Comments on: Thinking Thin

By: Elle

Elle — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 03:28:15 +0000

“Hint: nobody remarked that she looked sick.”

THIS IS WHAT INFURIATES ME!!

I am underweight, sickly, and suffering from a chronic disease. I get compliments all the time for being “so thin” and “looking good”. More than I ever get when I’m healthy. I’M SICK!! But the average person seems to think that looking sickly is looking good. People actually tell me I am LUCKY to have a disease that “keeps me thin.” What is wrong with this picture?

By: littlem

littlem — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 23:14:13 +0000

All thoughts about Senator Hillary being a strategist above all else aside, I’ve decided, after much ruminating on the subject, that one of the primary reasons that “Every Woman Has an Eating Disorder” and why we are so obsessed with women’s fat in American culture, is not so much that women are comparatively big, but that — with our, I think, equivalent obsession with polar, simplistic, sound-bite analysis — men are consumed with their OWN fear of being comparatively small.

(Please extrapolate to apply as you see appropriate.)

(Also, I speak, of course, in generalities for the sake of a cohesive theory – not ALL men, for those lovely occasional browsers/readers poised to rant about ad hoc and ad hominem.)

And that given American male obsession with machoness, and ruggedry, and stature, and who has more more more, that a lot of the rest — women’s status being based on their ability to be physically & emotionally fragile and delicate (size 00? Size -2? Not, of course, that if you’re that size naturally that there’s anything wrong with that), and not “loud”, and all the trophy wife/GF BS — is collateral fallout.

By: The-f-word.org » Blog Archive » The world in weight: The weekly round-up

Wed, 08 Aug 2007 15:19:16 +0000

[...] but their ambitions, as well. Check out discussions of Ream’s awesome editorial here and here. Click to [...]

By: jeremy

jeremy — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 19:03:10 +0000

Nice article, it’s pretty sad that a serious woman, and presidential candidate had to stoop to that, but she’s trying to be “one of the people”, and the people are screwed up. Especially on the internet, where there’s barely any repercussions when manners are at their worst.

That flickr post disturbed me as well. I like to believe there’s a person out there for everyone, and if we were left to our own it wouldn’t matter who is fat or thin. Too many people are raised with commercials these days.

By: celticfeminist

celticfeminist — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 18:33:17 +0000

This post was awesome – and right on target. Right after reading it, I went to check out my Flickr pages and came across a picture someone had captured of a couple doing the tango. I think it’s a relatively nice shot, myself.

You can see it here …

If you scroll down through the comments, it takes about 5 or so before someone wonders why the “well dressed man” is dancing with the “well, you now … full figured woman.”

WHAT.THE.FUCK.

That comment summed up so much of what you talk about – between thinking that no man in his right mind would ever want to dance with a fat woman and the fact that a woman who looks to be a pretty healthy and normal size to me is considered “full-figured.”

Apparently, unless you’re a woman who weighs less than a healthy middle-schooler, you’re taking up too much fricking space and no one will want to dance with or desire you.

What a bunch of horseshit. Grumble.

By: elasticwaist

elasticwaist — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 18:02:17 +0000

What a rockin’ post. Can’t wait to go read that article. Too ambitious, my ass. Thanks yet again, Kate.

By: Meowser

Meowser — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 17:21:03 +0000

Oh, believe me Kate, I’m happy it was published at all. Telling a size 14 she’s gorgeous is better than a size 14 usually gets. But I tell you, my thought was, “OK, maybe if I lose 50 pounds, I can wear a size 14 again and be something resembling ‘normal.’ Where’s that South Beach Diet book again?” Prolly not the response you’d be after, I take it.

By: Buffy

Buffy — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 16:48:52 +0000

I don’t know…I suppose I see it as no woman, despite her size, is EVER happy. It’s a constant battle.

Rewarding a woman who lost weight due to depression, illness or other seems severely skewed to me. I believe this is partly what this article is pointing out. There are women who will be a natural 0, 2, 4, 6…etc. But to neclect your health and spirit strictly to conform to a standard is insane.

Of course continuing to push this ideal keeps women focused on issue that, when you stop and think, really has no bearing on your overall quality of life. Why do we continue to be inherently unhappy with ourselves over something so miniscule, when we have ONE shot at this life? Perhaps taking the discipline we focus on dieting, exercise, self-hate and directing it towards rewarding ourselves for who we are is the key to happiness.

By: nameunknown

nameunknown — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 16:12:29 +0000

“I had to look up what a size 0 is – I live in the UK, where it’s equivalent to a size 4. At the moment, you’d be hard pushed to find size 4 clothes over here – but not doubt it will come.”

See, hte problem I feel lately is that people think that including such sizes is encouraging anorexia, but I think that for those of us who just naturally fit those sizes, it is unfair to exclude us…just like it would be unfair to not include a size 20 for fear it would “encourage obesity.” Especially because neither of those things are true. Just because a place stocks a certainsize doesn’t mean EVERYONE has to have it, just like if my favorite store started stocking stripper-esque clothing I wouldn’t want to by it solely because they stock it.

Then again, Abercrombie has already gone there and back…

By: BStu

BStu — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 14:14:58 +0000

The good thing, though, is that Ream didn’t try to prove her seriousness by throwing fat people under the bus. Even with a sense that she might think, “Oh, I don’t mean you,” she at least didn’t say it outright. And I will say that I didn’t read her as bitter about gaining the weight back. It seemed clear to me that her bitterness was directed at the reaction she got when lost weight.