetes, and other physical health problems.

In recent years, there has been an effort to reverse the body shaming emphasis and promote more love and acceptance of how we look. Social media platforms have utilized body positivity hashtags to gain more followers and help address the appearance-based prejudices that have been ingrained in us.

Of course, it will take time to change longstanding ideals of beauty. We have all internalized these messages in different ways based upon our cultural beliefs and norms. As the saying goes, “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” and this also holds true for our views about various body shapes and sizes.

How to build body positivity

Body positivity is a continuous journey towards accepting yourself and others. It takes patience and practice to alter longstanding cultural beliefs and learn self-compassion. You can’t control what others say or do, but you can change your all-or-nothing thinking and start to view yourself as a whole person.

Following these basic steps can help you overcome body shaming and build body positivity:

• Cultivate self-love.
• Replace negative self-talk.
• Manage your time spent on social media.
• Make friends with food.
• Reach out to someone you trust for guidance and support.

The first steps to protecting yourself from body shaming are to stop body-shaming yourself and develop self-compassion. Remember that your health status takes priority over your physical appearance, and that should always be your primary concern.

Don’t hide or isolate yourself from others . We all have days when we don’t look or feel our best, but don’t let this destroy your self-esteem or sense of worth. Take a step back and think about the critical inner dialog you are imposing on yourself. Is this really an accurate representation of who you are? Say “no” to yourself when you’re looking in the mirror and feeling disgust for your face or your body.

Treat yourself with kindness and understanding , as you would a best friend. Taking care of yourself is not a selfish act; it’s necessary for your personal well-being. Exercise, eat healthy food, enjoy the company of people who care about you, and spend some time outdoors to refresh your body and your mind.

Manage stress . Experiencing body shaming can be extremely stressful. Relaxation techniques such as exercise, meditation, and deep breathing exercises are all good ways to build resilience and prevent you from feeling overwhelmed by negative experiences.

[Read: Stress Management]

Embrace the power of your body . Our bodies serve us well on a daily basis to function effectively and keep us healthy. Rather than being upset about your appearance, express gratitude for this “sacred vessel” you inhabit. Take notice of simple things you often take for granted, such as breathing, blood pumping to the heart, and your miraculous senses. The most important thing you can do is strive for a healthy body, which is separate from your feelings about your weight and desire for perfection.

While you can’t control what others say about you, you do have the power to focus on the positive aspects of yourself, rather than dwelling on any perceived flaws. Learning to accept your own imperfections will ultimately free you from placing unfair judgments on yourself or others.

Replacing negative self-talk with positive thoughts and affirmations can be useful for making you feel better about yourself and your body.

Shift your focus to the things that you like about yourself . For example, if you have beautiful hair or eyes, this is just as important as the features you dislike or that others try to ridicule. The next time you look in the mirror, notice these positive attributes.

Instead of repeating negative messages, accept yourself without criticism . You can tell yourself: “I accept my body just as it is,” or “My body is strong and healthy.”

Be proud of your individuality . Your value as a human being is worth much more than your physical body. Remembering the positive qualities that you bring to the world is the foundation for attaining body acceptance.

Start off with body neutrality . If you’re not quite ready to embrace body positivity, work towards having body neutrality. That means you are accepting and respectful of your body, without having to either love or hate it. When you practice body neutrality, you place the emphasis on what your body can do, rather than what your body looks like. For example, you can remind yourself: “My legs enable me to walk and run long distances.”

Don’t body shame others

Research shows that when you promote body positivity to others, you also feel more positively about your own body. Surround yourself with people who are courteous and treat others with respect. Avoid bullies who engage in body shaming and talk about the flaws of others.

Establish boundaries with your circle of friends and make it clear that you will not tolerate comments about your body or weight. You can also set an example by standing up for others who are the targets of body shaming.

Spending too much time on social media can add to your anxiety, loneliness, and body dissatisfaction, reinforce unrealistic expectations of yourself, and expose you to body shaming and cyberbullying.

[Read: Social Media and Mental Health]

If you reduce your time on social media, you will be able to participate in other activities that elevate your mood and tap into your creative potential. Try:

Connecting to others in-person . Cutting down or stepping away from social media can give you an opportunity to connect in-person and improve the quality of your social interactions. Communicating face-to-face is nature’s antidote to stress and can be a lot more rewarding than texting or messaging.

Physical activities like walking, running, swimming, dancing, and other fun sports. Being active is important for your overall health and well-being and can help increase your confidence, self-esteem, and sense of accomplishment.

Practicing mindfulness through yoga, meditation, deep breathing, or journaling .

If you are shamed or ashamed about your weight, it’s easy to develop an unhealthy attitude towards food. Mindful eating can help you remember that food is not the enemy and whatever your weight, you can still find enjoyment in eating.

To make friends with food and eat more mindfully:

• Tune out all distractions while you’re eating, such as phones, TV, and other types of multitasking in order to enrich this pleasant experience.
• By concentrating on the present moment and accepting your thoughts and feelings, you can savor each bite, eat slowly, and respond to your body’s needs.
• Planning nutritious meals ahead of time or trying out new recipes are other great ways to make friends with food.

You may feel embarrassed about confiding in someone about the body shaming you’re experiencing, but there’s no reason you have to handle this on your own. Reach out to others for guidance and support and let them know what you have been experiencing.

It’s crucial to find someone you trust and feel comfortable sharing your feelings with. Having a safe outlet to express your emotions can help you cope with the distress and humiliation of being body shamed.

If you need additional assistance in the recovery process, don’t hesitate to schedule an appointment with a licensed mental health counselor or therapist. They can offer unbiased advice to help you feel more empowered and heal from the effects of body shaming.

If a friend or loved one is being body shamed by others, your compassion and understanding can be invaluable.

Let them know you are concerned and how much you care about them. You can say, “I feel worried that you are always talking about your weight,” or “I feel sad when you speak negatively about your appearance.”

Be patient and listen to their concerns . Don’t assume that you know what your loved one needs, but rather ask how you can best support them. They may just want a shoulder to cry on, someone to listen to their worries without judgment.

Try to shift the focus away from your loved one’s body to something else you admire about them. For example, you can remind them about their wonderful sense of humor, how smart they are, their adventurous spirit, or highlight a particular talent they have.

If your child has been body shamed

It can be extremely hurtful to learn that your child or teenager has been body shamed. But like any bullying or cyberbullying behavior, there are steps you can take to deal with the problem—or even help prevent it before it starts.

Educate your child about body shaming . Let them know that people can sometimes be cruel to each other and how your child should value and respect both themselves and others. Remind them that body shaming in any form is unacceptable.

Talk to your child’s teachers or school administrators if the problem is occurring at school.

Encourage your child to seek new friends if their current ones are engaging in body shaming. Enrolling in sports teams, youth clubs, and after-school activities are great ways for your child to expand their social circle.

Be a good role model . Speak positively about your own body and catch yourself if you say something negative about your own appearance. Try to use body-positive or body-neutral language to set a healthy example.

Reduce the time your child spends on social media . Be aware of what your child is posting and reading about on social media platforms. The more you know about your child’s life online, the sooner you’ll be able to identify and address any body shaming issues.

Reassure your child . Let your child know that you love them unconditionally for both their inner and outer beauty. Refrain from criticizing or teasing a child or teenager about their appearance, even in jest.

Encourage a healthy lifestyle that nurtures your child’s body—but keep the subjects of appearance, weight, and dieting out of the discussion. Focus instead on what your child’s body is capable of. Remind them how well their body serves to help them run, jump, draw, play a musical instrument, or solve puzzles.

Bolster your child’s self-esteem and resilience through exercise and creative endeavors. Having them involved in team sports, volunteer organizations, or group activities can help build self-confidence and improve social skills. Physical activity can also help to relieve anxiety and stress and boost your child’s mood.

Helplines and support

Bullying helplines.

1-800-273-8255 –  Crisis Call Center

0845 22 55 787 –  National Bullying Helpline

1-877-352-4497 –  BullyingCanada

1800 551 800 –  Kids Helpline

1098 –  Childline India

Eating disorder helplines

National Eating Disorders Association  or call 1-800-931-2237 (National Eating Disorders Association)

Beat Eating Disorders  or call 0345 643 1414 (Helpfinder)

Butterfly Foundation for Eating Disorders  or call 1800 33 4673 (National Eating Disorders Collaboration)

Service Provider Directory  or call 1-866-633-4220 (NEDIC)

More Information

• What’s the Difference Between Body Positivity and Body Neutrality? - Embracing both can be healthy. (Cleveland Clinic)
• 8 steps to mindful eating - Change the way you think about food. (Harvard Health Publishingc)
• Words Have Weight: The Many Forms of Body-Shaming - A closer look at body-shaming towards ourselves and others. (Psychology Today)
• Body Image and Self-Esteem - You don’t need a perfect body to have a good body image. (TeensHealth)
• Encouraging a Healthy Body Image - Tips for parents. (KidsHealth)
• Feeding and Eating Disorders. (2013) In Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders . American Psychiatric Association. Link
• Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders. (2013). In Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders . American Psychiatric Association. Link
• Gam, Rahul, Shivendra Singh, Manish Manar, Sujita Kar, and Abhishek Gupta. “Body Shaming among School-Going Adolescents: Prevalence and Predictors.” International Journal Of Community Medicine And Public Health 7 (March 14, 2020). Link
• Schlüter, Constanze, Gerda Kraag, and Jennifer Schmidt. “Body Shaming: An Exploratory Study on Its Definition and Classification.” International Journal of Bullying Prevention , November 9, 2021. Link
• Voelker, Dana K, Justine J Reel, and Christy Greenleaf. “Weight Status and Body Image Perceptions in Adolescents: Current Perspectives.” Adolescent Health, Medicine and Therapeutics 6 (August 25, 2015): 149–58. Link
• Weingarden, Hilary, Keith D. Renshaw, Eliza Davidson, and Sabine Wilhelm. “Relative Relationships of General Shame and Body Shame with Body Dysmorphic Phenomenology and Psychosocial Outcomes.” Journal of Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders 14 (July 2017): 1–6. Link
• BDD. “Suicidality in BDD.” Accessed June 13, 2022. Link
• “RED-S | Boston Children’s Hospital.” Accessed June 13, 2022. Link
• Vogel, Lauren. “Fat Shaming Is Making People Sicker and Heavier.” CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association Journal 191, no. 23 (June 10, 2019): E649. Link
• Clark, Olivia, Matthew M. Lee, Muksha Luxmi Jingree, Erin O’Dwyer, Yiyang Yue, Abrania Marrero, Martha Tamez, Shilpa N. Bhupathiraju, and Josiemer Mattei. “Weight Stigma and Social Media: Evidence and Public Health Solutions.” Frontiers in Nutrition 8 (2021). Link
• “Fat Shaming Linked to Greater Health Risks – Penn Medicine.” Accessed June 13, 2022. Link
• Zhang, D., Lee, E. K. P., Mak, E. C. W., Ho, C. Y., & Wong, S. Y. S. (2021). Mindfulness-based interventions: An overall review. British Medical Bulletin , 138(1), 41–57. Link
• Gelsinger, Ayla. “A Critical Analysis of the Body Positive Movement on Instagram: How Does It Really Impact Body Image?” Spectra Undergraduate Research Journal 1, no. 1 (February 26, 2021). Link
• Alleva, Jessica M., Melissa M. Medoch, Kira Priestley, Johanna L. Philippi, Jolien Hamaekers, Eva N. Salvino, Sanne Humblet, and Marieke Custers. “‘I Appreciate Your Body, Because…’ Does Promoting Positive Body Image to a Friend Affect One’s Own Positive Body Image?” Body Image 36 (March 1, 2021): 134–38. Link
• Cohen, Rachel, Lauren Irwin, Toby Newton-John, and Amy Slater. “#bodypositivity: A Content Analysis of Body Positive Accounts on Instagram.” Body Image 29 (June 2019): 47–57. Link
• Mendo-Lázaro, Santiago, Benito León-del-Barco, María-Isabel Polo-del-Río, Rocío Yuste-Tosina, and Víctor-María López-Ramos. “The Role of Parental Acceptance–Rejection in Emotional Instability During Adolescence.” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 16, no. 7 (April 2019): 1194. Link

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The Impact of Body Shaming and How to Overcome It

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Body Shaming in Our Culture

Who are the targets of body shaming, why do we need to stop body shaming, how to be more inclusive.

