2007年8月1日星期三
life in the fat lane.
Between the links popping up in everyone's profile and facebook pages (http%3A%2F%2Fnews.independent.co.uk%2Fhealth%2Farticle2814756.ece&sid=4068544874&pwstdfy=330b991111d89ff89b8dee376ee0a8e5) and fat is contagious study, and the terribly skew body fat curve here in China, I wanted to jot down my thoughts. I apologize to those looking for pretty pictures and funny stories (although there certainly are plenty of those in Beijing!) for being incredibly candid if not a little TMI in recent posts.
When I was in middle school, I read a book called, "Life in the Fat Lane" about a popular, pretty high school girl who suddenly develops a condition that makes her put on a lot of weight. While the book was panned critically (most harshly for the distinction it made between her "condition" and other obese people), it was an interesting read.
For most of my life, I've been blessed with a pixie-ish figure. Since I crossed that 100 threshold though, I can definitely not be considered "thin" per say but it's not all bad. Not unlike my namesake, Tinkerbell, I'm curve-ly minuscule and that seems acceptable enough.
On came the college weight (like my wisdom teeth that are just starting to peer in, my freshmen fifteen flub seems developmentally challenged as well, not coming in until my junior year! Thus it can't really be called the frosh fifteen). Still, I comfortably fit in to sizes between 0-3 so didn't feel particularly conscious of my weight before arriving in China.
My friend Edlyn from high school JSA arrived in Beijing this weekend. One of the (many) things we talked about was the pressure girls put on other girls. While guys may unintentionally say mean things at times, it is the sizing up by other girls that puts on the pressure to strive for perfection not just in achievements but also in appearance.
The reports on people viewing obesity as a sign of illness is preposterous! Weight is a socially derived heuristic. Years ago, Reuben's found beauty in the curvy figure and generations embraced it. The average dress size for a model in the United States and Europe has dropped in only the last 30 years from a reasonable size 6/8 to a 0. Pin-up girls Bette Davis and Marilyn Monroe were embraced (not despised) for their size 10+ frames. That's just in the Western world. In historical Asia, round faces with "chubby" cheeks looked well-fed. None of the current boniness that is prevalent today in HK.
Seeing as how perceptions on weight have shifted over the course of the years and what was once considered slim is now the average, the study's premise seems flawed. It provides an excuse for the stigma rather than examine where the stigma came from. Yes, people who react strongly to germs (I'm totally in this camp) will probably react strongly to other characteristics our societies show to be undesirable. For example, in China it's a terrible thing to be tan. Citizens tend to associate tanned skin with migrant works or farmers, thus a heuristic has developed that pale = cultured and refined = pretty. If posed the question, all else the same, would you prefer a tan person or a pale person, most Chinese would unquestionably select the latter. Does this indicate that tan = diseased? I think not.
The source of the confusion? Not because fat = disease but just because we're dramatic people.
When I was in middle school, I read a book called, "Life in the Fat Lane" about a popular, pretty high school girl who suddenly develops a condition that makes her put on a lot of weight. While the book was panned critically (most harshly for the distinction it made between her "condition" and other obese people), it was an interesting read.
For most of my life, I've been blessed with a pixie-ish figure. Since I crossed that 100 threshold though, I can definitely not be considered "thin" per say but it's not all bad. Not unlike my namesake, Tinkerbell, I'm curve-ly minuscule and that seems acceptable enough.
On came the college weight (like my wisdom teeth that are just starting to peer in, my freshmen fifteen flub seems developmentally challenged as well, not coming in until my junior year! Thus it can't really be called the frosh fifteen). Still, I comfortably fit in to sizes between 0-3 so didn't feel particularly conscious of my weight before arriving in China.
My friend Edlyn from high school JSA arrived in Beijing this weekend. One of the (many) things we talked about was the pressure girls put on other girls. While guys may unintentionally say mean things at times, it is the sizing up by other girls that puts on the pressure to strive for perfection not just in achievements but also in appearance.
The reports on people viewing obesity as a sign of illness is preposterous! Weight is a socially derived heuristic. Years ago, Reuben's found beauty in the curvy figure and generations embraced it. The average dress size for a model in the United States and Europe has dropped in only the last 30 years from a reasonable size 6/8 to a 0. Pin-up girls Bette Davis and Marilyn Monroe were embraced (not despised) for their size 10+ frames. That's just in the Western world. In historical Asia, round faces with "chubby" cheeks looked well-fed. None of the current boniness that is prevalent today in HK.
Seeing as how perceptions on weight have shifted over the course of the years and what was once considered slim is now the average, the study's premise seems flawed. It provides an excuse for the stigma rather than examine where the stigma came from. Yes, people who react strongly to germs (I'm totally in this camp) will probably react strongly to other characteristics our societies show to be undesirable. For example, in China it's a terrible thing to be tan. Citizens tend to associate tanned skin with migrant works or farmers, thus a heuristic has developed that pale = cultured and refined = pretty. If posed the question, all else the same, would you prefer a tan person or a pale person, most Chinese would unquestionably select the latter. Does this indicate that tan = diseased? I think not.
The source of the confusion? Not because fat = disease but just because we're dramatic people.
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