I live in Las Vegas, Nevada. My boyfriend (whom has thin privilege) works at a casino part time while in school (The Bellagio). Today he told me that his work is hosting a weight loss competition to encourage employees to loose weight in an effort to make their staff healthier in order to lower their cost of health insurance. I tired to explain to him that weight does not directly correlate with health and is not a proven cause of disease and he actually got angry with me and called me ridiculous. He said that diet can be directly linked to being over weight/obese and thus can be directly linked to your health or lack their of. Further more he doesn’t see anything wrong with “inspiring” people to lose weight by tantalizing them with prizes and rewards in an effort to cut company heath care cost…. Thin privilege is not being made to compete with your fellow employees by your employer to lose weight simply for monetary gain by that company/corporation. Thin privilege is not having your weight be the basis of a competition in your work place or any other aspect of your life. Thin privilege is being able to go to work and not be reminded by your employer that your weight is a financial burden on them. Thin privilege is a company/corporation organizing a weight loss competition among it’s employees with the ultimate goal being loosing as much weight as possible in a short period of time knowing that your employees will most likely take to extreme diets that will do more harm than good and also blatantly ignoring the vast amount of research that shows an overwhelming majority of dieters gain all of the weight back that they have lost as well as gain weight in the years to come after dieting. Thin privilege is not being shamed by your employer for being fat.

How do I make my boyfriend understand why this is so wrong?