Bingo Night!

If you haven’t enjoyed a good game in a while, head on over to Hoyden About Town, where some Metafilter readers have come to educate us all about how unattractive fat women are. Tigtog’s winning so far:

If you don’t want to go all the way to Australia to play, I’ve rounded up enough for a good game right here. (One heartening thing to know is that all of the lines below only come from three, maybe four commenters. And one kept trying to get porn links past the Hoydens, for fuck’s sake.)

Hey, if you like chubby babes, go to it with my blessings, but do not, please, suggest that all shapes and sizes are equally attractive. They are not. Period.

Because if anyone disagrees with me, that would mean I might be wrong about whom I’m attracted to. Because we all know that everyone on earth who’s not some kind of sick freak is attracted to exactly the same thing. That makes perfect sense.

I cant believe the amount of self delusion in this thread. Men prefer chicks that arent fat! Women prefer men that arent fat as well. Geez! I understand that the amount of advertising that features women nowadays creates a whole host of problems like poor self-body image and the like which is bad but simply denying that most men prefer women who are a lot thinner than those featured in these ads is ludicrously deluded.

I don’t think anyone even “denied” that “most men” prefer anything. The comments were pretty much on the order of, “I think she’s hot,” “My husband is drooling,” “I know a lot of men who would be drooling if they saw this,” and “I know a lot of lesbians who would, too.” Meaning, they were individual and subjective, just like your opinion. (And as Tigtog pointed out, the “Hot or not” question is really just reinforcing patriarchal bullshit anyway.) The only people arguing that they represent “most men” are the ones who can’t seem to handle the concept that any heterosexual male alive might have a different preference.

You will be taken a lot more seriously if you claim that women of a NORMAL healthy body mass index (i.e. someone like kate winslet) are not represented fairly in modern day advertising when instead unrealisticly thin/tall models are usually used. Insisting that figures like the ones used in these ads are sexy or that there is nothing wrong having a figure like these women (who are obviously overweight and unhealthy) is stupid, delusional and just as dangerous as unhealthily thin models on the cover of vogue.

Okay, first, by whom will we be taken a lot more seriously? ‘Cause Tigtog seems to be taken seriously by everyone on that thread who evinces a modicum of intelligence, self-awareness, and/or compassion. And I can’t speak for her, but I know those are the people I’m most interested in addressing. Second, as Paul and others already pointed out, you do not know if these women are unhealthy. To assume you can diagnose someone based on her body size — especially when that someone probably falls into the BMI category with the lowest mortality rate — is pretty much the definition of “stupid and delusional.”

I have known professional models–my former wife was a fashion illustrator–and they were healthy ladies.

Oh, I’m sure they were. I’m sure those ladies were strong as oxen and definitely didn’t have eating disorders or drug addictions or suffer from depression or anything. Health problems among professional models are famously rare, and in any case, you’d certainly be able to tell by looking.

I wander the beach and I do not like cellulite-ridden thighs.

Finally, a substantive, factual argument for why “most men” like exactly what you like, and fat people are unhealthy! Thank you for helping me get it!

Also, you’re gonna want to avoid beaches on the north side of Chicago, because my cellulite-ridden thighs and I will be there as often as possible all summer. Only because I like to sit on the beach in a bathing suit and strap a family size bag of chips to my head, of course. I mean, swimming is exercise, and we all know how much fat people hate that. To be honest, I go mostly because I like knowing that most men who walk by me can barely keep the vomit down when they see my thighs — even though I can’t observe their reactions, what with my head in the bag of chips and all.

I find 18-year -old girls attractive and often with nice (hard) bodies, and note that is the healthiness etc of youth that appeals.

BWAH! Oh, that is so… so… wait, a sec, can’t catch my breath… laughing too hard… BWAHAHAHAHA!!!!! Okay, okay… breathe… As I was saying, that is so my favorite one of the day. I dig 18-year-old hardbodies because they’re healthy.

It’s true ladies, loose that weight you little piggies!

I do loose the weight, every time I take off my clothes. If you want me to diet, you’re going to have to learn how to spell, asshole.

I’m not a doctor but I do know that too much weight is not a good thing for potential diabetes, heart condition, blood pressure.I am not here concerned about illness but address only what I (me only) find attractive.

I’m not a doctor, but I do know you’re full of crap. Also, if you’re not concerned about illness, just about what YOU ONLY find attractive, why did you just give us all a medical lesson, and why the hell are you insisting that your personal preferences are somehow relevant here?

I don’t hate fat people at all but I don’t think being overweight is a good thing at all and that we should aspire to be fat or be happy with it as you seem to be saying. I understand that there are a lot of unhealthy body images being promoted in the media today and that a lot of women as a result who are of a perfectly healthy and normal body weight feel unfairly self conscious about themselves and may suffer from poor body image. However when people who are obviously overweight blame the media for making them feel unhappy about themselves rather than adopt a more healthy lifestyle it’s a failure to take responsibility for ones own actions or inactions – that is not societies fault.

BINGO! What do I win?

You could have simply addressed my point instead that most men desire women that are less heavy than those in this ad. I understand that if you are overweight this may not be very nice to have to accept but it is the simple undeniable truth… Being overweight is not healthy nor is it sexy for most of the population whether you are male or female.

1. I addressed your point above, and Tigtog, bless her, addressed it about 80 times in the thread.
2. As Paul said, actually, what you’re saying is entirely deniable.
3. Weight itself has very little to do with health, as we’ve discussed, and “sexy” is completely subjective. Does anyone else hear an echo?

fat girls are NOT attractive. Period. Why pretend otherwise?

Um, because that’s utter bullshit? And we’re not pretending.

Choosing to lose weight and make a positive step in your life is going to make you a lot happier in your life in the long term rather than defending being fat on the internet and attacking people who are only stating the plain truth.

1. Being fat and “making positive steps in your life” are by no means mutually exclusive.
2. Most people cannot choose to lose weight permanently.
3. As plenty of fat people already know, dieting does not make you happier. Or thinner.
4. I don’t just defend being fat on the internet. I defend it everywhere.
5. You can’t be stating “plain truth” when you’re primarily dealing in opinion, not fact — and every time you do attempt to state a fact, you get it wrong.
6. Asshole.
7. I’ve lost a great deal of weight before. I’ve been thin. It definitely did not make me happier than calling you an asshole right there.