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From: regard@ttidcc.UUCP (Adrienne Regard)
Newsgroups: net.women
Subject: fashionable bodies
Message-ID: <333@ttidcc.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 10-Apr-85 16:12:43 EST
Article-I.D.: ttidcc.333
Posted: Wed Apr 10 16:12:43 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 12-Apr-85 05:59:43 EST
Organization: TTI, Santa Monica, CA.
Lines: 35



I'm one of those skinny people who can't hold an extra 5 pounds if they
tried.  Scrawny is more descriptive.

It's always amusing to me that when I say something about going to the
health club (as in "I'm not going to do your work for you today, I'm
going to the health club") the invariable response is "why -- you don't
have to lose weight".

It amazes me that people equate exercise with weight loss, and not with
health.  That's how lopsided our society has become.  Seems to me it's more
important that your body be in good shape, with muscle and good skin tone,
and energized, than it be fat, thin, plump, whatever.

If I get gawked at by fashion-mag-model-type-droolers-over, am I a happier
person?  No.  If I get dismissed by the gimme-a-woman-I-can-hold-onto-type-
droolers-over, am I crushed?  No.  It's a matter of supreme indifference to
me, unless the ogglers are annoying, in which case I make a little trouble.

When I do my own gawking, I look for efficient bodies.  Muscle-bound men,
as well as fat men, aren't efficient.  Neither fat women nor fashionplate
thin models who mince about in 6" heels are efficient.  I admit to a
preference for tall and thin, but I've spent plenty of time with short and
stocky, too, as long as they were in shape.

A recent study showed that a woman who jogs was almost 100% sure to leave
her mate if he did not keep in shape.  The reverse wasn't quite as dramatic,
but there was a high percentage of men who would also leave their mates if
the men were in shape and the women weren't.  I doubt it was a very
scientific study, but even so -- it makes a good deal of sense that if
YOU value health and a strong body, you value it in your romantic contacts
as well.

To hell with fashion -- let's worry about conditioning instead.