Body shaming is the act of saying something negative about a person's body. It can be about your own body or someone else's. The commentary can be about a person's size, age, hair, clothes, food, hair, or level of perceived attractiveness.

Body shaming can lead to mental health issues including eating disorders , depression, anxiety, low self-esteem , and body dysmorphia, as well as the general feeling of hating one's body .

In our current society, many people think that thin bodies are inherently better and healthier than larger bodies. Historically, however, that hasn't always been the case. If you think of paintings and portraits from before the 1800s era, you can see that plumpness was revered.

Being fat was a sign that a person was wealthy and had access to food, while thinness represented poverty. In her book "Fat Shame: Stigma and the Fat Body in American Culture," author Amy Erdman Farrell traces the shift from revering heavy bodies to the preference of smaller shapes to mid-nineteenth century England when the first diets books were published.

She noted that the focus on diets, and bodies at large, was centered around women. Author Sabrina Strings says that fatphobia resulted from colonialism and race in her book "Fearing the Black Body: The Racial Origins of Fat Phobia."

According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, the first known use of the term "body shaming" was by journalist Philip Ellis.

Body shaming is most often about body size, but negative comments about any facet of a person's body count as body shaming.

Below are the various reasons why people might be body shamed.

One of the most common reasons people are body shamed is because of their weight. Someone might be body shamed for being "too big" or "too thin."

Saying anything negative about a person being "fat" is body shaming. This is also known as "fat-shaming." Fat-shaming comments are ones like "They'd be pretty if they lost weight," or "I bet they had to buy an extra plane ticket to fit." Men are often body-shamed when people refer to them as having a "dad bod."

People in thinner bodies can also be shamed for their weight. Often called skinny-shaming, it may sound like, "They look like they never eat" or "They look like they have an eating disorder."

Hair grows on the arms, legs, private areas, and underarms of all people, except for those with certain health conditions. However, many people have the idea that women should remove all of their body hair, or they won't be "ladylike."

Examples of body hair shaming are calling a woman with underarm hair "beastly," or telling a woman she needs to shave.

Attractiveness

Known as "pretty-shaming," the bullying or discrimination of people for being attractive, is something that happens regularly. And even more than that, people are bullied for being considered unattractive, which is also known as "lookism." Lookism describes prejudice or discrimination against people who are considered physically unattractive or whose physical appearance is believed to fall short of societal ideas of beauty.

An example of pretty-shaming is how attractive women are less likely to be hired for jobs in which they'd have positions of authority. And an example of lookism would be how unattractive people may receive fewer opportunities.

Food-shaming is generally done in relation to body size. For example, when someone makes a remark about what a person is or isn't eating, that can count as food-shaming. Someone saying, "They look like they don't need to be eating that," is an example of food-shaming.

You can also food-shame yourself. For example, you might say, "I'm so fat, I shouldn't eat this piece of cheesecake."

The 1980s saw the rise of spandex clothing, and there was a popular saying, "Spandex is a privilege, not a right." This meant that people should only wear spandex clothes if they had the "correct" body shape for them. This is a prime example of clothing-shaming.

More recently, the founder of the clothing brand Lululemon was criticized for making fat-shaming comments when he said that some women's bodies "don't work" for the clothes.

Also known as ageism, age-shaming is discrimination or bullying towards people because of their age. This usually focuses on the elderly or the older population.

In relation to body-shaming, an ageist remark may sound like, "They're too old to wear that much makeup." Additionally, news articles that show photos of how "bad" or "old" celebrities look when not wearing makeup are shaming. Making negative comments about someone's wrinkles or loose skin is another form of body-shaming.

Western society has long focused on sleek, shiny, straight hair as the ideal. Thus, hair with curls, kinks, or other textures has been viewed as less attractive. This is known as texture-shaming.

An example of texture shaming is, "They're so brave to wear their hair natural." While that sounds like a compliment, it's actually an insult. That's because it implies that a person's hair is outside what is considered normal and that they are courageous for wearing their hair in its natural state.

Additionally, bald-shaming happens to people of all genders who have receding hairlines or thinning/balding scalps.

Body shaming has myriad negative consequences on mental health. Here are some important ones:

• Adolescents who are body shamed have a significantly elevated risk of depression .
• It may lead to eating disorders.
• Body shaming worsens outcomes for obese women attempting to overcome binge eating.
• Body shaming can cause dissatisfaction with one's body, which then can cause low self-esteem .

Additional mental health concerns associated with body-shaming include:

• Body dysmorphic disorder
• Higher risk of self-harm or suicide
• Poorer quality of life (due to body dissatisfaction)
• Psychological distress

If you are having suicidal thoughts, contact the  National Suicide Prevention Lifeline  at  988  for support and assistance from a trained counselor. If you or a loved one are in immediate danger, call 911.

For more mental health resources, see our  National Helpline Database .

Body shaming may be rampant, but that doesn't mean you should take part in it. Making a point of not being a body shamer is the kinder option for all people, yourself included. Being intentional about not engaging in various types of shaming may lead to better mental wellness.

In addition to not body shaming, it can be helpful to be more body-inclusive. This means encouraging the acceptance and celebration of shape and diversity in appearance, focusing on health instead of size or weight, and appreciating the human body for all that it is and does.

Below are some ways you can stop contributing to body shaming culture.

Stop Talking About Other People's Bodies

It may be socially acceptable for people to mock and body-shame others, but you do not have to accept, participate in, or tolerate such words or actions. You wouldn't want that to be done to you, and now you know that it can cause real problems for those it happens to.

So, when you are tempted to point out a person's body hair or their hair texture, their size, stop yourself. Instead, why not think of something nice to say to the person?

Clearly, they caught your eye, so you could use this as an opportunity to find a positive attribute. "I like your smile" is one idea of a way to compliment another person without speaking negatively about their body.

Try the following steps:

• Notice your thoughts and acknowledge your own conditioning, bias, and/or judgments.
• Make an intentional effort to notice what you like, appreciate, or admire about this person (this may be physical or non-physical traits).
• Practice this with others and yourself to develop and deepen respect, care, and compassion for yourself and others.

Learn About Body Neutrality

Body neutrality is a practice that has many proven mental health benefits . It's the notion of accepting bodies as they are, without casting judgment on them. This can apply to your own body, and to the bodies of others.

Body neutrality encourages a focus on the positive functions that bodies can perform. Learning about it can make you feel better in your own body, improve your relationship with food, and boost your self-esteem.

Change How You Talk About Your Own Body

In a culture where so much emphasis is placed on what is wrong with us and needs improvement, it can feel like a huge challenge to speak positively about our own bodies. Doing so, however, is a healthy thing to do, and it also saves other people from harm.

By practicing speaking positively about ourselves and our bodies, and noticing qualities about ourselves and others that we like and appreciate, we can deepen our care, compassion, and connection with others and with ourselves.

When you make a comment like "I feel so fat today," you're making a judgment about fat people and implying their bodies are less valuable than the bodies of thin people. This can be hurtful for anyone around you, especially those who are larger.

It isn't realistic to only think positive thoughts about yourself, but you can express your feelings in ways that are less harmful to others. For the above example, you could instead confide in a friend and say, "My pants aren't fitting as they usually do, and it's making me feel self-conscious."

Rather than body-shaming, you'll have opened up to a loved one, creating more closeness and trust between the both of you.

If you've gone through the steps to stop body-shaming yourself and other people, that's wonderful! However, there is still more work to do.

As with all instances in life when you see other people causing harm, it's important to speak up—provided it is emotionally and physically safe for you to do so.

If you see someone making a comment to another person about their body, whether about their clothing or age or size, you can gently let them know that it's unkind to talk about other people's bodies. And if it happens regularly with friends or loved ones, you can bring it up in a bigger way, letting them know that their ways of communicating about bodies don't always feel good for you and others.

Body shaming may be prevalent, but you can do the work to stop perpetuating it and to help heal its harmful effects by practicing body positivity with yourself and others.

Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Body-Shaming .

Braun S, Peus C, Frey, D. Is beauty beastly? Gender-specific effects of leader attractiveness and leadership style on followers’ trust and loyalty .  Zeitschrift für Psychologie. 2012; 220(2), 98–108. https://doi.org/10.1027/2151-2604/a000101

Tietje L, Cresap S. Is Lookism Unjust?: The Ethics of Aesthetics and Public Policy Implications . The Journal of Libertarian Studies . 2010.

Throughline. Lululemon founder to women: Your thighs are too fat .

Brewis AA, Bruening M. Weight shame, social connection, and depressive symptoms in late adolescence .  Int J Environ Res Public Health . 2018;15(5):891.

Vogel L. Fat shaming is making people sicker and heavier .  CMAJ . 2019;191(23):E649. doi:10.1503/cmaj.109-5758

Palmeira L, Pinto-Gouveia J, Cunha M. The role of weight self-stigma on the quality of life of women with overweight and obesity: A multi-group comparison between binge eaters and non-binge eaters .  Appetite . 2016;105:782-789.

van den Berg PA, Mond J, Eisenberg M, Ackard D, Neumark-Sztainer D. The link between body dissatisfaction and self-esteem in adolescents: Similarities across gender, age, weight status, race/ethnicity, and socioeconomic status .  J Adolesc Health . 2010;47(3):290-296.

Gilbert P, Miles J. Body Shame: Conceptualisation, Research, and Treatment. New York, NY:Brunner-Routledge.

By Ariane Resnick, CNC Ariane Resnick, CNC is a mental health writer, certified nutritionist, and wellness author who advocates for accessibility and inclusivity.

Essay on Body Shaming

Students are often asked to write an essay on Body Shaming in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Body Shaming

Understanding body shaming.

Body shaming is the act of mocking or criticizing someone’s physical appearance. It is often linked to weight, size, or shape but can also include skin color, height, or any other physical attribute.

Consequences of Body Shaming

Body shaming can lead to self-esteem issues, anxiety, and depression. People who are body shamed may feel isolated or unworthy, which can have a devastating impact on their mental health.

Rejecting Body Shaming

Rejecting body shaming involves promoting acceptance of all body types. It’s important to remember that everyone is unique and beautiful in their own way.

Also check:

250 Words Essay on Body Shaming

The pervasive issue of body shaming.

Body shaming, a prevalent social issue, is the act of mocking or criticizing individuals based on their physical appearance. It is a destructive practice that permeates our society, largely propagated by unrealistic body ideals portrayed in the media.

Implications of Body Shaming

Body shaming can have severe psychological implications. It can lead to diminished self-esteem, anxiety, depression, and even trigger eating disorders. Furthermore, body shaming does not only affect the individual’s mental health but also their physical well-being, as it can result in unhealthy lifestyle choices.

The Role of Media

Media plays a significant role in perpetuating body shaming. It projects an unattainable image of perfection, leading individuals to feel inadequate and pressured to conform. This constant comparison with idealized images can fuel self-loathing and body dissatisfaction.

