caerula's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- fat SUSAN AGER: Let's light a fire under fat fighters Dear Ms. Ager, I can't answer that question. But I can tell you how not to do it. Make fun of fat people. Make them the last acceptable minority to pick on. Give young girls the idea that they are not beautiful if they are not a size 4. Give them no role models on tv and in trendy magazines other than 5 foot 9, 98 pound women with no breasts and no hips. Brainwash men into believing that women must conform to a standard of beauty popularized by the media, so that they think their 140-pound girlfriend is "too fat." Socialize young girls to starve themselves trying to achieve the perfect body. Look down on those who are not naturally thin. Stock stores with only "fat clothes" -- after all, if you wear higher than size 14, you couldn't possibly want to look young, cool, trendy, or even professional. Polyester stretch slacks are all you could possibly need. That's what our society has done so far, and you see how well that's worked. That's the kind of attitude you enable in your column. Fat people are targets. They are okay to pick on. Don't they know it's unhealthy to be fat? Fat people are lazy, unmotivated, stupid. Just stop eating! You'll lose weight. Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way. And not all fat people are fat because they overeat. I agree that American society enables obesity, to a point. No one needs a super-size order of fries and a Biggie soda to complete their lunch. Yes, obesity can be a health risk. However, I don't put in the same category as smoking, and here's why: My fat does not endanger your health. It does not cause you to have a severe allergic reaction, break out in a rash, redden your eyes, or give you cancer. It does not hurt you in the least, unless you are uncomfortable looking at a fat person. And granted, many people are. Maybe it's the polyester. I doubt there's a smoker out there who doesn't know he is endangering his health. I doubt there's a fat person alive who hasn't, at one time or another, wished to be skinny. However, suggesting that providing decent quality clothes for bigger women enables their obesity is offensive. Obesity is a health risk, yes. But have you ever been a 15 year old girl in a dressing room, crying because the store has no jeans that will fit you, and you have to shop in the "women's" section at JC Penneys while your friends purchase trendy lowriders at Abercrombie & Fitch? Have you ever slunk out of a store in embarrassment after being told that they don't carry anything larger than a size 14? I was thrilled when I heard about the new Land's End catalog that employs women larger than a size 12 as models. Those women look fantastic. They are not all gorgeous. But they are normal. They are what we see in the mirror. They are our moms and sisters and girlfriends and wives. I'm 5 foot 2 inches and weigh 175 pounds. I'm not obese, but I am fat. Too fat to shop at the Gap or Express, too fat to wear pretty underwear, too fat to feel comfortable in shorts or a skirt in public. I'm not happy with my body. I don't embrace my fatness. I know I eat too much junk food and don't get enough exercise, and so does everyone who looks at me. They don't know that for health reasons I have to take hormones that have a side effect of excess weight gain, but in society's eyes, that's no excuse. If hating my body is not enough to motivate me to lose weight, then nothing else is going to. Not ugly clothes, uncomfortable airline seats, or teeny bus aisles. >New airports and movie theaters install bigger seats. SUVs provide extra-wide comfort. So do new jumbo pantiliners. Perhaps we should just stay home in our polyester stretch elastic-waist pants eating our tv dinners, and not inconvenience the thin world by traveling, driving, or going to the movies. Because gee, I'm sure that will make us feel better about ourselves and inspire us to exercise and eat better, while we watch "Ally McBeal" and the cast of "Friends" waste away into nothingness. So inspiring. So if you can think of an answer to America's obesity, by all means, please share. I'll be sitting at home in my muumuu with my pint of Haagen-Dasz, anxiously awaiting the miracle. Sincerely, (Inspired by Natalie) 11:30 a.m. - March 28, 2002 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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