A Fat Rant

Fat = Not a death sentence.

Self-Confidence: an unacceptable "lady" trait?

I was reading a response to a commentary about, apparently, a Jamaican woman (or several) who have the courage to stand up against society's standards...and eat AND wear what they want. I am assuming the writer is a man, but I can't quite tell.

Reading Heather Robinson's December 29 commentary, 'Courage of the Jamaican woman', I couldn't help but wonder if her intent was to commend overweight women for exuding confidence by strutting around in clothing three, four, or five times below their normal sizes. I think a more appropriate suggestion would be to advocate a public flogging, or at least a strong rebuke, for such women.

Excuse me? Let's review the definition of the word "flog".

flog: beat severely with a whip or rod; "The teacher often flogged the students"; "The children were severely trounced"
cane: beat with a cane

Even used as a hyperbole, the implication that it is OKAY to beat woman if they do not have sufficient sex appeal utterly disgusts me. I'm sure that he's completely fine with smaller women strutting about in skimy, tight clothes, but the larger lady would surely obstruct his misogynistic views. It is self-confidence and skill that leads you through life, not what other people have to think about the extra few pounds you have on you. Let's look at the next paragraph.

These women, who are well over their ideal weight, should be encouraged to shed the fat, not flaunt it!

Your ideal weight is not neccessarily their ideal weight. Encouragement is not equivalent to blatant insults and belittlement.

They are not conveying confidence, but rather shameless-ness.

I find that confidence and shamelessness can go hand in hand. He might interpret their courageous acts as "shamelessness", but I personally say it is courage. Is it shameful for women to be in control of their own bodies?

Here's a proposition for these women: How about putting down that Kentucky fried chicken and picking up a salad? Instead of swashbuckling down the public street, hoping to provoke 'sexy' remarks that they misconstrue for compliments, how about taking a frequent walk on an exercise machine?

I was definitely appalled by this one. A salad can often have just as many calories as KFC if you put enough dressing on it. Not only that, but clearly the writer has a false view of how people put on weight. It can be due to a lot of things, including a slow metabolism, stress, comfort eating, pregnancy, binging--and many of things are uncontrollable. The ones that are take a lot of willpower to overcome. Instead of targetting the obese or overweight women for their lazyness, why not criticize lazy men as well? I could say a lot of crap about how all they do is sit on the couch and watch football, or eat potato chips, or much other stereotyped comments. They aren't always true.

The second sentence irritated me perhaps even more. He apparently confirms his chauvinistic viewpoints through his errenous conception that all women want to do is look sexy. And please men. By looking sexy.

How about pleasing themselves? Ever thought of that?

And I won't even go into the fact that he didn't say a thing about health, and every sentence hinted at the superficiality that sat behind the computer screen.

Betty Friedan, an outspoken feminist leader, died at age 85 this year.

A moment of silence.