Combatting Body Shaming

Combatting body shaming requires a collective effort. We need to challenge societal norms and promote body positivity, encouraging acceptance of all body types. Education can play a pivotal role in this, teaching individuals from a young age about the diversity of human bodies and the importance of respecting others’ physical appearances.

In conclusion, body shaming is a harmful practice that needs to be addressed. It’s crucial to promote a culture of acceptance and respect, where individuals feel comfortable in their own skin. By fostering body positivity and challenging societal norms, we can strive towards a society free from the detrimental effects of body shaming.

500 Words Essay on Body Shaming

Introduction.

Body shaming, a pervasive form of discrimination, has become a global phenomenon that affects individuals of all ages, genders, and backgrounds. It involves criticizing oneself or others based on real or perceived physical attributes. This essay explores the concept of body shaming, its impact, and potential solutions.

The Concept of Body Shaming

Psychological impact of body shaming.

The psychological impact of body shaming can be severe, leading to low self-esteem, anxiety, depression, and in extreme cases, self-harm or suicide. A study published in the Journal of Adolescent Health found that adolescents who experienced body shaming were more likely to develop eating disorders and lower self-esteem. This psychological trauma often extends into adulthood, affecting an individual’s personal and professional life.

Societal Consequences

Body shaming not only affects individuals but also has wider societal implications. It reinforces harmful stereotypes and norms about beauty and body image, leading to a culture of discrimination and exclusion. It affects societal cohesion, as it fosters an environment of negativity and judgement, rather than acceptance and inclusivity.

Combatting body shaming requires a multi-pronged approach. Education is vital in promoting body positivity and acceptance. Schools, families, and communities need to foster environments where diversity in body shapes and sizes is celebrated. Media literacy education can also help individuals critically analyze media content and resist internalizing harmful beauty standards.

Moreover, policies need to be implemented to discourage body shaming. Social media platforms should have stricter regulations to prevent body shaming and promote respectful interactions. Legal measures could also be considered to penalize those who engage in overt body shaming.

That’s it! I hope the essay helped you.

Apart from these, you can look at all the essays by clicking here .

Happy studying!

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Weight Discrimination: A Socially Acceptable Injustice

By Rebecca Puhl, PhD

Summer 2008

Obesity is highly stigmatized in our society. Individuals with excess weight or obesity are vulnerable to negative bias, prejudice and discrimination in many different settings, including the workplace, educational institutions, healthcare facilities and even within interpersonal relationships.

Unfortunately, weight bias remains very socially acceptable in North American culture; it is rarely challenged, and often ignored. As a result, thousands of individuals with obesity are at risk for unfair treatment, and there are few outlets available to provide support or protection.

What is the difference between “stigma” and “discrimination?”

Weight stigma or bias generally refers to negative weight-related attitudes toward an individual with excess weight or obesity. These attitudes are often manifested by negative stereotypes (e.g., that persons with obesity are “lazy” or “lacking in willpower”), social rejection and prejudice. Weight stigma includes verbal teasing (e.g., name calling, derogatory remarks, being made fun of, etc.), physical aggression (e.g., hitting, kicking, pushing, shoving, etc.) and relational victimization (e.g., social exclusion, being ignored, avoided, or the target of rumors).

Many individuals with obesity report being treated with less respect or courtesy than thinner persons and being called names or insults because of their weight. Thus, weight stigma can emerge in subtle forms, or it can be expressed directly.

Discrimination is distinct from stigma and negative attitudes, and specifically refers to unequal, unfair treatment of people because of their weight. For example, a person with obesity who is qualified for a job but is not hired for the position because of his or her weight may have been the victim of weight discrimination.

Other examples include being denied a job promotion or fired from a job because of one’s weight; being denied certain medical procedures or provided inferior medical care because of one’s weight; or being denied a scholarship, a bank loan or prevented from renting or buying a home because of one’s weight.

In each of these cases, the behaviors directed toward an individual with obesity depict inequitable treatment with no justifiable cause, and legal recourse may be an appropriate response in these situations.

Obesity Discrimination on the Rise

Despite the increasing prevalence of obesity, it appears that incidences of weight discrimination are only becoming worse.

In our research, we examined trends of weight discrimination throughout a 10 year period from 1995-2005 and found that the prevalence increased by 66 percent during this decade, from 7-12 percent of the general population. This finding was not a result of increasing obesity rates, but rather specifically demonstrates that more people are experiencing weight discrimination.

How common is weight discrimination?

Given the social acceptability of negative attitudes toward individuals with obesity, it may not be surprising to learn that weight discrimination is common in the United States.

In a recent study, we examined the prevalence of multiple forms of discrimination in a nationally representative sample of 2,290 American adults and found that weight discrimination is common among Americans, with rates relatively close to the prevalence of race and age discrimination. Among women, weight discrimination was even more common than racial discrimination. Among all adults in the study, weight discrimination was more prevalent than discrimination due to ethnicity, sexual orientation and physical disability. Almost 60 percent of participants in our study who reported weight discrimination experienced at least one occurrence of employment-based discrimination, such as not being hired for a job.

On average, a person’s chances of being discriminated against because of weight become higher as their body weight increases. In our study, 10 percent of overweight women reported weight discrimination, 20 percent of women with obesity reported weight discrimination and 45 percent of women with obesity reported weight discrimination.

Rates for men were lower, with 3 percent of overweight, 6 percent of obesity and 28 percent of men with severe obesity reporting weight discrimination. This finding also tells us that women begin experiencing weight discrimination at lower levels of body weight than men.

What legal action can be taken for victims of weight discrimination?

Unfortunately, there are few legal options available for individuals who suffer weight discrimination. Currently, there are no federal laws that exist to prohibit discrimination based on weight.

With the exception of one state law (Michigan) and a few local jurisdictions that address discrimination on the basis of weight or appearance (e.g., San Francisco), the vast majority of people who experience weight discrimination in the U.S. must pursue legal recourse through other indirect avenues.

In particular, individuals with obesity have depended on the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (RA) and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA). Most cases filed under these categories pertain to weight-based discrimination in employment settings, and only a few cases have been successful. In addition, whether it is appropriate for obesity to be considered a “disability” under the ADA is questionable and could perpetuate bias further.

Overweight people who are not “severe obesity,” but who experience weight discrimination cannot file claims under the ADA because they are not considered disabled under this law. It places an unfair burden for individuals to prove that their obesity is debilitating and disabling in order to obtain fair and equitable treatment in the workplace.

These unresolved issues, in addition to public perceptions that place blame on people with obesity, have led to inconsistent court rulings and often deter individuals with obesity from taking any legal action.

Clearly, legislation is badly needed to protect individuals from weight discrimination. Massachusetts recently introduced legislation (House Bill 1844) to prohibit weight-based discrimination in employment settings. The hearing was held on March 25th 2008, with no opposition present at the hearing, and all expert testimonies were in favor of the bill. No decision has yet been made, but if this bill passes, it will be an important step in encouraging other states to follow suit.

Reducing weight bias requires major shifts in societal attitudes, and national actions are needed to establish meaningful legislation to ensure that persons with obesity receive the equitable treatment they deserve.

About the Author: Rebecca Puhl, PhD, is the Director of Research and Weight Stigma Initiatives at the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University. Dr. Puhl is responsible for coordinating research and policy efforts aimed at reducing weight bias.

References: Puhl R, Brownell KD. (2001). Bias, discrimination, and obesity. Obesity Research, 9:788-805. Puhl, R.M., Andreyeva, T., & Brownell, K.D (2008). Perceptions of weight discrimination: prevalence and comparison to race and gender discrimination in America. International Journal of Obesity. doi: 10.1038/ijo.2008.22 

Andreyeva, T., Puhl, R.M., & Brownell, K.D (2008). Changes in Perceived Weight Discrimination Among Americans, 1995-1996 through 2004-2006. Obesity. oi:10.1038/oby.2008.35

Brownell, K.D., Puhl, R., Schwartz, M.B., Rudd, L. (Eds.) (2005). Weight Bias: Nature, Consequences, and Remedies. New York: Guilford Publications.  For more resources on weight bias, including fact sheets, handouts, research articles, assessment tools and PowerPoint presentations, please visit www.yaleruddcenter.org .

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Racism and discrimination lead to faster aging through brain network changes, new study finds

Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Neuroscience, Emory University

Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard University

Disclosure statement

Negar Fani receives funding from the National Institutes of Health and Emory University School of Medicine.

Nathaniel Harnett is an Assistant Professor at McLean Hospital/Harvard Medical School. He receives funding from the National Institutes of Health, McLean Hospital, and Harvard Catalyst.

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Racism steals time from people’s lives – possibly because of the space it occupies in the mind. In a new study published in the journal JAMA Network Open, our team showed that the toll of racism on the brain was linked to advanced aging , observed on a cellular level.

Black women who were more frequently exposed to racism showed stronger connections in brain networks involved with rumination and vigilance. We found that this, in turn, was connected to accelerated biological aging.

We are neuroscientists who use a variety of approaches , including self-reported data and biological measurements like brain scans, to answer our questions about the effects of stressors on the brain and body . We also use this data to inform the development of interventions to help people cope with this stress.

Why it matters

Aging is a natural process. However, stress can speed up the biological clock , making people more vulnerable to aging-related diseases , from cardiovascular disease to diabetes and dementia.

Epidemiological studies consistently show that Black people experience these aging-related health problems at an earlier age than white people . New studies also show focal effects of aging on the brain, indicating disparities in brain aging between Black and white populations .

Race-related stressors, including racial discrimination , affect the rate at which people age on a biological level . These experiences activate the stress response system and have been linked to greater activity in brain regions that process incoming threats . However, until now, researchers in our field have not understood how brain changes linked to racism contribute to accelerated aging.

Racial discrimination is a ubiquitous stressor that often goes unnoticed. It might look like a doctor questioning a Black patient’s pain level and not prescribing pain medication, or a teacher calling a Black child a “thug.” It is a constant stressor faced by Black people starting at an early age.

Rumination – reliving and analyzing an event on a loop – and vigilance , meaning being watchful for future threats, are possible coping responses to these stressors. But rumination and vigilance take energy, and this increased energy expenditure has a biological cost.

In our study of Black women, we found that more frequent racial discrimination was linked to more connectivity between two key regions. One, called the locus coeruleus , is a deep brain region that activates the stress response, promoting arousal and vigilance. The other is the precuneus , a key node of a brain network that engages when we think about our experiences and internalize – or suppress – our emotions.

These brain changes, in turn, were linked to accelerated cellular aging measured by an epigenetic “clock.” Epigenetics refers to changes that happen to our DNA from the environment. Epigenetic clocks assess how the environment affects our aging at a molecular level.

Higher clock values indicate that someone’s biological age is greater than their chronological age. In other words, the space that racist experiences occupy in people’s minds has a cost, which can shorten the lifespan.

What still isn’t known

Although we saw links between racism, brain connectivity changes and accelerated aging, we did not measure coping responses like rumination and vigilance in real time, meaning as people were experiencing them.

We also do not know how other factors such as neighborhood disadvantage , gender and sexuality intersect to influence accelerated aging and related health disparities .

What’s next

Our next steps are to use real-time measurement of everyday racism along with physiological measurements and neuroimaging to take a deeper dive into these research questions.

We want to know how different types of racial discrimination and coping styles influence brain and body responses. Understanding these issues better can bring more attention to prevention, such as programs that target implicit bias in physicians and teachers. It can also inform interventions like neuromodulation , which involves the use of external or internal devices to stimulate or inhibit brain activity. Neuromodulation can be used as a therapy aid to reduce stress.

