Deep Thoughts

Do you feel like doing some deep thinking today? this post by Savy of Shaping My Way asks if the world, in catering to the overweight, is actually, subtly making people overweight.

"So, how do we save ourselves? Where is the line between a reasonable accommodation for every person (because people deserve to be able to participate in the world, regardless of size - I fully believe that, so please don't misunderstand) and a disservice to our society as a whole? Is it fair to make this a world that accommodates overweight/obese people before normal weight people?"

I don't think this post is in any way a knee-jerk antifat reaction, although I do detect a hint of the whole smug-ex-smoker in her attitude. I find the idea that our world is going to cater to fat people--much less pressure people to be overweight--somewhat laughable. But it's still worth thinking about. Is society an enabler? Is it important for us to suffer and to be uncomfortable, on top of all the ridicule, in order to motivate us to lose weight and be healthy? Are longer seatbelts and wider airplane seats a bad idea?

In my opinion, the thin person would never even think about accomodations like that. When I lost weight, I simply stopped worrying if the seat belt would fit around me, because I knew it always would. On the other hand, I am a firm believer in throwing away your fat pants, because hanging onto them means you're giving yourself implicit permission to get fat all over again. So suddenly I don't know what I think. What do you think?

Fatty Talk Keep Talkin' Fatty Talk

Anabell sends along this thought-provoking question from Diet Blog: do you participate in Fat Talk?

"Some intriguing research shows that college students - males and females - know that when women are in a group of other women who are fat talking, that they are supposed to join in to say negative things about their bodies. And, there is pressure to do so."

On second glance, I don't think the statistics are so convincing, since only 40% of male and 51% of female students identified this pressure, hardly an overwhelming majority. However, from anecdotal evidence, this rings really true. Women bond by complaining about their bodies and sometimes it seems that anyone who doesn't complain "can't relate." I've had fatty talk conversations. Have you?