
Photo courtesy: befter.net
There was recently a huge uproar when a news presenter lady in the United States was asked by a regular viewer to lose some weight. A lot of people stood up on her side, she released a very long statement speaking about how she was not going to let this affect her sense of self and deserves not to be bullied.
What we forgot during that steam was probably that the message from this supposed viewer was not urging her to lose some weight because it was her duty to look good as a news presenter, but that it sent the wrong message to the obesity driven young crowd in the country.
Without debating who was right or who was wrong, let’s just assume that this woman was anorexic. What would you have thought? You’d have sympathised with her, but still thought that an anorexic needs some treatment. Because anorexia is not normal, it is a condition when you don’t accept yourself as you are.
The puzzling situation about today is that the well fed nations (let’s just leave the huge population that has to starve for days), are now fighting against the un-achievable image the media has portrayed of stick thick women. That was never healthy. So the plus sized models pageants began to pick up. The focus is now on curves, and accepting yourself. Like being fat is something you cannot help, and like disability, and you need to just take it.
Half the problem lies in this uber lazy attitude that has been nothing but an extreme backlash from the obsession with the thin. The present day America (and even the United Kingdom) have a lot of over-sized people on the streets. You generally don’t see that stuff in the movies.
The supposed news presenter’s speech of not succumbing to bullying was hugely applauded. In all honesty, whoever wrote to her about her weight was probably doing it in good spirits and with concern. But the fact that we cannot even take positive criticism and can compare being fat to issues like being gay is beyond strange.
Same goes for the huge criticism a certain celebrity drew recently because she had put on a lot of weight post pregnancy and people told her that it was her duty to look good. There will always be a fine line between being healthy for your own good and pleasing the crowd. The news presenter woman simply does not get to be put into the same category as the celebrity woman. Whilst weight fluctuation is natural during pregnancy, years of obesity is not.
You can help what you look like. It is not rocket science. If we are lazy about our lifestyle, it is our choice. Expecting fair treatment on the basis of disability is one thing. Being fat is not a disability. And if it is, then it is about time we treated it.
Lily
There was recently a huge uproar when a news presenter lady in the United States was asked by a regular viewer to lose some weight. A lot of people stood up on her side, she released a very long statement speaking about how she was not going to let this affect her sense of self and deserves not to be bullied.
What we forgot during that steam was probably that the message from this supposed viewer was not urging her to lose some weight because it was her duty to look good as a news presenter, but that it sent the wrong message to the obesity driven young crowd in the country.
Without debating who was right or who was wrong, let’s just assume that this woman was anorexic. What would you have thought? You’d have sympathised with her, but still thought that an anorexic needs some treatment. Because anorexia is not normal, it is a condition when you don’t accept yourself as you are.
The puzzling situation about today is that the well fed nations (let’s just leave the huge population that has to starve for days), are now fighting against the un-achievable image the media has portrayed of stick thick women. That was never healthy. So the plus sized models pageants began to pick up. The focus is now on curves, and accepting yourself. Like being fat is something you cannot help, and like disability, and you need to just take it.
Half the problem lies in this uber lazy attitude that has been nothing but an extreme backlash from the obsession with the thin. The present day America (and even the United Kingdom) have a lot of over-sized people on the streets. You generally don’t see that stuff in the movies.
The supposed news presenter’s speech of not succumbing to bullying was hugely applauded. In all honesty, whoever wrote to her about her weight was probably doing it in good spirits and with concern. But the fact that we cannot even take positive criticism and can compare being fat to issues like being gay is beyond strange.
Same goes for the huge criticism a certain celebrity drew recently because she had put on a lot of weight post pregnancy and people told her that it was her duty to look good. There will always be a fine line between being healthy for your own good and pleasing the crowd. The news presenter woman simply does not get to be put into the same category as the celebrity woman. Whilst weight fluctuation is natural during pregnancy, years of obesity is not.
You can help what you look like. It is not rocket science. If we are lazy about our lifestyle, it is our choice. Expecting fair treatment on the basis of disability is one thing. Being fat is not a disability. And if it is, then it is about time we treated it.
Lily