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TOPIC SENTENCE/ In his numerous writings, Marx critiques capitalism by identifying its flaws. ANALYSIS OF EVIDENCE/ By critiquing the political economy and capitalism, Marx implores his reader to think critically about their position in society and restores awareness in the proletariat class. EVIDENCE/ To Marx, capitalism is a system characterized by the “exploitation of the many by the few,” in which workers accept the exploitation of their labor and receive only harm of “alienation,” rather than true benefits ( MER 487). He writes that “labour produces for the rich wonderful things – but for the worker it produces privation. It produces palaces—but for the worker, hovels. It produces beauty—but for the worker, deformity” (MER 73). Marx argues capitalism is a system in which the laborer is repeatedly harmed and estranged from himself, his labor, and other people, while the owner of his labor – the capitalist – receives the benefits ( MER 74). And while industry progresses, the worker “sinks deeper and deeper below the conditions of existence of his own class” ( MER 483).  ANALYSIS OF EVIDENCE/ But while Marx critiques the political economy, he does not explicitly say “capitalism is wrong.” Rather, his close examination of the system makes its flaws obvious. Only once the working class realizes the flaws of the system, Marx believes, will they - must they - rise up against their bourgeois masters and achieve the necessary and inevitable communist revolution.

Not every paragraph will be structured exactly like this one, of course. But as you draft your own paragraphs, look for all three of these elements: topic sentence, evidence, and analysis.

• picture_as_pdf Anatomy Of a Body Paragraph

Essays About Discrimination: Top 5 Examples and 8 Prompts

You must know how to connect with your readers to write essays about discrimination effectively; read on for our top essay examples, including prompts that will help you write.

Discrimination comes in many forms and still happens to many individuals or groups today. It occurs when there’s a distinction or bias against someone because of their age, race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or disability.

Discrimination can happen to anyone wherever and whenever they are. Unfortunately, it’s a problem that society is yet to solve entirely. Here are five in-depth examples of this theme’s subcategories to guide you in creating your essays about discrimination.

1. Essay On Discrimination For Students In Easy Words by Prateek

2. personal discrimination experience by naomi nakatani, 3. prejudice and discrimination by william anderson, 4. socioeconomic class discrimination in luca by krystal ibarra, 5. the new way of discrimination by writer bill, 1. my discrimination experience, 2. what can i do to stop discrimination, 3. discrimination in my community, 4. the cost of discrimination, 5. examples of discrimination, 6. discrimination in sports: segregating men and women, 7. how to stop my discrimination against others, 8. what should groups do to fight discrimination.

“In the current education system, the condition of education and its promotion of equality is very important. The education system should be a good place for each and every student. It must be on the basis of equal opportunities for each student in every country. It must be free of discrimination.”

Prateek starts his essay by telling the story of a student having difficulty getting admitted to a college because of high fees. He then poses the question of how the student will be able to get an education when he can’t have the opportunity to do so in the first place. He goes on to discuss UNESCO’s objectives against discrimination. 

Further in the essay, the author defines discrimination and cites instances when it happens. Prateek also compares past and present discrimination, ending the piece by saying it should stop and everyone deserves to be treated fairly.

“I thought that there is no discrimination before I actually had discrimination… I think we must treat everyone equally even though people speak different languages or have different colors of skin.”

In her short essay, Nakatani shares the experiences that made her feel discriminated against when she visited the US. She includes a fellow guest saying she and her mother can’t use the shared pool in a hotel they stay in because they are Japanese and getting cheated of her money when she bought from a small shop because she can’t speak English very well.

“Whether intentional or not, prejudice and discrimination ensure the continuance of inequality in the United States. Even subconsciously, we are furthering inequality through our actions and reactions to others… Because these forces are universally present in our daily lives, the way we use them or reject them will determine how they affect us.”

Anderson explains the direct relationship between prejudice and discrimination. He also gives examples of these occurrences in the past (blacks and whites segregation) and modern times (sexism, racism, etc.)

He delves into society’s fault for playing the “blame game” and choosing to ignore each other’s perspectives, leading to stereotypes. He also talks about affirmative action committees that serve to protect minorities.

“Something important to point out is that there is prejudice when it comes to people of lower class or economic standing, there are stereotypes that label them as untrustworthy, lazy, and even dangerous. This thought is fed by the just-world phenomenon, that of low economic status are uneducated, lazy, and are more likely to be substance abusers, and thus get what they deserve.”

Ibarra recounts how she discovered Pixar’s Luca and shares what she thought of the animation, focusing on how the film encapsulates socioeconomic discrimination in its settings. She then discusses the characters and their relationships with the protagonist. Finally, Ibarra notes how the movie alluded to flawed characters, such as having a smaller boat, mismatched or recycled kitchen furniture, and no shoes. 

The other cast even taunts Luca, saying he smells and gets his clothes from a dead person. These are typical things marginalized communities experience in real life. At the end of her essay, Ibarra points out how society is dogmatic against the lower class, thinking they are abusers. In Luca, the wealthy antagonist is shown to be violent and lazy.

“Even though the problem of discrimination has calmed down, it still happens… From these past experiences, we can realize that solutions to tough problems come in tough ways.”

The author introduces people who called out discrimination, such as Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and Barbara Henry – the only teacher who decided to teach Ruby Bridges, despite her skin color. 

He then moves on to mention the variations of present-day discrimination. He uses Donald Trump and the border he wants to build to keep the Hispanics out as an example. Finally, Bill ends the essay by telling the readers those who discriminate against others are bullies who want to get a reaction out of their victims. 

Do you get intimidated when you need to write an essay? Don’t be! If writing an essay makes you nervous, do it step by step. To start, write a simple 5 paragraph essay .

Prompts on Essays About Discrimination

Below are writing prompts that can inspire you on what to focus on when writing your discrimination essay:

Have you had to go through an aggressor who disliked you because you’re you? Write an essay about this incident, how it happened, what you felt during the episode, and what you did afterward. You can also include how it affected the way you interact with people. For example, did you try to tone down a part of yourself or change how you speak to avoid conflict?

List ways on how you can participate in lessening incidents of discrimination. Your list can include calling out biases, reporting to proper authorities, or spreading awareness of what discrimination is.

Is there an ongoing prejudice you observe in your school, subdivision, etc.? If other people in your community go through this unjust treatment, you can interview them and incorporate their thoughts on the matter.

Tackle what victims of discrimination have to go through daily. You can also talk about how it affected their life in the long run, such as having low self-esteem that limited their potential and opportunities and being frightened of getting involved with other individuals who may be bigots.

For this prompt, you can choose a subtopic to zero in on, like Workplace Discrimination, Disability Discrimination, and others. Then, add sample situations to demonstrate the unfairness better.

What are your thoughts on the different game rules for men and women? Do you believe these rules are just? Cite news incidents to make your essay more credible. For example, you can mention the incident where the Norwegian women’s beach handball team got fined for wearing tops and shorts instead of bikinis.

Since we learn to discriminate because of the society we grew up in, it’s only normal to be biased unintentionally. When you catch yourself having these partialities, what do you do? How do you train yourself not to discriminate against others?

Focus on an area of discrimination and suggest methods to lessen its instances. To give you an idea, you can concentrate on Workplace Discrimination, starting from its hiring process. You can propose that applicants are chosen based on their skills, so the company can implement a hiring procedure where applicants should go through written tests first before personal interviews.

If you instead want to focus on topics that include people from all walks of life, talk about diversity. Here’s an excellent guide on how to write an essay about diversity .

Discrimination: What it is and how to cope

For many people, discrimination is an everyday reality. Discrimination is the unfair or prejudicial treatment of people and groups based on characteristics such as race, gender, age, or sexual orientation.

• Racism, Bias, and Discrimination

What is discrimination?

Discrimination is the unfair or prejudicial treatment of people and groups based on characteristics such as race, gender, age, or sexual orientation. That’s the simple answer. But explaining why it happens is more complicated.

The human brain naturally puts things in categories to make sense of the world. Very young children quickly learn the difference between boys and girls, for instance. But the values we place on different categories are learned—from our parents, our peers, and the observations we make about how the world works. Often, discrimination stems from fear and misunderstanding.

Stress and health

Discrimination is a public health issue. Research has found that the experience of discrimination—when perceived as such—can lead to a cascade of stress-related emotional, physical, and behavioral changes . Stress evokes negative emotional responses, such as distress, sadness, and anger, and can often lead to an increase in behaviors that harm health, such as alcohol, tobacco, and other substance use, and a decrease in healthy activities, such as sleep and physical activity.

Discrimination can be damaging even if you haven’t been the target of overt acts of bias. Regardless of your personal experiences, it can be stressful just being a member of a group that is often discriminated against, such as racial minorities or individuals who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender.

The anticipation of discrimination creates its own chronic stress. People might even avoid situations where they expect they could be treated poorly, possibly missing out on educational and job opportunities.

Discrimination, big and small

Laws are in place to protect people from discrimination in housing and employment.

• The Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of dwellings on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status, and disability.
• The Civil Rights Act, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, and the Americans with Disabilities Act prohibit discrimination in employment on the basis of race, color, sex, ethnic origin, age, and disabilities.

Unfortunately, discrimination still occurs.

Yet experts say that smaller, less obvious examples of day-to-day discrimination—receiving poorer service at stores or restaurants, being treated with less courtesy and respect, or being treated as less intelligent or less trustworthy—may be more common than major discrimination. Such day-to-day discrimination frequently comes in the form of “microaggressions” such as snubs, slights, and misguided comments that suggest a person doesn’t belong or invalidates his or her experiences.

Though microaggressions are often subtle, they can be just as harmful to health and well-being as more overt episodes of major bias. People on the receiving end of day-to-day discrimination often feel they’re in a state of constant vigilance, on the lookout for being a target of discrimination. That heightened watchfulness is a recipe for chronic stress.

Dealing with discrimination

Finding healthy ways to deal with discrimination is important, for your physical health and your mental well-being.

Focus on your strengths. Focusing on your core values, beliefs, and perceived strengths can motivate people to succeed, and may even buffer the negative effects of bias. Overcoming hardship can also make people more resilient and better able to face future challenges.

Seek support systems. One problem with discrimination is that people can internalize others’ negative beliefs, even when they’re false. You may start to believe you’re not good enough. But family and friends can remind you of your worth and help you reframe those faulty beliefs.

Family and friends can also help counteract the toll that microaggressions and other examples of daily discrimination can take. In a world that regularly invalidates your experiences and feelings, members of your support network can reassure you that you’re not imagining those experiences of discrimination. Still, it’s sometimes painful to talk about discrimination. It can be helpful to ask friends and family how they handle such events.

Your family and friends can also be helpful if you feel you’ve been the victim of discrimination in areas such as housing, employment, or education. Often, people don’t report such experiences to agencies or supervisors. One reason for that lack of reporting is that people often doubt themselves: Was I actually discriminated against, or am I being oversensitive? Will I be judged negatively if I push the issue? Your support network can provide a reality check and a sounding board to help you decide if your claims are valid and worth pursuing.

Get involved. Support doesn’t have to come from people in your family or circle of friends. You can get involved with like-minded groups and organizations, whether locally or online. It can help to know there are other people who have had similar experiences to yours. And connecting with those people might help you figure out how to address situations and respond to experiences of discrimination in ways you haven’t thought of.

Help yourself think clearly. Being the target of discrimination can stir up a lot of strong emotions including anger, sadness, and embarrassment. Such experiences often trigger a physiological response, too; they can increase your blood pressure, heart rate, and body temperature.

Try to check in with your body before reacting. Slow your breathing or use other relaxation exercises to calm your body’s stress response. Then you’ll be able to think more clearly about how you want to respond.

