2020年9月四级 第1套 Passage 1

Americans spend billions of dollars each year trying to change our weight with diets, gym memberships and plastic surgery.

Trying to live up to the images of "perfect" models and movie heroes has a dark side: anxiety and depression, as well as unhealthy strategies for weight loss or muscle gain. It also has a financial cost. Having an eating disorder boosts annual health care costs by nearly US$2,000 per person.

Why is there both external and internal pressure to look "perfect"? One reason is that society rewards people who are thin and healthy looking. Researchers have shown that body mass index is related to wages and income. Especially for women, there is a clear penalty at work for being overweight or obese. Some studies have also found an impact for men, though a less noticeable one.

While the research literature is clear that labor market success is partly based on how employers and customers perceive your body image, no one had explored the other side of question. Does a person's own perception of body image matter to earnings and other indicators of success in the workplace?

Our recently published study answered this question by tracking a large national random sample of Americans over a critical time period when bodies change from teenage shape into adult form and when people build their identities.

As in other research, women in our sample tend to over-perceive their weight-they think they're heavier than they are-while men tend to under-perceive theirs.

We found no relationship between the average person's self- perception of weight and labor market outcomes, although self-perceived weight can influence self-esteem（自尊心）, mental health and health behaviors.

While the continued gender penalty in the labor market is frustrating, our finding that misperceived weight does not harm workers is more heartening.

Since employers' perception of weight is what matters in the labor market, changing discrimination laws to include body type as a category would also help. Michigan is the only state that prohibits discrimination on the basis of weight and height. We believe expanding such protections would make the labor market more fair and efficient.