General Discussion Board
Is wanting to be slim an evil notion???
Posted By: Les <lestoil500@aol.com> (205.188.199.34)
Date: Thursday, 23 September 1999, at 3:40 p.m.A scrawny guy like me may not sound like the most appropriate person to start a threat about the subject of dieting, but I'm a bit concerned (not offended) about dear Rebecca's analyzing Mendi Teats' reasons for wanting to lose weight.
To Rebecca and others that think dieting and exercising for the purpose of losing weight may be a sign of self hate--well it's the opposite! It's a sign of self LOVE!
Now to those that believe one should devote their lives to dieting for the sole purpose of becoming thin to appease their family or the cute guy at the Dairy Queen even though their bodies are shouting at the top of their lungs "Leave me alone! I'm fine! Really! But if you keep this up you ARE gonna destroy me AND your mind!!", then you're encouraging self HATE in every form of the phrase.
There's absolutely no denying that many staunch, card-carrying members of NAAFA have in subtle and non-subtle terms considered those of the overweight sect that have chosen to alter their bodies toward a thinner physique to be self-hating, self-abusive forces that are working against all that size acceptance stands for. This attitude is expressed every time I go into a BBW chatroom and I hear a number of the women question the motives of someone who has just come in to announce how happy she is she's shed a few pounds. I wouldn't so much mind if these inquisitive women were well aware that these dieters had a long history of struggling with their bodies, but usually they don't! They simply see a person come in a chatroom and say in so many different words: I'm fat, I hate my body, I hate my life, and I want to be of that socially accepted size so I can be loved and desired!". This is sooo wrong, and as much as you all sincerely believe you AREN'T doing this you ARE! You're suggesting ALL overweight-to-obese women are fighting an unnatural battle against nature, therefore they're destroying their bodies and their self-esteem. I wish I could hear an equal amount of these earnestly concerned, loving people express themselves in a less judgmental or confrontational way by saying, "Congratulations, good luck and I hope you're losing the weight for all the healthy, positive reasons!". It now seems a collective mindset to believe that any attempts at losing weight is pure evil!
If a person who once enjoyed jumping on a bar room table and doing a torrid funky chicken wants to shed fifty or so pounds to return back to that bar to do it again--let's encourage that! If a woman of substantial size has spent her life struggling and struggling to lose weight to appease the wishes of her family and friends, well obviously her actions SHOULDN'T be encouraged. I wholeheartedly agree with you all, when mother nature talks, we don't need an interpreter to tell us when she's pissed at what we're doing to our bodies.
Many of us don't have a clue of the concept of "eating like an adult"! Many of us (fat or skinny) really, really believe that the foods we snuck behind the school yard and ate as a child are just as acceptable to eat as adults. And when they BULGE as a results of that, they'll righteously tell me that's the natural progression of the human body! Hogwash! That's a serious lack of nutritional education and that's an insult to large people that HAVE eaten responsibly all their lives only to be called "fat, gluttonous slobs"!! Point being, if you DO choose a more responsible "healthy" way of eating, you just may end up losing weight whether you want to or not (and you just may end up feeling healthier if you want to or not). For some that theory may work and for others that theory has proven to be straight-up bullsh!t (I can't stress that enough for those reading this that have literally eaten nothing wheat grass and tofu for the last few years with no positive results).
I've become emerged in the fat community not just for the gorgeous women that exist within it, but for the supportive and compassionate shoulder they offer 24/7 to the many, many people that have felt unattractive and alone, many of whom I've had the pleasure of bringing online. But now I'm noticing the Size Acceptance movement is taking on a cult-like leaning that might suggest that the larger you are, the higher up the social rank you are and the more legitimate your feelings on fat politics are, and that the THINNER you become, the more you'd better consider booking a cruise on Kathy Lee Gifford's ship than ours.
Can you imagine that with some people in SA feeding/gaining is a more accepted concept than losing weight in a healthy manner??? Just ask Dimensions magazine who offers a safe meeting place for men that want to meet and fatten up women, but treat the words "weight loss" as if they were anathema!! Does the fat community automatically excommunicate those that do desire to slim down because it's an attitude they believe may threaten to fester throughout the movement like a cancer? IS FAT GOOD AND THIN BAD???
LOL! Sorry...I got carried away.
In closing, I just want to say please don't apply the traumatic experiences many of you have had with the experiences that others haven't had.
Much love,
Les