I was having a discussion with a good friend of mine the other day regarding Fat People and Obesity. She's rather wishy washy on her stance and for the most part, hypocritical (self-proclaimed to boot!) The ensuing conversation is the direct result of a comment I made about a family member of mine that has decided that he doesn't want to miss any meals and has chosen to add a few to the unwritten rule of three a day. It's safe to say that my friend and I have agreed to disagree.
Friend: I find it difficult to understand my own thoughts on obesity, or simply being overweight, but not obese. On the one hand, I'm very opposed to the portrayal of women as size 1 or 2 models, when there is very little chance of the average woman has a hope in hell of looking like that. That angers me and perpetuates such things as eating disorders. I also believe that women should wear whatever they like, if they are comfortable with themselves, and get very angry when people say, "God, she should never wear anything like that!!" (i.e. an overweight woman wearing a bikini). (This part has been paraphrased a tad, but still captures what she was trying to say) I also wish that people would stop worrying about their weight and going on ridiculous diets etcetera. But on the other hand, I don't ever want to be obese or overweight. I want to remain slim, (at least half-decently so). I have also been known to think that SOME women, should NOT wear the clothes they do: (here she cites an example of someone we know that wears clothes that are too sexually revealing). So, apparently I'M A HYPOCRITE!
Well she got no argument from me with respect to her being a hypocrite, but she did however get a well deserved and pontificatory retort!
Cunninlinguist: I've gotta agree that you're a hypocrite, but I've also gotta disagree with the vast majority of what you wrote. I like thin to skinny women. A-Cup is my favorite breast size. Thin women do look better in bikini's than hippo's. A nice shape is one with gentle curves, not rocky road. And I do believe that women really do have the ability to be a size 1 or 2, but that variety is important as well. Being a 1 or a 2 isn't for every women, nor should it be! You're right when you say the average woman can't attain 1 or 2ness, BUT there is something to be said for the average women, as long as she's healthy.
I think you're wrong in assuming that most men like the 1 or 2 sized women above other body types. And even though the fickle media (print, movies, television) portrays the 1 or 2's in most of their ads, they are not perpetuating eating disorders, weak women are the ones that are perpetuating it! Low self esteem and a poor self-image may be exacerbated by the 1 or 2ness image, but it ain't the root cause! Besides, if Orca and her Shamu friends choose to strive for 1 or 2ness, all the better for the rest of us, they take up too much acreage as it is. Most men like "Average Women". Average women don't have to, nor need to pine for 1 or 2ness, they're fine just the way they are! A little meat is good thing on so many levels!
Fat People however, just shouldn't be wearing skimpy clothes, it's fucking gross! I don't want to look at it, men or women! If you don't respect yourself enough to maintain an appropriate weight (and this doesn't mean being able to walk through a harp without touching the strings, it just means APPROPRIATE), don't assault the visual acuity of those around you by prancing around in revealing clothing. It makes me shiver just to think about it! Who really wants to look at rolls upon rolls of rippling, dimpled flesh, burbling and bubbling as they bounce unabashedly with a triple scoop of double chocolate fudge ice cream in one hand and Diet Coke in the other! (Really, who are they trying to fool? It's like standing in line at a fast food restaurant and the behemoth in front of you with her four egg-shaped kids wailing and whining as they hold on the to her circus tent of a dress, orders eight happy meals, two Big Macs, two large fries, two apple pies and a Diet Coke. I know you've experienced this, everyone has! And what's the first thing that pops into your mind, "Damn, what are the kids gonna eat"? And the second, "it's a good thing she ordered that Diet Coke, at least she won't have to exercise this month!"
There are very few people in this world that are genetically predisposed to being fat. The rest are just slovenly! They chose not to do anything about it. They chose not to exercise. They chose not to eat responsibly. They effectively chose to be fat. My politically incorrect, but irrefutably correct stance on this issue as this, get the fuck off the couch, your hand out of the bon-bons and go for a walk, a bike, a hike, a blade, something. But don't expect me to sympathize, empathize or even speak kindly when someone does a double take just to make sure it wasn't a porpoise or a hippo that just obscured the horizon. And if you don't want to be looked at with utter contempt and disgust every time you thunder by, put down that fork, take the time to make your meals and do it properly, cooking with lard is not proper and substituting soy margarine for butter ain't gonna cut it.
Personally, I'm repulsed by obesity and believe that the vast majority of fat people could do something about it if they chose to. The problem is, they are genetically predisposed to being lazy! And lazy people have a hard time putting in the effort to making themselves presentable! For that, they get no sympathy from me, nor should they!
As an ibid. to this theme of fatness, people that say the media wreaks havoc on society by praising virtues of thin, are sadly mistaken and this "fat acceptance crusade" and it's attempts to expurgate the myth that "thin is in", is doing more damage than the fickle media could ever possibly extol. How healthy is fat? Rhetorical of course! Fat is by no stretch of the imagination a good thing. The health risks associated with fat, even moderate fat, far exceed the risks associated with being thin. Not to mention the fact that you look like shit!
My friend didn't have much to say on this response. She pretty much felt that my mind was made up on the topic and chose not to respond. (And no it wasn't that she wasn't not dignifying it with a response, she just didn't feel that she'd be able to hoist the anchor of my position).
Any takers?
Want to respond to this article? Send your comments
here!