Don’t dwell. When you’ve experienced discrimination, it can be really hard to just shake it off. People often get stuck on episodes of discrimination, in part because they’re not sure how to handle those experiences. You might want to speak out or complain, but you’re not sure how to go about it, or are afraid of the backlash. So instead, you end up ruminating, or thinking over and over about what you should have done.

In a calmer moment, it might be helpful to talk over the ways you can cope with similar experiences in the future. Try to come up with a plan for how you might respond or what you could do differently next time. Once you’ve determined how to respond, try to leave the incident behind you as you go on with your day.

Seek professional help. Discrimination is difficult to deal with, and is often associated with symptoms of depression. Psychologists are experts in helping people manage symptoms of stress and depression, and can help you find healthy ways to cope. You can find a psychologist in your area by using APA’s Psychologist Locator Service.

Discrimination resources

If you have questions about policies or concerns about discrimination in your workplace, the human resource department is often a good place to start. To learn more about discrimination in housing and employment, or to file a complaint, visit:

• Equal Opportunity Employment Commission
• U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

Recommended Reading

Related reading.

• Psychology topics: Racism, bias, and discrimination
• Stress in America
• Talking to your kids about discrimination

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Home — Essay Samples — Sociology — Media Influence — Prejudice and Discrimination

Prejudice and Discrimination

• Categories: Discrimination Media Influence

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Published: Feb 12, 2024

Words: 885 | Pages: 2 | 5 min read

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Introduction, changing social norms, intergroup contact, consciousness-raising and self-regulation, cooperative learning, entertainment, news, and print media.

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How racism, discrimination can lead to faster aging

Racism steals time from people's lives -- possibly because of the space it occupies in the mind. In a new study published in the journal JAMA Network Open, our team showed that the toll of racism on the brain was linked to advanced aging , observed on a cellular level.

Black women who were more frequently exposed to racism showed stronger connections in brain networks involved with rumination and vigilance. We found that this, in turn, was connected to accelerated biological aging. Advertisement

We are neuroscientists who use a variety of approaches , including self-reported data and biological measurements like brain scans, to answer our questions about the effects of stressors on the brain and body . We also use this data to inform the development of interventions to help people cope with this stress.

Why it matters

Aging is a natural process. However, stress can speed up the biological clock , making people more vulnerable to aging-related diseases , from cardiovascular disease to diabetes and dementia. Advertisement

Epidemiological studies consistently show that Black people experience these aging-related health problems at an earlier age than White people . New studies also show focal effects of aging on the brain, indicating disparities in brain aging between Black and White populations .

Race-related stressors, including racial discrimination , affect the rate at which people age on a biological level . These experiences activate the stress response system and have been linked to greater activity in brain regions that process incoming threats . However, until now, researchers in our field have not understood how brain changes linked to racism contribute to accelerated aging.

Racial discrimination is a ubiquitous stressor that often goes unnoticed. It might look like a doctor questioning a Black patient's pain level and not prescribing pain medication, or a teacher calling a Black child a "thug." It is a constant stressor faced by Black people starting at an early age.

Rumination -- reliving and analyzing an event on a loop -- and vigilance , meaning being watchful for future threats, are possible coping responses to these stressors. But rumination and vigilance take energy, and this increased energy expenditure has a biological cost.

These brain changes, in turn, were linked to accelerated cellular aging measured by an epigenetic "clock." Epigenetics refers to changes that happen to our DNA from the environment. Epigenetic clocks assess how the environment affects our aging at a molecular level.

Higher clock values indicate that someone's biological age is greater than their chronological age. In other words, the space that racist experiences occupy in people's minds has a cost, which can shorten the lifespan.

What still isn't known

Although we saw links between racism, brain connectivity changes and accelerated aging, we did not measure coping responses like rumination and vigilance in real time, meaning as people were experiencing them.

We also do not know how other factors such as neighborhood disadvantage , gender and sexuality intersect to influence accelerated aging and related health disparities .

What's next

Our next steps are to use real-time measurement of everyday racism along with physiological measurements and neuroimaging to take a deeper dive into these research questions.

The Research Brief is a short take on interesting academic work.

Negar Fani is an associate professor of psychiatry and neuroscience at Emory University . Nathaniel Harnett is an assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard University . This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article . The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.

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• Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/are-the-2024-paris-olympics-gender-equal-that-depends-how-you-measure-it

Are the 2024 Paris Olympics gender equal? That depends how you measure it

The last time the French capital played host to the Olympic Games, 135 women competed out of the more than 3,000 athletes – a participation rate of about 4.4 percent.

WATCH: U.S. athletes to watch in the Paris Olympics

A century later, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has dubbed the 2024 Paris Games the #GenderEqualOlympics, with half of the athlete spots available to men and half to women, the organization says.

The reality is more complex. Experts say that while the IOC has made substantial progress in leveling the playing field for women in its decadeslong push for gender parity, there is still a lot of work to do, for women, transgender and nonbinary athletes.

This year’s Games are the first to impose a cap on the number of participating athletes, which had steadily grown to more than 11,000 at Tokyo 2020. The IOC has since limited the Games to 10,500 athlete spots, half of which were designated for men and half for women. This year’s game schedule also works to balance the number of women’s and men’s events held daily.

Team USA Olympic champions in the women’s 4x100m relay at the 1924 Paris Games, at Tourelles Watersports Stadium, Paris, France, July 18, 1924. Photo by Archives CNOSF/AFP via Getty Images

Although there’s a good chance the number of athletes in Paris will be nearly equally divided between men and women, that’s not the same as the Games being gender equal, said Michele Donnelly, associate professor of sport management at Brock University.

“There is this kind of investment by the IOC and a narrative around gender equality, gender parity, and a lot of that I think is well-meaning and well-intentioned,” said Cheryl Cooky, a professor who studies the intersection of gender, sport and culture at Purdue University.

But, Cooky added, when you dig a bit deeper through the history of the Olympics, the lack of equality has been expressed in a number of ways.

A rocky start for women in sport

The first modern Games were played in 1896 in Athens, and its founder, Pierre de Coubertin , did not want women athletes.

De Coubertin said the Olympics with women “would be impractical, uninteresting, unaesthetic and improper.” According to the IOC, he opposed women’s participation until his death in 1937.

In the 1900 Games , also played in Paris, women were allowed to compete in five events: tennis, sailing, croquet, equestrian and golf. Those sports were considered “ladylike” at the time, wrote Olympic scholar Rita Amaral Nunes , in contrast to sports that were believed to require more athletic ability and deemed socially unacceptable for women to practice.

Women’s Olympic participation remained below 20 percent of the total number of competitors until 1976, and then rose steadily to nearly 48 percent in Tokyo in 2021, according to IOC data.

WATCH: Why women’s sports are reaching new heights in popularity and revenue

The road toward equal female participation has not been smooth, Donnelly noted. Women were first allowed to run the 800-meter race at the 1928 Olympics, held in Amsterdam. As the women finished the race, in which all nine competitors broke the previous world record, one athlete fell to the ground, according to an article published in Sports History Review .

German runner Lina Radke wins the women’s 800-meter race in the 1928 Summer Olympics, Amsterdam, Netherlands, 1928. Photo by Underwood Archives/Getty Images

The English-speaking press inaccurately reported that the race was catastrophic, with various outlets saying only two women remained standing, that “six out of the nine runners were completely exhausted and fell headlong to the ground,” and that some runners lay “sobbing.” Though the stories were false, the narrative stuck, and the women’s 800-meter race was eliminated from the Olympics until 1960.

A push toward gender equity

The IOC has publicly worked for the last three decades to improve gender equity in sports, as well as in executive leadership within its own committee. In 1996, the IOC updated the Olympic Charter to promote “women in sport at all levels and in all structures, particularly in the executive bodies of national and international sports organizations. ” That year, the IOC also held its first World Conference on Women in Sport, with the goal of placing women in at least 10 percent of decision-making positions by 2000, and 20 percent by 2005.

In Agenda 2020 , a 2014 roadmap for the future of the Olympics, one of the 40 recommendations was to “foster gender equality” by achieving 50 percent female participation and encouraging mixed-gender team events, in which both men and women compete on a single team.

Mixed-gender events promote equality in theory, Donnelly said, but in practice, they often favor men. For example, in the 2022 Winter Olympic Games, the luge event featured one-man teams, one-woman teams and doubles teams. But all of the doubles teams were two men, USA Today reported .

In addition to mixed-gender events, there are also open events in which athletes compete against each other regardless of gender. In Paris, the only open events will be equestrian sports : dressage, jumping and eventing.

Sailing, shooting and doubles luge used to be open events, though historically they had very little female involvement, Donnelly said.

“This is what we’ve seen in sport in general. Unless there has been a push to say, ‘you must,’ there has not been a lot of sport-initiated change to be more inclusive,” she said.

Chinese shooter Zhang Shan aims at a target to win gold in the mixed skeet shoot event at the Olympics, Barcelona, July 28, 1992. Zhang set a new Olympic record with 223 points and was the first woman to beat men in this mixing category. Photo by Karl Mathis/AFP via Getty Images

Skeet shooting was an open sport in Barcelona in 1992, when Zhang Shan, a Chinese woman, won the gold medal. Subsequently, skeet shooting became segregated by gender.

“There’s nothing in the record that says, ‘And then once a woman won, we decided to have gendered categories,’ but the timing is notable,” Donnelly said.

The IOC began studying ways to improve gender equality in 2017, both within the Olympics and worldwide. A year later, they released 25 recommendations and accompanying actions to achieve those goals. Those recommendations included funding projects focused on gender balance and identifying and alleviating disparities in athlete pay and prize money. That same year, the IOC said the Youth Olympic Games had an equal number of male and female athletes.

The Paralympics still have a ways to go, however. Only 42 percent of the athletes at the Tokyo games were women, according to a report from the Women’s Sports Foundation . And the 2024 Paris Paralympic Games’ overview notes again that only 42 percent of the athlete spots will go to women, with another 8 percent of the slots marked as “gender-free.”

READ MORE: At the Olympics, where are the Black figure skaters?

The IOC declined a request for comment from PBS News. Instead, a spokesperson highlighted the progress the IOC has made, including increasing the number of women in key broadcasting roles , working to ensure men and women’s events are scheduled for fair media coverage , and striving for greater female representation among IOC commissions and in the IOC executive board. The IOC also said they’re working to increase the number of female coaches and women in non-competitive and leadership roles.

The IOC has made progress in improving the state of women’s sports, both Donnelly and Cooky said.

“People can be doing really good work in certain spaces and also maybe needing to do better at others,” Cooky said.

Exclusionary policies persist

In striving for gender parity at the Olympics, the IOC has also reinforced a gender binary that categorizes athletes as male or female, experts say. That overlooks intersex, transgender and nonbinary athletes, whose participation in sport is often contested or flat out banned.

Quinn, a nonbinary soccer player for Canada’s team, and Nikki Hiltz, a nonbinary American middle-distance runner, will both compete in the Paris Games in women’s events.

READ MORE: Will the Olympics ever truly welcome nonbinary athletes?

Trans men largely can compete in men’s sports without any additional regulation, according to Donnelly.

“It is only trans women who have been policed with these kinds of eligibility requirements, with sex testing requirements,” Donnelly said. And by necessity, those testing requirements are not limited just to transgender individuals, but all athletes competing in those events.

In 2004, the IOC recommended conditions under which transgender athletes could compete, including undergoing hormone therapy, completing “surgical anatomical changes” and obtaining “legal recognition of their assigned sex.” The committee then released new guidelines in 2015, dropping the requirement for surgery while establishing a cap on testosterone levels for female athletes. They updated the guidelines again in 2021 to remove the limit and instead recommended an “evidence-based” and “stakeholder-centered” approach to establishing eligibility criteria.

