I’m wading my svelte self into some very murky waters here, but I’ve never been one to shy away from controversy so here goes. The subject of weight, especially the “ideal” weight for women (seemingly to be mandated by everyone and anyone) is fraught with controversy. On the one hand, you have a very fat-phobic “beauty culture,” especially in terms of fashion magazines (anorexic models might be a stereotype, but sadly, they’re also reality) and celebrity worship, which condemn even the slightest hint of a non-taut tummy and even middle-ground healthy weights are frowned upon. Although pieces of this beauty culture are starting to target the male demographic, for the vast majority, the target, or rather, the object, is women. This leads to an understandable amount of tension among women, who feel pressured to meet these extreme ideals.
On the other hand, you have the broader “consumer culture” (of which the beauty culture is but a two-faced member) demanding that we consume as much as possible, mostly in terms of food, entertainment and labor-saving/luxury devices and services. Altogether, these items encourage extreme indulgence/indolence (which has led to a drastic rise in Type 2 Diabetes), both in terms of reduced bodily movement (due to labor-saving devices) and maximization of “empty calories” consumption (i.e. foods with little or no nutritional value which are borderline addictive due to sweeteners and other flavor enhancing additives [MSG, etc.]). Thus we Americans are told to enjoy all these comforts to excess and if the inevitable consequence of this rampant consumerism is a burgeoning waistline, then we should start buying plus-sized clothes and diet pills/books, different kinds of empty calorie foods, plus a gym membership to be used irregularly, but nothing should stop us from buying things.
Thus we have the implicit encouragement to get fat slamming us from ad spaces everywhere and the converse encouragement [for women] to get skinny [& to a lesser extent for men to get to a muscular medium size] hitting us from a subset of the same ad spaces.
What I get frustrated about with feminism at times is that it seems to clearly see the beauty culture aspect, but mostly disregards the underlying consumer culture aspect. That is, it contains an understandable backlash against the “women must be thin and beautiful” imperative of the beauty culture, but it can also end up supporting the consumer culture imperative with messages like “fat is beautiful” (an equivalent, if oppositional, generalization to “skinny is beautiful”). I would argue that feminism should subtract “beauty” altogether from the equation. On multiple exchanges, I’ve witnessed snipes exchanged between otherwise reasonable women when one is on the larger side and the other is on the skinny side (snipes originating from either side) and it disturbs me that people can be so shallow and mean. However, there is an elephant in the room, which is that, notions of beauty aside, in some ways, obesity has more negative health consequences than being moderate or skinny sized (although being skinny and indolent can have negative health consequences also). Lean and active human beings tend to live longest, although to be fair, active larger-sized folks also tend to have good health and longevity.
[Some portions of original post were cut in 2020 as, in retrospect, they seemed a bit fatphobic, which does not match with my current thinking/undsteranding. Italicized portions are added/updated. ]
p.s. This should go without saying, but the hot focus of the magnifying glass should absolutely not single out women (i.e., men and women and others should all get regular exercise, eat nutritional diets and aim for fit and healthy – this should be compassionately encouraged by medical professionals, friends and families, not caustically demanded by the advertisement/entertainment industry [for women only] as it is now).
A friend of mine responded: I see where you’re coming from, but you’re missing something big: you’re delving a lot into the consumer aspect without tapping into the many other aspects. Many “big is beautiful” ads and statements show rather huge women, but some show maybe a size 14 or 16, which is a normal and healthy body size. And, obesity, while tied to consumer culture, is much more than just a gluttonous lifestyle. There are those who are obese from mental issues, from physical issues, and so on. I’ve known some girls much larger than myself who eat less than me and many women. They’re just cursed with innards that make them swell. As for thin girls probably being healthy, that depends what you consider thin. Some are naturally skinny, and others are lacking the nutrients and health necessary for a solid existence. There are health issues on both ends.
Well, obviously, this is a huge issue to tackle, more than can be handled in a single blog post. I just wanted to raise one main issue: our consumption-oriented culture is contributing to a health/obesity crisis in this country and this is a piece that many feminist “fat” conversations are missing and related to that, I don’t buy into any “big is beautiful” arguments (this is no more true than “skinny is beautiful”) and while I don’t think heaviness should be vilified, I also don’t think it should be encouraged. There is no real “normal”, but generally, you can tell if people seem healthy. Anyone who is indolent and cannot do some moderate exercise (be they skinny or fat) is unhealthy and unless they’re experiencing illness, I think they should take better care of themselves.
As for the skinny/fat extremes, any extreme can be unhealthy, however, as for moderate movement in those directions, the lean is probably a bit healthier than well-padded. In fact, what is normal in many other countries is fast becoming “skinny” in USA, by comparison to the average, which is getting bigger all the time.
I’m aware that some people have bigger builds (and yeah, some women swell in reaction to hormones [natural or artificial, such as birth control]), however, I think the “it’s a body chemistry thing” argument that is true for a few has been coopted as a convenient excuse by many. Again, this is cultural and food industry related – if you look at certain other “natural” cultures, there are extremely few, if any obese people. John Robbin’s book “Healthy at 100” explores this issue in depth with a study with several historically long-lived healthy cultures (such as the Abkhasia people) – http://www.healthyat100.org
A few years back, I knew a friend of a friend who claimed to have a body chemistry thing, but I was skeptical after I saw what her diet was like, all the the high-protein/fat food she was eating (large portions of eggs, dairy or meat in nearly every meal) and to be blunt, that kind of diet is going to make/keep you fat. As for mental issues, again, much of that ties into consumption-oriented culture (in that food and eating is strongly encouraged as an emotional release and so it is unsurprising that the outward symptom of underlying mental issues may exist as food management/weight issues). [added note: I was not considering other mental issues, like women in abusive situations who become fat on purpose to avoid being attractive – I don’t have a response to that part]
I’m not saying everyone should be skinny, but I think everyone should be healthy and that will mean that most people will be what is currently considered to be “skinny” (and those who aren’t won’t be morbidly obese). An interesting book that relates to this (and obviously my own vegan beliefs) is “Skinny Bitch” by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnoun. While the book is controversial and problematic, I like how they explain the different chemicals (and so-called diet foods) actually are helping to make us fat (and so is dairy). Speaking of which, many many people are lactose-intolerant and most don’t even realize it – this is one thing that can cause the mysterious swelling you speak of. For information on lactose-intolerance (and some dairy myths debunked), see http://www.foodintol.com/dairy.asp.
I have seriously considered deleting or rewriting the last few paragraphs of this post, starting with “On multiple exchanges,”, but I’m going to leave it in even if it is might be interpreted as me being a fat-phobic meanie (I like to think I’m not!) – it was my thoughts at a snapshot in time (and some interesting dialogue). I was really intending this to be about how larger consumer culture WANTS us to be gluttons (and feminists shouldn’t buy into that, just like they shouldn’t buy into beauty culture’s skinny ideal), but then tried to tie it into ideas about how fat may not be as healthy as skinny (and dug myself a further hole with some of my comments). The terms “skinny” and “fat” are far too subjective (and charged) to talk about like that without becoming offensive.
I would like to see more health-consciousness in this culture (especially with food choices), but I’ve always felt that [adult] people have complete ownership of their own bodies and should be allowed to do what they want as long as it doesn’t harm others and they should not be unduly discriminated against on the basis of these choices. Fat, skinny, whatever, we’re all human beings, right?