Whenever I see these studies that pop up about how happy black women are about being overweight, I wonder it this is some kind of “okey doke” propaganda that’s a deliberate attempt at actually KEEPING black women content with wearing dresses my kids could use for tents and being all right with having “a little sugar” (aka debilitating diabetes–let’s not make that shite sound cute, cuz it ain’t).
Apparently the Kaiser Foundation did a survey of 800 black women that revealed 66% were happy with their weight–morbidly obese or not–compared to white women, who came in at 41%. And what really blows my mind is how the author of the Washington Post article uses an active, yet 30-40-pound overweight woman to highlight the credibility of the study. Miss “Chubby and Happy” has been warned by her doctors that her nearly 200-pound bee-hind needs to drop the pounds, but she just mostly poo-poos that notion. And check out this gem of a quote:
“And though she’s never married, she contends she never lacks boyfriends, black and white. “Men have always said to me, ‘You’re not fat, you’re p-h-a-t fat.’ And when I’m not teaching, I’m all girl.â€
Hmmm. O.K.E.Y. D.O.K.E.Y.
I guess this isn’t a good time to bring up the terms, “hit it and quit it” or “jump off.” I can’t tell you how many times I’ve overheard a man say freely that he’ll sleep with a rotund woman for a variety of crass reasons but wouldn’t dream of getting serious. And in all fairness Miss Chubby and Happy is attractive, but she needs to STOP with the half-top.
Some commenters on the WashPo article got it right:
So let’s stipulate that this is a story given its is the last day of black history month. Is this really the best the Post could come up with about black women? They are atypically fat and happy. I would be displeased if I were a black woman. Post should stick with the Michelle Obama beautification stories.
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Oddly enough, when I visited France, I saw scores of lovely black women, none of them fat. Go figure.
–in response to above: those thin French black women must really hate themselves!
——–How could anybody enjoy or take pride in being fat? It is easier to say, I like being fat than it is to lose weight.
This is not a color issue to me, this is an over-eating issue. I have seen as many fat white women as I have seen fat black women.
Not too fat, not too skinny should be the goal regardless of skin color.
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Another fat and proud article.
Women (or men) wont be proud when they have their first myocardial infarction (or your last) or their kidneys fail and they wind up on dialysis, or when diabetic retinopathy deprives them of much of their vision, etc etc.
Don’t delude yourselves. The choice isn’t: Obese or model-thin? What’s wrong with optimal weight – we maintained those optimal weights for 100s of thousands of years pre-industrial age. Our technology is killing us.
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Obesity is not good for anyone regardless of race and sex. Unfortunately, obesity is high in the black community and in some ethnic Latino communities like the Salvadoran and Puerto Rican. My mother is overweight, but I’ve gotten here to eat healthy and she goes to a senior wellness center daily for excerise. I attended Howard University Homecoming last October. I ran into a friend that I hadn’t seen in about 14 years. She was chubby when I last seen her. Now she’s almost 250 pounds. I was shocked to see her at the weight and size. Her arms and legs looked like Miss Piggy. Black women need to start eating healthy and stop cooking greens with fatback meat, salt, and other unhealthy food. When I travel to North Carolina at the holidays, I see so much unhealthy food at the table and many of my fat relatives just over eat. When some were living in New York City and in D.C., they were skinny or small. Once they moved down home, they gained so much weight. I try to educated my overweight family members on unhealthy foods and their weight without hurting their feelings. However, every black women cannot look or be the size of Halle Barry.
Black women are being fed (literally and figuratively) a load of bull. Can’t you see that the (fat) joke is on us? “Oh look at the fat black lady! They just LOVE being fat! Go throw her some chicken and watermelon and ask her if she wants to wash my drawers and raise my kids, will you Bob?” *cough* The Help *cough*
Let’s go through the impact of this, shall we?
–Black women have THE highest obesity rates in the United States
–Black women have the highest incidents of diabetes, high blood pressure and hormone-resistant breast cancer, all due to obesity.
–Excessive, DISPROPORTIONAL fat distorts facial features and the feminine form.
–ALL men, of ALL races overwhelmingly prefer a fit, feminine form, with very few exceptions.
Who benefits by convincing black women to remain the least physically attractive? THAT is the question.
Well, I'm one of those Black middle aged fat women whom everyone nowadays seems to want to pick on! I read the article and just laughed. Here's why: I am in no way delusional about my weight. Here's how I see it: my weight is a PERSONAL matter between me and my physician. I'm neither happy nor unhappy with my weight. It just is, and I've learned to accept it. I do the best I can. That's all I can do. I'm well aware of the fact that I don't look like a supermodel or even a "cougar" or MILF. Sure, I could struggle to lose 140 lbs to get my weight down to where I was at age 18 and before having kids, but the reality is don't think I can realistically maintain that sort of weight loss without going crazy in the process! I've seen the women who lose a lot of weight and they are obsessed with nothing but what they eat or do not eat. Their whole lives are about nothing but talking about how many fat grams are in this specific food or how many carbs are in that specific food. BORING! Life is too doggone short for me to me to be wasting time doing that sort of thing. The reality is the losing weight is a LOT harder when one is older, and I'm not 100% convinced I want to spend the 2d half of my life on a never-ending diet and hating my body! I have enough on my plate at age 51 and in the midst of trying to cope with a particularly tough perimenopause! FACT: You only get one go-round on this earth, and I intend to live it to the fullest fat thighs, belly and all! If someone out there doesn't like it, they can just lump it! Being Black, female and fat is not a crime, nor should it be treated as such. We deserve to be happy and have love in our lives like everyone else. Why should I wait until I'm a size 2 for that? Sure I realize that by accepting my size I may find myself perennially "undateable" but you know what? Dating is overrated anyway. Been there done that, and I didn't like the dating game even when I was a skinny-minny. I've had a husband and children, so my biological time clock isn't all that crucial, and I've had my share of romance in my life, so I'm not missing anything! . Now if I ever again choose to look for a fellow for a relationship, what I want is someone who adds to my happiness, not detracts from it with endless criticism, conditionalism and passive-aggressive nonsense. I f the fellow can't accept me as I am AT MY CURRENT SIZE then who needs 'em around, anyway? As for overall happiness, oh yes I am absolutely happy! I have every reason to be happy or rather blessed: I have a wonderful church, as well as my hula classes, my music, poetry writing, singing, the beach, travel, a job I enjoy very much my friends and family (especially my sweet grandson), life is good and yes, I'm very, VERY happy with that and I don't have to be thin to be happy with that, do I? On the grand scale of things, weight shouldn't be what defines us...and when we get to the Pearly Gates, God isn't going to say, Hey, Hulagirl61, why didn't you work harder to lose that weight? and it's what HE thinks of me that matters. I know some of you will disregard this and say I'm making 'excuses' or whatever, but I'd rather speak for myself instead of someone else speaking for me. I am FAT and YES I am happy. It's not impossible to be. Happiness is not a dress size.
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