Donnelly criticized the IOC for allowing sports federations to make their own rules, saying the organization “abdicated responsibility” and allowed “very exclusionary policies.”

READ MORE: New NAIA policy prevents transgender women from competing in women’s college sports

Some governing bodies have enacted strict policies in the past few years, such as the International Rugby League, which in 2022 banned trans women from women’s teams, as well as the International Swimming Federation, which banned female swimmers who transition after age 12 .

Even athletes assigned female at birth can face discrimination if they don’t meet genetic or hormonal standards set by governing organizations.

Algerian boxer Imane Khelif received harsh online blowback after her Italian opponent, Angela Carini, tapped out of their bout at the Paris Games less than a minute in. Carini has said she left because she was in pain and couldn’t continue to fight, but a public narrative took hold that Khelif was unfairly competing after being previously disqualified by the sport’s governing organization, the International Boxing Association.

READ MORE: Who is Olympian Imane Khelif? An Algerian woman boxer is facing gender backlash

But the reality is much more complicated. The IOC has repeatedly and forcefully stood behind Khelif’s participation, as well as that of another athlete banned from women’s competitions by the IBA,Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-Ting. The IBA disqualified both boxers in 2023 , citing the results of unspecified eligibility tests “whereby the specifics remain confidential,” but the IOC called the decision “sudden and arbitrary” and “without any due process.”

The IOC controls which athletes can compete in boxing events, since it no longer recognizes the Russian-headquartered IBA as the sport’s governing body. Donnelly noted that the IBA is a “completely discredited governing body” and Khelif and Yin met the same eligibility requirements in Paris as they did for the Tokyo Games.

“The uproar seems to be another case of using women’s sport to promote a transphobic, trans exclusionary agenda,” said Donnelly.

Because sex testing can be done at the discretion of governing organizations, it can often be inconsistently applied. Women of color who may not display Eurocentric standards of female beauty may be more likely to be targeted for sex testing, both Donnelly and Cooky said.

“These are athletes who are competing at the highest level of their sport. They’ve trained all their lives for this. These are women who identify as women, who have probably been raised or socialized as women, have moved through the world with a particular kind of gender identity that’s now being called into question, and being called into question in a very public way, and a very contentious and inflammatory way,” Cooky added.

‘Numbers matter, until they don’t’

The percentage of women athletes or events isn’t the only way to measure the progress of gender equality in sports, researchers say. There are other markers of gender imbalances, such as the uniforms athletes wear, the funding devoted to each event and the quality of media coverage.

“Numbers matter, until they don’t,” Cooky said. “Numbers can give us a certain understanding, a certain picture or a certain viewpoint. But I think for me, what’s always been just as meaningful, if not more, is the kind of qualitative dimensions of it.”

Coverage of women’s events can often sexualize or trivialize athletes, Cooky argued, a tendency potentially driven by uniforms that can be more revealing for women. For example, female competitors in trampoline events are required to wear a leotard while their male counterparts are not, Donnelly said.

Nike’s reveal of two of the uniform options for American competitors in the Paris Games caused controversy, with critics, including some former athletes, calling out the lack of coverage in the women’s track and field kit compared to the men’s.

“I do feel that it is possible that a more sexualized representation of women get a higher amount of visibility, and I am not a fan of that,” said Katrina Young, an Olympic diver who competed for Team USA in Rio and Tokyo. “I would like to be considered for my hard work and my merit, over what I look like. And I know other female athletes would like that as well.”

The IOC recognizes that gender equality is not limited to athlete breakdown, and much of their public-facing material highlights their efforts to increase the number of women in decision-making positions and leadership roles. On International Women’s Day, the IOC acknowledged that progress has been limited, with women comprising only 13 percent of coaches in Tokyo and 10 percent in Beijing.

“In sports in general, I feel like the male voice is more dominant and respected,” Young said. “It’s an ongoing battle because, as women, we’re told to smile over the pain and we’re supposed to be the peacekeepers. And at some point that becomes toxic.”

“The percentage of women in governing and administrative bodies of the Olympic Movement has remained low,” the IOC acknowledged in a fact sheet published in April . At the end of 2016, their executive board had encouraged National Olympic Committees to set a minimum target of 30 percent for women’s representation by 2020, though it’s not clear how successful that’s been.

Young said she “was really scared to stir the pot ever, when it came to speaking up” about her own potential when she was coming of age, but it was something she chose to work on. Now, she hopes more girls and women are given the opportunity to develop their voice and gain the clarity “to speak to what is true and right for them.”

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3084th Meeting, 113th Session, Committee on the…

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3084th Meeting, 113th Session, Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD)

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برای دریافت تفسیر فارسی، لطفاً کانال صوتی روسی را انتخاب کنید

The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) is the body of independent experts that monitors implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination by its States parties.

Racial discrimination remains a barrier to the full realization of human rights. Despite progress in some areas, exclusions and restrictions based on race, colour, descent, national or ethnic origin continue to cause conflict, suffering and loss of life. CERD works to take action against the injustice of racial discrimination, and the dangers it represents.

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Discrimination Essay | Essay on Discrimination for Students and Children in English

February 13, 2024 by Prasanna

Discrimination Essay:  According to the Oxford dictionary, discrimination is the practice of treating an individual or a particular group in society unfairly than others based on age, race, sex, religion, finance, etc.

Throughout history, we have seen discrimination tainting every society and nation. This essay examines and analyses the causes and effects of discrimination in various forms on an individual, society, or nation.

You can also find more  Essay Writing  articles on events, persons, sports, technology and many more.

Long and Short Essays on Discrimination for Students and Kids in English

We provide children and students with essay samples on a long essay of 500 words and a short essay of 150 words on the topic “Discrimination” for reference.

Long Essay on Discrimination 500 Words in English

Long Essay on Discrimination is usually given to classes 7, 8, 9, and 10.

Our world has always been parted into two groups: victims of discrimination and those who discriminate against the former. The definition of discrimination denies opportunity or equal rights to a specific group of people that may be differentiated based on their religion, skin colour, or gender.

However, discrimination could be confused with prejudice and stereotype. Stereotypes are mental images we have on a particular group of people because of their religion, culture, or gender. Prejudice stems from stereotypes. It’s the act of judging by popular stereotypes.

Discrimination Is a mix of both with the addition of oppression and unfair treatment towards the deemed ‘inferior’ group or individual. Keep in mind that prejudice is a result of attitude, and discrimination results from an action.

Human history is saturated with acts of discrimination. It takes different forms, and modern society is not an exception. It is at the stake of cultural history and has influenced many social, cultural, and economic occurrences that we see today.

One of the most common forms being discrimination based on the financial background of an individual. The world is divided. The oppressive rich and powerful one’s greed to earn more and frowns upon the one who doesn’t have it all while the poor struggles to survive.

When we come across racial discrimination or racism, globally, we see acts of violence and unfair treatment done against people of colour, usually against people who aren’t Caucasian or commonly termed ‘white’ in appearance.

You can now access more Essay Writing on this topic and many more.

This form of oppression started when European countries started colonizing lands outside Europe in the 1600s and claiming them to be superior. Sadly, racism is still prevalent in the modern world, where a person’s ethnicity derives them from equal rights and opportunities.

In the history of humanity, we have come across several gruesome acts of discrimination. One of them being the mass genocide of Jews living in Europe, led by the Nazis and their leader Hitler, during the 2nd world war. We still see acts of systemic racism in countries all across the group.

Sexism has also been a significant issue over the centuries. Women face discrimination and double standards in their homes and their workplaces. Here we see women being oppressed, abused, and mistreated by men. Sexism resides in every society worldwide, blocking women from attaining every other right that a man gets to enjoy.

We also see people getting discriminated against for their sexual orientation. Homophobia and transphobia are what every queer has to go through living in today’s society. They get judged, oppressed, threatened, and even illegalized just for being who they are.

Another form of discrimination that’s primarily affecting the world today is discrimination based on religion. Today’s world is so divided that one wrong act from a community will form a lousy rep around the group.

A country like India, which is constitutionally secular, is now fragmented because of fights struck against religious minorities. In America, after the 9/11 massacre struck, people developed this strange stereotype and hatred towards people who follow Islam, also known as Islamophobia.

To sum it up, discrimination forms a menace to society and the person who has to face such an adverse treatment as it is a straight denial of the equal worth of the victim. It is a violation of an individual’s identity.

Short Essay on Discrimination 150 Words in English

Short Essay on Discrimination is usually given to classes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6.

Discrimination is as common and abundant as corruption in politics and pollution in the air. Every type of discrimination implicates the superiority of a specific group of people over another group of people.

In today’s world, we see several forms of discrimination: gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion, age, education, finance, workplace hierarchy, disabilities, etc. All of these arises from prolonged superiority complex, ignorance, and indifference to people’s identity.

The world we live in now faces significant issues like racism, sexism, homophobia, and Islamophobia. All these issues pile up to build a society filled with injustice, inequality, and in general toxic.

We study all the gruesome and bloody acts and events that have stained humankind all because of discrimination in history. Nowadays, these acts of discrimination are getting recognized and being called out, but it’s far from getting eradicated.

The government should form laws to avoid it; parents and schools should educate children on equality. The fight against discrimination is a long and hard one, but we have to continue fighting this social evil.

10 Lines on Discrimination Essay in English

1. Discrimination is an act when a person is treated unequally and differently. 2. Stereotype and prejudice are not discrimination. They are a part of the discrimination spectrum. 3. Particular forms of discrimination are also punishable by law. 4. Discrimination is of many types—racism, sexism, homophobia, etc. 5. Two anti-discrimination movements around the world are- ‘Me Too’ movement (a feminist movement / a protest against sexism) and the ‘Black Lives Matter’ Movement (protest against racism and systemic racism. 6. On 1st March every year, the Zero Discrimination Day is celebrated. 7. On 1st March 2014, The United Nations, along with UNAIDS, celebrated this day for the first time. 8. This day generally focuses on no discrimination despite having different gender, sex, ethnicity, and physical disability. 9. Any form of discrimination violates human rights. 10. Acts of discrimination are deeply rooted in our society, and we have to get rid of it.

FAQ’s on Discrimination Essay

Question 1. What is Discrimination?

Answer: Discrimination is an act of making unjustified distinctions between people based on the groups, classes, or other categories to which they belong.

Question 2.  What are the four main types of discrimination?

Answer: There are four main types of discrimination– direct discrimination and indirect discrimination, harassment, and victimization.

Question 3.  What is the cause of discrimination?

Answer: All forms of discrimination are prejudice based on identity concepts and the need to identify with a certain group. This can lead to division, hatred, and even the dehumanization of other people because they have different identities.

Question 4.  What kind of discrimination is illegal?

Answer: Employers can’t discriminate based on race, colour, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age (40 and older), disability, or national origin.

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Discrimination Essay In A Nutshell

Table of Contents

The history of mankind is sodden with discrimination. It takes different forms and shapes, and modern society is not an exception. It is at stake of cultural history and has influenced many social, cultural, and economic occurrences that we see today.

Thus, any student will face a writing assignment dedicated to this subject matter sooner or later.

It is not that difficult when you know the principles of proper academic writing. Yet, when you have no time or decided to write it without an outline, you may end up in a deadlock.

Here we cover the basics of the writing of the essay on discrimination. Weaponize yourself with the tips from pro writers!

What is a discrimination essay?

There are several types of discrimination based on:

• Sexual orientation
• Disability, etc.

