(no subject)
Thought of the day one: I've been really chewing over body image, weight, society, other people, media, expectations, etc, etc etc. And I realize that I kind of have a hypocritical view sometimes. I'll honestly say that the concept of obese people frustrates me. Hearing very large people complaining about their weight frustrates me. I have a tendency to react negatively towards the idea of 'fat people'. I've sort of written about my beliefs about personal responsibility in another post, and thats pretty much were most of my frustration stems from. But I think another part of my anger comes from the fact that I don't feel that its ok for me personally to be fat. I'm not obsessed, but I'm very conscious of what I weigh, mostly for health reasons, but also from this deep passionate belief that we are really lucky to have these amazing machines as bodies that have these amazing abilities and features, and its just plain disrepectful and wrong to abuse them by gaining copious amounts of weight. And I cannot, CAN-NOT wrap my head around the idea of me eating so many more calories than I need that I wind up weighing 500 pounds...it just is so disrespectful of food, where it comes from, the people who make it, your body...I enjoy a good pint of ice cream as much as the next person and I'm no saint when it comes to eating well, but I just can't imagine mentally justifying in any way the sheer quantity of food I would need to consume to become obese. So theres that.
But while I get frustrated with the concept of obesity, I also get equally frustrated with the concept of skinnyness, and the idea that what is a healthy, normal weight is considered overweight (aesthetically). And that bothers the CRAP out of me. I hate that women are shoved into these 'ideal' weight boxes, that we're made to believe that we are always Too Fat. I hate that we can disrespect our bodies again, in the sense that we abuse them to the point of unnatural thinness. I get frustrated when I am craving that ice cream, but there is this underlying guilt that if I eat it, I might get Fat, and that would be bad. And I don't think being slightly overweight, slightly fat, chubby, whatever IS bad. I think its FINE. I think that women are supposed to have curves (and breasts and bums are made mostly of fat!). I think that stick thin is unacheivable and unrealistic and a sick goal to aim for.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that I really support a middle ground - slightly chubby, slightly skinny, all that is normal. I think we should embrace hte fact that our weights will fluctuate. I think that we should all be aiming for health AND happiness, and that weight shouldn't be such an issue. But while I say all that, it IS an issue - for me, and probably for most other women and a lot of men out there. And I feel like a hypocrite for being negative about obesity - I don't want to make anyone feel bad about how much they weigh. But at the same time I also very strongly feel that any extreme in weight should not necessarily be condemned, but it should be addressed. I feel that being chubby or flabby or a little too skinny is fine and normal and should be embraced and celebrated...but I also believe that big ISN'T beautiful when it reaches a certain point.
I don't know. I don't want to come across as this hateful idiot who is mindlessly attacking fat people - I think alot about this, and I think my biggest and most important point of view is simply this: Food is a beautiful source of energy that a lot of people have worked very hard to produce. We are really lucky to have access to so much wonderful food all year round, and it should be respected and consumed with grace. We have amazing bodies that are capable of so much, and they should be respected and treated well.
But while I get frustrated with the concept of obesity, I also get equally frustrated with the concept of skinnyness, and the idea that what is a healthy, normal weight is considered overweight (aesthetically). And that bothers the CRAP out of me. I hate that women are shoved into these 'ideal' weight boxes, that we're made to believe that we are always Too Fat. I hate that we can disrespect our bodies again, in the sense that we abuse them to the point of unnatural thinness. I get frustrated when I am craving that ice cream, but there is this underlying guilt that if I eat it, I might get Fat, and that would be bad. And I don't think being slightly overweight, slightly fat, chubby, whatever IS bad. I think its FINE. I think that women are supposed to have curves (and breasts and bums are made mostly of fat!). I think that stick thin is unacheivable and unrealistic and a sick goal to aim for.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that I really support a middle ground - slightly chubby, slightly skinny, all that is normal. I think we should embrace hte fact that our weights will fluctuate. I think that we should all be aiming for health AND happiness, and that weight shouldn't be such an issue. But while I say all that, it IS an issue - for me, and probably for most other women and a lot of men out there. And I feel like a hypocrite for being negative about obesity - I don't want to make anyone feel bad about how much they weigh. But at the same time I also very strongly feel that any extreme in weight should not necessarily be condemned, but it should be addressed. I feel that being chubby or flabby or a little too skinny is fine and normal and should be embraced and celebrated...but I also believe that big ISN'T beautiful when it reaches a certain point.
I don't know. I don't want to come across as this hateful idiot who is mindlessly attacking fat people - I think alot about this, and I think my biggest and most important point of view is simply this: Food is a beautiful source of energy that a lot of people have worked very hard to produce. We are really lucky to have access to so much wonderful food all year round, and it should be respected and consumed with grace. We have amazing bodies that are capable of so much, and they should be respected and treated well.