I'd like to touch on a subject I avoided up until now, mostly cause I think it is given way too much importance in our culture.
The issue of weight.
Anyone who knows me knows I had my fair amount of dieting and obsessing about food. I won't bore you with my realizations but I would like to comment on a few things.
There is such an imbalance of attitudes toward female weight in the media that it makes it real hard to be and stay normal on this subject on a personal level. What I found infuriating is that whichever way you go you are somehow wrong. If you' re slim you are automatically called a stick thin anorexic, if you are big you are a fat lazy cow, and if you are in the middle you are not good enough because you are obviously not trying enough to be better (read thinner).
Now I do think that due to the cultural changes in eating, some people are overweight beyond the question if it is pretty or not. They are in the land of will they'll get diabetes or not. So for instance even though I think it is cool how Beth Ditto dresses and rocks, I think she should definitely lose some weight and give her heart and her knees a fighting chance.
But there is another fucked up issue in all of this: even though I am a firm believer in individual responsibility (not only in this, but in all wakes of life), the society is now set up so, that it becomes a real fight to eat normal (or even know what's normal). This is especially the case in the UK. There, first of all, food is everywhere: you can't have a cup of coffee in the park without being offered a giant ass muffin. Now, it's not a problem to say no: the problem is that after a while you start to put this in the same group in your head, and all of a sudden buying coffee equals food as well. This is just one example of how consumer society "enables" over-eating and then at the same time scolds you for eating too much and not being slender.
I am guessing US is even worse with their tendency to super size every-friggin-thing.
On the other hand, standards of what is slim have changed and are very unrealistic: it's not enough to only be of YOUR ideal weight, you are supposed to strive for a certain number. Not only to look better, but to be a "better" person: more successful, more attractive and hell, just to be able to wear the clothes you like (don't even get me started on this).
The issue of weight.
Anyone who knows me knows I had my fair amount of dieting and obsessing about food. I won't bore you with my realizations but I would like to comment on a few things.
There is such an imbalance of attitudes toward female weight in the media that it makes it real hard to be and stay normal on this subject on a personal level. What I found infuriating is that whichever way you go you are somehow wrong. If you' re slim you are automatically called a stick thin anorexic, if you are big you are a fat lazy cow, and if you are in the middle you are not good enough because you are obviously not trying enough to be better (read thinner).
Now I do think that due to the cultural changes in eating, some people are overweight beyond the question if it is pretty or not. They are in the land of will they'll get diabetes or not. So for instance even though I think it is cool how Beth Ditto dresses and rocks, I think she should definitely lose some weight and give her heart and her knees a fighting chance.
But there is another fucked up issue in all of this: even though I am a firm believer in individual responsibility (not only in this, but in all wakes of life), the society is now set up so, that it becomes a real fight to eat normal (or even know what's normal). This is especially the case in the UK. There, first of all, food is everywhere: you can't have a cup of coffee in the park without being offered a giant ass muffin. Now, it's not a problem to say no: the problem is that after a while you start to put this in the same group in your head, and all of a sudden buying coffee equals food as well. This is just one example of how consumer society "enables" over-eating and then at the same time scolds you for eating too much and not being slender.
I am guessing US is even worse with their tendency to super size every-friggin-thing.
On the other hand, standards of what is slim have changed and are very unrealistic: it's not enough to only be of YOUR ideal weight, you are supposed to strive for a certain number. Not only to look better, but to be a "better" person: more successful, more attractive and hell, just to be able to wear the clothes you like (don't even get me started on this).
This all is a labyrinth of society facts that can make even the healthiest of people confused with should's and should not's. I don't have an answer or even a conclusion on this subject, but I do think we live in an unhealthy culture which, btw, we ourselves perpetuate and allow to manipulate us.
