First of all, a large woman does not always mean that she is lazy, blaming genetics, or unhealthy. Many of the greatest female athletes in history have had plently of curves. In many cases, women who appear obese may have disorders with the thyroid or serious hormonal imbalances. It is not fair to automatically label a fat woman as lazy because there is never a way of telling what could be going on medically. Secondly, many of the models you see are not "real women" because their bodies have been digitally altered through computers using touch-ups. In additon, many of the these women are naturally thin. They can say they are thin from genetics, why can't a fat person. Many of the live models that are seen on runways usually have eating disorders and/or use drugs to be as thin as some are. Its sad that a person has to literally kill themselves to be in the modeling industry. And just because these models are thin does not mean they are healthy or fit or are in any better shape than a fat woman.

Third, curves on a woman's body do not necessarily have to be "digusting, flaps of flab..." as you mentioned. Curves are natural and can be healthy and define a woman's shape. Real women do have curves, all women who do have curves ae not fat. It is a shame that healthy women are put down by ignorant streotypes that have been created to seel products, diets, and so on.

By the way, weight watchers is not an embarrsament and not only women with "extra" curves attend. It can be used to gain, loose, or maintain a person's goal weight.

Editor's Note: It's amazing how many responses this piece has prompted. I keep rereading it to make sure I didn't write anything sloppily or wrong, but I still haven't found anything. (In fact, the piece actually contains one of the best paragraphs I've ever written, in my humble opinion: "Sure, some real women are fat. There are also some real women who don't run for a bowl of Fritos as their sole means of exercise the minute a commercial for Bally's health clubs comes on the T.V. In other words, some women understand that stationary bicycles have a purpose, even though you can't coast down a hill to the Cheesecake Factory on them." If I could write a paragraph like that every day for the rest of my life, I will have succeeded.) You have perhaps the most reasonable sounding response of anyone so far, but you still got my article wrong. You wrote, "a large woman does not always mean that she is lazy, blaming genetics, or unhealthy." I didn't say she was, nor did I "automatically label a fat woman as lazy". I was referring to what people mean when they say "real women have curves". This phrase is much different from "it's (morally) ok to be large", and intentionally so. The phrase is meant to elevate "large" women above non-large women. How? By calling them "real". It implies that the non-large is the non-real, thereby putting down women who are not large. I'm fine with a phrase like "it's ok to be large", only if you add the phrase "as long as you're doing your best to be healthy". It's not ok to be large if you can't carry your kid down a fucking staircase during a fire. It's not ok to be large if your husband married a 130-pound woman and now you're asking him to fuck a 250-pound disheveled mass who gave up on caring about her looks a decade ago. I could say the same thing about men, but I don't want to insult the intelligence of my readers. You mention that many photos of models are digitally altered. Personally, I find most models completely unappealing anyway, except for the occasional Maxim covergirl. (And that's usually just because the cleavage catches my attention, whether or not it's human cleavage or the creation of some bearded guy with Adobe software.) Incredibly, you also got my comment about Weight Watchers wrong, too. I didn't say it was an embarrassment for a woman to attend. I was referring to women who (a) choose to remain fat and (b) ridicule thinner women in an effort to justify their own weight. I am assuming that these women who fulfill both of these qualifications are embarrassed about showing up at Weight Watchers. Then again, maybe I'm wrong. Maybe they wouldn't be embarrassed to show up, just really pissed off that there exists such an organization and that a thin woman has the nerve to run the class. (JR)

February 26, 2005 at 23:17:45