Each and every type of discrimination implicates the superiority of a certain group of people over another group of people. One of the main problems here is that many people mess up the notion of discrimination with the notion of prejudice and stereotypes. It is necessary to understand that, as a rule, stereotype and prejudice cause discrimination, but, these notions are not exactly the same.

This theme is controversial, multifaceted, and can be approached from different points of view. Thus, the list of disciplines that can cover issues connected to discrimination includes Psychology, Social Sciences, Political Science, Anthropology, Religion Studies, History, etc.

Racial discrimination essay essentials

The issue of racism is a hot button for American society. Naturally, this issue is widely depicted in the literary works, works of art, movies, etc., so you will definitely find enough research material. The problem here is of another kind. It is essential to make up your mind on the topic.

We have gathered some interesting ideas that you can use for your papers.

Essay on racism and discrimination

First and foremost, it is necessary to set these two notions apart: racism and racial discrimination are not the same. In fact, you will write a cause-and-effect essay where racism will be a cause, and racial discrimination will be the effect. Or, vice versa, you can approach this topic another way. Indicate that discrimination is a much broader notion than racism.

Consequently, racism is one of the manifestations of discrimination. Both approaches are correct, so the choice is yours. Select the one that seems more interesting to you and start working!

Racial discrimination in the workplace essay

A workplace is a place where all types of discrimination appear from time to time, so it provides a fertile field for the research. For example, you can dedicate the essay on racial discrimination to the issue of prejudice in this sphere.

Thus, as a rule, employers tend to hire white people to do intellectual labor and black people to do physical work. A heavy accent or poor knowledge of English can also become a stumbling block on the way to a good job.

The best sources to search for information are the laws and social programs aimed to protect workers from unfair treatment.

So you can make an insight into the current situation with labor legislation, what steps are taken to eliminate the racial discrimination at work and evaluate their efficiency. Another idea for the essay dedicated to the work issues is your solutions to them with solid argumentation.

Anti-racism paper

As the issue of racism is old as the hills, the search for the sound solution also takes different shapes and forms. There are many policies, movements, activists, and even scientific investigations aimed to prove that all people have similar physiology and development despite the race.

Here you can discuss the activities of the anti-apartheid movements (and, obviously, explain what apartheid is), or to discuss the influence of a particular anti-racist activist on the certain movement or event.

Racial discrimination in media

If you are an attentive TV viewer, this topic won’t need any further explanation. All you need is a thorough analysis of a cast of characters of any TV show or movie.

Thanks to racial prejudice, African Americans are typically criminals or hip hop musicians (often both), and Asian Americans are nerds with no communicational skills. All main roles are played by white people almost without exception.

Even Disney cartoons are not an exception!

If to compare Aladdin and Jafar, for example, it becomes clear that positive hero has whiter and more regular features, and the main villain has a more exotic appearance, though both characters are supposed to be of Arabic appearance.

Another idea for a thematic prejudice and discrimination essay is the negative effects of racial discrimination in media. Or, if you want a challenging task, try to search for some positive effects of racism in media.

Racial discrimination in literary works

The first one that comes to mind is, obviously, Othello. It is a brilliant example of the consequences of intolerance and the belief that one race is superior to others.

Another great discussion point is the aptitude of “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” in the school program. The text of this novel is filled with offensive, racist words and may seem abusive, so can the cultural values overweight the offense?

Or you may discuss the issues connected with Uncle Tom’s Cabin. On the one hand, this novel had a great influence on the start of the American Civil War. On the other, the novel is filled with racial stereotypes.

Gender discrimination essay ideas

Unequal treatment of men and women is evidenced in the Bible, let alone less famous sources. The situation started to change only in the 20th century with the development of the women’s rights movement. Still, in many countries, women’s rights are often neglected or abused.

The main types of gender discrimination are:

• Remuneration

Educational gender discrimination

Perhaps, it is the most popular topic for a college discrimination essay. Here you can talk about the preference to male students in the scholarship programs or admissions.

Do not forget to find enough statistics!

Gender discrimination in the workplace

There are at least three main issues that any woman can face with the attempt to find a job. First and foremost, when there are two candidates for a position, a man and a woman, an employer is more likely to choose a man. The next issue is sexual harassment.

According to the statistics, almost half of employed American women faced sexual , verbal, or physical harassment at work. Also, the very possibility to become pregnant and then take a maternity leave drives away employers.

Remuneration issues

It is a well-known fact that women get 25% less money than men for an equal amount of work. You can offer a solution to this issue or pay more attention to the statistics.

Essay on discrimination outline

As any other academic paper, this essay calls for proper planning and clear and logical structure. You will have to divide the paper into three parts: the intro, body, and conclusion.

As a result, the sample outline for gender discrimination in the workplace essay will look like this:

• Definition of discrimination
• Gender discrimination as a part of the discrimination
• Historical review + examples
• Labor legislation and its inefficiency + examples
• Current situation + possible solutions
• Restatement of the main idea
• Call to action

Starting discrimination essay introduction

The best way to start the intro, in this case, is to find some impressive statistics that highlight the scale of the issue. For example, 77% of women and 34% of men faced verbal sexual harassment at work according to the online survey by Stop Street Harassment.

Then you have to provide the background for your work. And the intro should be finished by the thesis statement on discrimination, aka the main idea of the text.

For example, inefficient labor legislation fails to protect women’s rights in the workplace.

Writing the body of the essay

The first paragraph s dedicated to the historical aspect of the problem. Thus, you show that the issue is not new, yet, still has no proper solution.

The second paragraph contains all your research about the legislation that should protect women’s equal rights with men and shows the void of laws. You will have to support this thought with real-life examples taken from trustworthy sources.

The last body paragraph provides your point of view on the solution to the problem.

Writing the discrimination essay conclusion

Usually, this section summarizes all the main ideas expressed in the paper. Then you restate the thesis statement and make a call-to-action aimed to leave an aftertaste after reading it.

The list of the most interesting discrimination essay topics

• LGBT discrimination essay: homophobia.
• Are there any racist ideas in Charles Darwin’s works?
• The differences in racism against men and women.
• Will racism ever disappear?
• Can religion cause racism?
• The problem of reverse discrimination.
• Is feminism relevant today?
• The concept of cultural racism.
• The problem of racism in the “Shape of Water” by Guillermo Del Toro.
• The issue of racism in “Green Mile” by Steven King.

Check out well-written discrimination essay examples

The theory is always helpful, but it’s always better to see the visual example. You can search for top-notch essay samples at a reliable custom writing service and use them as a source of inspiration.

On balance…

The issue of discrimination is one of the front burner issues for any society. The range of topics is huge, so as the problem itself, so you have plenty of variants to choose from. Search for relevant info, pay attention to planning and formatting and create a writing masterpiece!

And if you cannot complete this task on your own, feel free to ask professionals for help! Sometimes it is the wisest solution that helps to save tons of time and energy.

No inspiration to write the essay? Well, our professional writers are always inspired to offer you a helping hand! Click the button to learn more.

Hidden Truth About Ghostwriting (Might Be Shocking)

Reasons to Select Your College Major As Soon As Possible

What is a research paper.

A Personal Experience of Discrimination Essay

• To find inspiration for your paper and overcome writer’s block
• As a source of information (ensure proper referencing)
• As a template for you assignment

Introduction

My personal experience.

We live in an integrated society where various elements color our view and understanding of what goes on around us. One of the defining characteristics about me is my optimistic outlook towards life. Always looking at the bright side of people and situations has been my mantra and despite how bad things get, I do not let any situation tear me down. I am always open to the possibilities that people have the inborn ability to love, care and understand each other with very little inhibitions. This is a virtue that is especially useful to me in a world constantly battered by the winds of uncertainty.

Due to this positive perception on life and humanity, I have never really thought about the existing problems of racism and its associated vices such as discrimination or stereotyping. This is mainly because I have never really encountered them on a personal level even though people around me always shared their experiences as to how they witnessed them at some point in their lives. I think that my long term belief that people exercised equality was biased and as a result, blinded me from seeing the truth. Evidently, people in their varied capacities have the potential to be unjust, cruel and discriminatory depending on their culture and environment that they dwell in. Incidentally, reality finally dawned on me as I experienced the most horrific event in my life.

I am a well travelled youth who believes in living life to the fullest and making the most out of it. Two years ago, I embarked on a trip to France in a bid to further fulfill my life principle. It was then that I experience ostracism and discrimination in the hands of the joyous Parisians. My friends had always praised the shopping district in Paris and I finally had a chance to witness the marvels. I always had a fetish for designer handbags and France was home to one of the famous designers dealing with these bags. I wanted to experience entering the Louis Vioutton boutique on Champ Ellyses and purchase my first LV designer handbag. I could have easily purchased one in the states but the thrill of knowing that I would be the owner of a designer handbag purchased directly from the source in Paris was overwhelming.

I was totally exited as I approached the store. I imagined the looks on my friends’ faces as I narrate this enduring event to them. I expected to be received with a warm welcome by the sales personnel but that was not the case. The minute I walked into the store, I was ignored by the sales people. I figured that maybe they identified me as an American so I decided to speak in Spanish. Funny enough, they responded in English but only to one question then turned away to assist other people that had just walked into the store. I was beyond myself with anger as I contemplated on what I could have done to receive such a cold response.

I lingered in the boutique for about twenty minutes trying to get someone’s attention but to no avail. It was like I didn’t matter. I was ignored and as I looked at them I saw them laughing at me a fact that made me feel totally alienated and looked down upon. Needless to say, I felt humiliated and belittled. I finally gathered enough courage and walked out of the boutique feeling blue and undeserving.

This stereotyping and discrimination exerted a prime jolt to my ego which made me realize the horrible and uncalled-for situations that many Americans experience in their day to day interactions. I finally understood that racism and its associated vices are territorial concepts that people employ to feel empowered and for self gratification. I also realized that such incidences affect people irrespective of their age, race and religion. It pained me as I imagined how difficult it is to encounter these situations on a daily basis.

• “Just Walk On By” by Brent Staples
• Racial Stereotypes in Modern History of America
• LV Prasad Eye Institute (LVPEI) Fellowship Program
• Boutique Hotels: Starting and Running
• Nectar Boutique Business Vision
• Racism Without Racists in Patriarchal Society
• Black Men in Public Space by Brent Staples
• "Everything Isn't Racial Profiling” by Linda Chavez
• Race Relations in Britain. Immigration Situation
• The Problem of Racism in Canada
• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2021, December 19). A Personal Experience of Discrimination. https://ivypanda.com/essays/a-personal-experience-of-discrimination/

"A Personal Experience of Discrimination." IvyPanda , 19 Dec. 2021, ivypanda.com/essays/a-personal-experience-of-discrimination/.

IvyPanda . (2021) 'A Personal Experience of Discrimination'. 19 December.

IvyPanda . 2021. "A Personal Experience of Discrimination." December 19, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/a-personal-experience-of-discrimination/.

1. IvyPanda . "A Personal Experience of Discrimination." December 19, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/a-personal-experience-of-discrimination/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "A Personal Experience of Discrimination." December 19, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/a-personal-experience-of-discrimination/.

• Olympic Studies Centre
• Olympic Refuge Foundation

Joint Paris 2024 Boxing Unit/IOC Statement

Every person has the right to practise sport without discrimination.

All athletes participating in the boxing tournament of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 comply with the competition’s eligibility and entry regulations, as well as all applicable medical regulations set by the Paris 2024 Boxing Unit (PBU) ( please find all applicable rules here ). As with previous Olympic boxing competitions, the gender and age of the athletes are based on their passport.

