The Sad Truth About "Thick" and the Icon of Beauty - Comments

Please look at the blog post titled "Response to The Sad Truth About 'Thick'"

Although I feel like every woman should be confident, I do not agree that being overweight and/or obese should be any icon of beauty.

This is such a huge contradiction and I understand that it's easy to say this, but it's impossible to believe both of these things simultaneously. What you're saying is "hey, be confident, good for you, but society doesn't - shouldn't - agree with you." How degrading.

I completely disagree with a lot of what you've said in your post and in your comments. I'm a big girl, but I'm healthy. Being fat doesn't make you unhealthy automatically. Sure, it sometimes causes problems, but not always. Everyone's bodies are different and react to things differently. & for you to say that most fat people in the US are unhealthy kind of offends me.

& in my opinion there should be beauty "icons" in all ranges of weight - skinny, fat, average. Why can't people just look how they want to look? Feel about themselves how they want to feel? Why do we have to be healthy, or beautiful, or live up to someone's opinions of us and society's view on us? When people start putting negative opinions in the world, even if they think their opinions are 'helpful', it doesn't help anyone, it just degrades women and complicates things.

Everyone should be how they want to be. Feel how they want to feel. & accept who they are if that's what they want to do or all they can do. Fat, skinny, average, healthy, unhealthy, beautiful, ugly...

Why does it matter?

(Everything is just my opinion, I'm not trying to offend anyone, just saying how I feel and replying to how you feel.)

Honestly, I don't think "health" should be the face of beauty. Because not everybody has the opportunity to be healthy, and I believe that human beings are capable of making healthy choices without some demi-god model telling us what "healthy" looks like. I think models should be people who look interesting or attractive, regardless of their weight or health. So obese women should be discriminated against and not allowed to do something that anorexic bullimics do because it's unhealthy? I don't get this. It's illogical.

The sad truth about making any kind of beauty an icon is that you will cause damage in individuals who do not fit that specific standard. Modern research has revealed that stress, certain medications, genetics, and diseases can cause obesity as well. Not just overeating. We need to toss out this idea that any one size or shape or lifestyle is beautiful or more beautiful. There are people who eat right and exercise who still aren't the weight that a (now considered heavily flawed) height-weight diagram insist they should be. Also last I checked, the most common reasons people get cancer have to do with genetics more than anything else.

By the way I wasn't trying to insinuate you were belittling anyone. I meant my comment in a generalized manner.

My opinion is, all women are beautiful no matter their weight. And if they are unhealthy, I wouldn't judge them as any less beautiful. I think for so long the media has pushed the idea that only thin is beautiful and anyone who doesn't fit that type is not stylish or pretty.

Now a days more thick and curvy women are being thought of as beautiful and recognized as people with feelings. I will say that I do not condone an attitude that just because plus sized women are being promoted in media is any excuse for a person to purposely keep makjng themselves unhealthy just for the title but I don't think we should ridicule people who are overweight either or deem them not worthy of respect.

Some people who are overweight aren't people who just sit around and eat junk food for the hell of it always. There are people with disorders and physical illnesses that may make it extremely tough for them to just lose weight. I do agree we all should strive to be fit and healthy but I also believe ALL women no matter their height or weight should have equal chances at things and not belittled for their lifestyles.

Ayana Sioux:

@ Jamboree
I can understand your reason for disagreeing, but I just want you to consider than in America, most people that are overweight or obese have health issues almost always. This is because the reason for them being obese is the consumption of a high fat and processed food diet. This is widespread. I'm not sure where you're from, but here, if your fat, you are probably unhealthy.

[edit] I 100% disagree with the statement above. I think it's a little bit... ehe to assume that majority of Americans who are obese are so because of unhealthy choices. I guess I think this way because I was a PCA for several months and overhalf of my clients were obese, but it wasn't because of what they chose to eat but many other factors. Regardless of area, if people are fat they are going to assume the worst. But, I guess I am just one of those people.

I don't believe in prizing ANY unhealthy person and that includes under and overweight. By no means, am I saying that obese women should strut the runway, but neither should - excuse me for saying - skeletons who starve themselves all day and night to stay at 100lbs to please designers. Not only starve, but the ones who day in and out exercise unhealthly.Which is a thing. My cousin used to have an ED, worked her way out of that, and now exercises all day and night - because her body is shaped in a way that she hates. (So, I guess no one really does have the right to show off their body, in my opinion since there will always be something to gripe at health-wise.)

@ Louise Belcher
Haha, yeah, there will always be those who will deny it to their death.

My argument is that the icon of beauty should be women that live a healthy lifestyle, eating properly and exercising regularly. There's really no other better way to put this, in my opinion, no matter how many people will try and argue and not face/accept it.

@ diamond.
Well, here are some good tips for you, instead of cutting down your sugar, you should consume more sugar from fruits. As a matter of a fact, your diet will probably improve if you include a lot more sugary fruits in your diet. Just curious, would you be willing to try the vegan 30 day challenge?

@ Jamboree
I can understand your reason for disagreeing, but I just want you to consider than in America, most people that are overweight or obese have health issues almost always. This is because the reason for them being obese is the consumption of a high fat and processed food diet. This is widespread. I'm not sure where you're from, but here, if your fat, you are probably unhealthy.

How can you tell how healthy someone is just by looking at them? Almost all of the other models, the skinny ones, are so disproportionately thin that it would be healthier to be overweight than to try and look like them. There are some people who can be healthy while still appearing overweight and that's not for you to judge. I completely disagree with this.

Yes. I agree with you. The icon of beauty should be someone who is 'healthy' regardless of how 'thin' or 'thick' they are.

I am a big sized woman and I am happy with myself. But at the moment, I'm trying to cut my sugar intake and watch the portion of my food intake and it's not that I wanna be 'skinnier' but I wanna be healthier. One day, I wanna sign up for organ donation so that when I die someone else can use my organs. So I wanna take care of my body and organs now so that I can help others who will need it even after I leave this world, you know.