Big mother is watching you
Making it illegal for restaurants to serve obese people
JESSICA STEWIN, VOLUTNEER STAFF
It’s true: lawmakers in Mississippi have proposed legislation that will ban restaurants from serving food to obese people. This bill proposes that food establishments are to be monitored for compliance by the Mississippi State Department of Health, and that continuous violators will have their business permits revoked. The bill was introduced on Feb. 1 by Mississippi House of Representative member W.T. Mayhall, Jr., a retired pharmaceutical salesman, and was co-authored by businessman Bobby Shows and pharmacist John Read. Although the act has drawn attention to a major problem in Mississippi, it is ludicrous to think that a restaurant should be required to refuse service to someone simply because they are fat.
Read says he never expected his plan to become law but was simply “trying to shed a little light on the number-one problem in Mississippi.” Furthermore, he went on to acknowledge that at 5-11, 230 pounds, he would have a tough time under his own bill. And with nearly 30 per cent of Mississippi adult residents being obese, according to a study by Trust for America, much of Mississippi would have an equally tough time. The state has the highest rate of obesity in America, but it seems clear this bill has little support as an effective way to combat this issue.
The bill offers no specifics about how obesity would be defined or how restaurants are supposed to determine if a customer is obese but advises that the state department of health would release information about how a restaurant would determine who qualifies as obese. That information is not yet available, but one can only dream what kind of uproar this could create.
The definition of obesity depends on a person’s body mass index (BMI.) This figure is calculated using an individual’s height and weight. This would imply that before a person is seated in the restaurant their BMI would have to be calculated.
Imagine this, you walk into your favourite restaurant and get in the long line. Previously, this would have led you to the hostess, who would either take you to your seat or put your name on the waiting list. However, this line is not to see the hostess, but the physical trainer, who will then weigh you and measure your height. The anxiety is killing you, and you begin to regret the bagel you had for lunch and the heavy sweater you decided to wear, hoping that they’ll let you take it off before you weigh in.
It’s crazy to think that someone could be nervous about going to eat out, especially since dining out is something we usually do to relax and enjoy an evening. However, with this bill would come stress over going out, resulting in people staying home and becoming isolated because they fear being turned away from a restaurant with cheeky lines like: “Sorry, we won’t be able to serve you today, your BMI rating is too high for our standards, please don’t be offended.” Don’t be offended, but they’re calling you fat.
The bill makes clear that any food establishment violating the law would risk losing their license. But the question remains: how would they enforce this? Would the government of Mississippi have to hire a squad of fitness assessors to go around from restaurant to restaurant checking out who is feeding all the fat people? Is there really any way this could be done politely? And is there anything more patronizing? I suppose the government could also pick out state residents’ outfits in the morning, too. That would be rather motherly of them, or should I say Big Mother of them. Democrat Steve Holland, Mississippi’s House Public Health Committee chairman, says he is going to “shred” the bill. Holland recognized that the bill “is too oppressive for government to require a restaurant owner to police another human being from their own indiscretions.” I could not agree more.
Jessica Stewin is a University 1 student.