These rules also applied during the qualification period, including the boxing tournaments of the 2023 European Games, Asian Games, Pan American Games and Pacific Games, the ad hoc 2023 African qualifying tournament in Dakar (SEN) and two world qualifying tournaments held in Busto Arsizio (ITA) and Bangkok (THA) in 2024, which involved a total of 1,471 different boxers from 172 National Olympic Committees (NOCs), the Boxing Refugee Team and Individual Neutral Athletes, and featured over 2,000 qualification bouts.

The PBU used the Tokyo 2020 boxing rules as a baseline to develop its regulations for Paris 2024. This was to minimise the impact on athletes’ preparations and guarantee consistency between Olympic Games. These Tokyo 2020 rules were based on the post-Rio 2016 rules, which were in place before the suspension of the boxing International Federation by the IOC in 2019 and the subsequent withdrawal of its recognition in 2023.

We have seen in reports misleading information about two female athletes competing at the Olympic Games Paris 2024. The two athletes have been competing in international boxing competitions for many years in the women’s category, including the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, International Boxing Association (IBA) World Championships and IBA-sanctioned tournaments.

These two athletes were the victims of a sudden and arbitrary decision by the IBA. Towards the end of the IBA World Championships in 2023, they were suddenly disqualified without any due process.

According to the IBA minutes available on their website, this decision was initially taken solely by the IBA Secretary General and CEO. The IBA Board only ratified it afterwards and only subsequently requested that a procedure to follow in similar cases in the future be established and reflected in the IBA Regulations. The minutes also say that the IBA should “establish a clear procedure on gender testing”.

The current aggression against these two athletes is based entirely on this arbitrary decision, which was taken without any proper procedure – especially considering that these athletes had been competing in top-level competition for many years.

Such an approach is contrary to good governance.

Eligibility rules should not be changed during ongoing competition, and any rule change must follow appropriate processes and should be based on scientific evidence.

The IOC is committed to protecting the human rights of all athletes participating in the Olympic Games as per the Olympic Charter , the IOC Code of Ethics and the IOC Strategic Framework on Human Rights . The IOC is saddened by the abuse that the two athletes are currently receiving.

The IBA’s recognition was withdrawn by the IOC in 2023 following its suspension in 2019. The withdrawal of recognition was confirmed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). See the IOC’s statement following the ruling .

The IOC has made it clear that it needs National Boxing Federations to reach a consensus around a new International Federation in order for boxing to be included on the sports programme of the Olympic Games LA28.

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Essay on Gender Discrimination

• Updated on  
• Jul 14, 2022

One of the challenges present in today’s society is gender discrimination. Gender discrimination is when someone is treated unequally based on their gender. Gender discrimination is not just present in the workplace but in schools, colleges and communities as well. As per the Civil Rights Act of 1964,  gender discrimination is illegal in India. This is also an important and common essay topic in schools and competitive exams such as IELTS , TOEFL , SAT , UPSC , etc. Let’s explore some samples of essay on gender discrimination and tips for writing an impactful essay.

Tips for Writing an Impactful Essay

If you want to write a scoring and deep impact essay, here are some tips for writing a perfect informative essay:

• The most important and first step is to write an introduction and background information about and related to the topic
• Then you are also required to use the formal style of writing and avoid using slang language
• To make an essay more impactful, write dates, quotations, and names to provide a better understanding
• You can use jargon wherever it is necessary as it sometimes makes an essay complicated
• To make an essay more creative, you can also add information in bulleted points wherever possible
• Always remember to add a conclusion where you need to summarise crucial points
• Once you are done read through the lines and check spelling and grammar mistakes before submission

Essay on Gender Discrimination in 200 Words

One of the important aspects of a democratic society is the elimination of gender discrimination. The root cause of this vigorous disease is the stereotypical society itself. When a child is born, the discrimination begins; if the child is male, he is given a car, bat and ball with blue, and red colour clothes, whereas when a child is female, she is given barbie dolls with pink clothes. We all are raised with a mentality that boys are good at sports and messy, but girls are not good at sports and are well organised. This discriminatory mentality has a deeper impact when girls are told not to work while boys are allowed to do much work. This categorising males and females into different categories discriminating based on gender are known as gender discrimination. Further, this discriminatory behaviour in society leads to hatred, injustice and much more. This gender discrimination is evident in every woman’s life at the workplace, in educational institutions, in sports, etc., where young girls and women are deprived of their rights and undervalued. This major issue prevailing in society can be solved only by providing equality to women and giving them all rights as given to men.

Essay on Gender Discrimination in 300 Words 

Gender Discrimination, as the term signifies, is discrimination or discriminatory behaviour based on gender. The stereotypical mindset of people in the past has led to the discrimination that women face today. According to Kahle Wolfe, in 2015, women earned 83% of the income paid to men by working the same hours. Almost all women are not only discriminated against based on their salaries but also on their looks.

Further, most women are allowed to follow a certain dress code depending upon the work field and the dress women wear also decides their future career.

This dominant male society teaches males that women are weak and innocent. Thus women are mostly victims and are targeted in crimes. For example, In a large portion of the globe, women are blamed for rapes despite being victims because of their clothes. This society also portrays women as weaker and not eligible enough to take a stand for themselves, leading to the major destruction of women’s personalities as men are taught to let women down. This mindset of people nowadays is a major social justice issue leading to gender discrimination in society.

Further, gender-based discrimination is evident across the globe in a plethora of things, including sports, education, health and law. Every 1 out of 3 women in the world is abused in various forms at some point in their lives by men. This social evil is present in most parts of the world; in India, women are burnt to death if they are incapable of affording financial requirements; in Egypt, women are killed by society if they are sensed doing something unclean in or out of their families, whereas in South Africa baby girls are abandoned or killed as they are considered as burden for the family. Thus gender discrimination can be only eliminated from society by educating people about giving equal rights and respect to every gender.

Top Universities for Gender Studies Abroad

UK, Canada and USA are the top three countries to study gender studies abroad. Here’s the list of top universities you can consider to study abroad for Indian students if you planning to pursue gender studies course abroad:

We hope this blog has helped you in structuring a terrific essay on gender discrimination. Planning to ace your IELTS, get expert tips from coaches at Leverage Live by Leverage Edu .

Sonal is a creative, enthusiastic writer and editor who has worked extensively for the Study Abroad domain. She splits her time between shooting fun insta reels and learning new tools for content marketing. If she is missing from her desk, you can find her with a group of people cracking silly jokes or petting neighbourhood dogs.

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Guest Essay

Two Opposing Developments That Changed American Politics

By Thomas B. Edsall

Mr. Edsall contributes a weekly column from Washington on politics, demographics and inequality.

A pair of major developments in recent years — the ascendance of Donald Trump and the emergence of Black Lives Matter protests — have decisively altered the nation’s two political parties.

One key measure of this phenomenon is the growing disparity between the views of Democrats and Republicans on a wide range of groups — from the police to feminists to transgender people — as documented by American National Election Studies surveys.

The surveys asked voters to use a thermometer scale running from 0 (coldest) to 50 (neutral) to 100 (warmest) to rate different groups.

The researchers found, for example, that from 2012 to 2020, Democratic voters’ ratings of “feminists” rose from 59.9 to 70.9 while Republican ratings of feminists fell from 47.9 to 43.8. Over the same period, Democrats’ ratings of “Christian fundamentalists” fell from 49.7 to 39.3, while Republican voters’ ratings of this cohort increased slightly, from 80.3 to 81.9.

The sharpest difference emerged on partisan views of the Black Lives Matter movement. From 2016, when the survey first polled attitudes toward Black Lives Matter, to 2020, Democrats’ favorable rating rose from 66.3 to 76.9 while Republicans’ views fell from 30.2 in 2016 to 26.2 over the same time span. Put another way, the spread between Democrats and Republicans grew from 34.1 points to 50.7 points in four years.

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Gender Discrimination Essay

500 words gender discrimination essay.

Gender discrimination is when there are unfair rights between male and female. It differs because of their gender roles which ultimately leads to unequal treatment in life. Gender discrimination has been around for many centuries. However, as we are evolving, it is time to do away with such notions of gender roles. Thus, gender discrimination essay will take us through it in detail.

Causes of Gender Discrimination

There are many causes of gender discrimination. The first one has to be illiteracy . When people do not educate themselves, they continue to live in the old times. Thus, they follow the old-age sexist traditions and norms.

Education can bring about a change in this mindset because educated people will less likely partake in gender discrimination. Further, poverty is also another reason which is interlinked in a way.

It is the root cause in many places because the economic dependence remains on the male counterparts mostly. Thus, women suffer a lot from it because of the same reason. They never get out of this and stay financially dependent on men.

Furthermore, the patriarchal setup in our society plays a big role. In this setup, the male dominates almost every aspect of life. Thus, they consider themselves to be superior to others.

This way, a lot of violence and injustice is meted out against females. Thus, when there is a gender considering themselves to be superior, it becomes difficult for everyone to avail equal opportunities.

Impact of Gender Discrimination

Gender discrimination has a deep impact on society as a whole. It does not just impact a specific section of the society but every part of it. First of all, it impacts children as they fall prey to gender stereotypes from a young age.

Further, it impacts young people because it impacts their behaviour, study choices, ambitions, attitudes and more. Thus, many girls do not participate in many sports and women experience physical violence more than men.

Next up, we have gender discrimination affecting adults because there is a gender pay gap between the working class. Men earn more for doing the same work as women. In addition, older women have more risk of becoming homeless than men.

It also impacts the aboriginal women because they have it a lot worse. It is more likely to happen that they can die from family violence, 11 times more than men. Even for men, it is not beneficial as it sets difficult standards for men to follow.

It draws a line on men being emotional. Thus, they can never showcase their emotions truly without being judged. Similarly, men do not parental leave in many places. Ultimately, all this results in more suicide in men. Thus, it impacts everyone.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

Conclusion of Gender Discrimination Essay

Gender discrimination must be checked at every stage so that no person should be denied a chance to learn and grow. Thus, everyone, no matter male or female, must get a start in life in terms of educations and other opportunities. We must come together as a society to do this.

FAQ on Gender Discrimination Essay

Question 1: Who is affected by gender inequality?

Answer 1: Gender inequality affects everyone, which includes men as well. Stereotypes about how women and men, girls and boys should be, start from their childhood and follow us to adulthood. Thus, it does not affect just one but all.

Question 2: Give an example of gender discrimination.

Answer 2: There are many examples of gender discrimination. For instance, restriction on clothing. If a man wears shorts, no one will bat an eye. However, if a woman wears shorts, she will be seen in a bad light and be called names. Similar is the case for housework.

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Essay on Body Type Discrimination

These issues stem from a time period when Black America were considered three fourths of a person, however in the 21st century you don’t see slavery portrayed in the typical ways we have all read in our text books. Instead it has taken on a revamped modified form that still has the debilitating effect it did 400 years ago. The effect of slavery has left an imprint on the black community as shown in today’s education systems, living conditions, and in wealth. Education is the key to success, and slave owners knew when their slaves started learning how to read and write, emancipation was near.

Freed people organized to raise school funds for their children, but these schools became targets for the Ku Klux Klan . As a result the creation of schools to benefit the political and economic future of all people was met with fierce and violent opposition (Mitchell 192). These schools challenged the professed superiority of the white race and also threatened the existence of an unschooled black labor force (Mitchell 369). An educated black child and the state of the educational system were always viewed by white politicians based on how it would affect white people .

This is infuriating because everyone has the right to an education regardless of ethnic back ground, color, or social status . To try to stump another race while you advance with your own is selfish. Even as a politician you are in a position to promote the greater good of everybody. Education has always been used as a force to break through. When you start acquiring new knowledge and thinking for yourself you start change. While the Freedmen’s Bureau tried to raise money and hire teachers white politicians knew this would start a rebellion against the current unjust political system .

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