Calling someone fat a hate crime?

[teaaddict2012]

thought this would make a good debate

AIBU to think how would this be policed??

"You FAT!"

It is ridiculous, and it completely takes away from real discrimination faced by the disabled, in racism, and homophobia.

Any insult is an act of hate. Can never quite understand in football matches, for example, why calling the referee a 'bastard' is OK but insults relating to ethnicity are not.

I saw a girl in tesco wearing teeny weeny shorts, she must have been a size 24 at least. Hugely fat.

It's not because I hate her I say this, it's because she was fat, in fact morbidly obese. It's just fact.

Now, saying she looked AWFUL in the tiny hotpants is mean. But not a hate crime.

It can be policed in exactly the same way as all other forms of discrimination & hate.

Being viciously rude towards fat people seems to be the last bastion of "socially-acceptable" apparance-based discrimination and facism.

cf mn for further explanation.

It depends whether they're fat or not. If it's true, it's a statement of fact. If it's not then it's something you may get worked up about if you can be bothered.

I suffered bullying due to weight but even I struggle to say that was a hate crime.

maybe if schools actually addressed bullying instead of turning a blind eye.

MrsHanson/Cowbag But why is it "socially acceptable" for you to come on a public forum and berate the woman for being fat - would it be accepted if you came on and said "urgh, I saw an African woman today in Tesco, she looked fucking hideous".

Shades of grey m'dears - your discrimination is shining through.

How did I berate her for being fat pray tell?

I said this:

"she looked AWFUL in the tiny hotpants" which I could say if she was skinny too.

To call someone "fat" is generally meant as an insult, but it could be used as a description.
To call someone "obese" is a description, (so long as it is correct) as obesity is a measurement. You either are, or aren't, it's not subjective.

Poor Moz, will the rozzers be banging on his door?

mrshansen I did not, and would not abuse someone for being fat. It's awful that you were abused in such a way.

MrsHanssen - I'm sorry, you're quite right - I misread your post and thought you were fat-bashing!

cowbag The very fact that you were snide about her weight and dress-sense is a positive indicator that you were being "hateful". None so blind as those that cannot see.

The very fact that you felt you needed to "quantify" your statement proves how rude you are being.

I am sure this a piece of Daily Mail froth that comes from nothing.

However, surely there are laws already that can deal with someone who is being abused about their weight (I am not a lawyer/police, just guessing...Breach of the Peace or Threatening behaviour?) No one should be abused because of their weight. Just not sure, for a number of reasons, that it is a 'hate crime'. Where is the mosque to attack? The ideological reasons? The cemetary to desecrate?

From the Home Office Website

"What is hate crime?
Hate crime involves any criminal offence which is perceived, by the victim or any other person, to be motivated by hostility or prejudice based on a personal characteristic. The definition covers five main strands, in particular - disability, gender-identity, race, religion or faith and sexual orientation.

Weight of course can be a symptom of disability.

I turned on the TV just now and the delightful Matthew wright was discussing the exact same thing

I personally don't think "hate crimes" should be on the statute book at all. They are of course quite a recent phenomenon.

Hate is essentially a thought or state of mind, not a deed. Thoughts should not be crimes. If thought should not be crimes then I don't see how "inciting" people to have a thought should be a crime either.

Incitement to violence is different. If someone incites a mob to attack someone then the thought is so directly connected to the deed that it has become essentially an action.

In a free society it seems to me that there is no absolute right not to be offended, nor not to be insulted. Of course we have conventions of courtesy about these things and the punishment for anyone contravening them may be social ostracism.

Also where name calling crosses the line into bullying or harrassment is surely a matter for local judgment (e.g. parents in a household, staff in a school, management in a company or other organisation) not for legislation.

It is IMHO crass for governments to think that they can, or should, legislate for individual behaviour.

yabu
do you really understand hate crime?
faced by disabled people every day?

Calling someone fat is not and should not be policed as a hate crime, just like calling slim people anorexic is not a hate crime. Name calling is just mean. And unfortunately you can't go about criminalising mean people, though we do learn to avoid them.

Definition of disability in terms of hate crime at 2.2 so it looks like it would depend on your view on impairment.

not really answering the question but...

why is not ok to mention someones weight if they are overweight but perfectly fine to call someone 'too skinny' , 'do you eat?' . 'have you got an eating disorder?' or 'you'd look so much nicer if you put on weight'.(just a few examples).

What's the difference between making horrible remarks about someone's weight and the fact that they have, like me, a big nose? I have had comments all my life ranging from downright nasty to, "oh but you would be so pretty if..." but I can't do anything in my daily life to change something I was born with.

Is it that a moral judgement is being made about someone who is overweight? If so then maybe it is coming under hate crime territory, I'm not sure.

hey fatty bom bom