Fitting In

Bare bellies provoke a wobbly. Last week a group of angry young women stormed the offices of The Newcastle Herald to protest against columnist Jeff Corbett and his opinion of female midriff fashions, "belly blubber" and "horribly deep navels"... "At an age when girls should be striving to be pleasing to the eye, the male eye, these young women were going to serious lengths to expose an acre of wobbling excess. Haven't they looked in the mirror?"... Then he described exposed bellies as a form of terrorism." [Daily Rotten]

Ok, I'm a fat woman, so when I read an article like this, I tend to take more offense than others might.  But more than anything else, the assertion Corbett makes that there should ever be a time when girls should strive to be pleasing to the male eye, bothers me.

It's true that for most "love" relationships there needs to be some physical attraction - but that need should pass fairly quickly, as the physical body is one of the most changable aspects of a person, making it very unstable to build a relationship upon. 

Unfortunately, there are so many sources of pressure on women - especially young women - to conform to a certain body-type that we've seen a grave increase in eating disorders.  Anorexia is becoming almost commonplace as young girls stive to be pleasing to the male eye, as is bulimia. There are even "support" groups now for people who think they have the right to choose to be anorexic if they so wish.  I know many, many times I prayed and wished that I could be anorexic because I was so desparate to lose the weight I had gained - not so much so that I could be attractive, but so that people could quit being cruel to me.  Had I been a weaker person - and there are many times I've wished for that as well - I can easily see that I would have killed myself long before now.

Many will say that being fat is a choice - and that all one needs to do is eat less and exercise more to lose it.  Speaking from personal experience, however, I can tell you it's not that simple.  There are many reasons why a person will gain or carry extra weight.  But you know what? The whys of it shouldn't matter.  A fat person is still a person, with all the intelligence, emotions, spirit and such as any other.  I someone is not attracted to fat people sexually, that is, of course, their progative.  What I disagree with is with the constant message being presented by society, the media and peers that it is some kind of moral failing or social wrong to be fat.