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From: ariels@orca.UUCP (Ariel Shattan)
Newsgroups: net.singles
Subject: Re: Dates not eating and m/f body image
Message-ID: <1450@orca.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 21-Apr-85 01:58:09 EST
Article-I.D.: orca.1450
Posted: Sun Apr 21 01:58:09 1985
Date-Received: Mon, 22-Apr-85 00:29:58 EST
References: <475@spp2.UUCP> <> <255@lasspvax.UUCP> <174@tektools.UUCP> <2342@mit-hermes.ARPA> <520@udenva.UUCP>
Organization: sixes and sevens
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> 
> Axiom of the Month:  Women don't lose weight to look good for men, they
> lose it to look good for other women.  That's why they don't know when
> to stop. (The Self-Perpetuating Anorexic Circle Axiom, by Sid Davis)
> 
>                                   -- Steve Blore

Whoa, there, Mister!  Them's fighting words!   Oftimes, women become
anorexic because the only part of the their lives they feel they
have control over is their weight.  

And as for losing weight to look good for other women, I'm about 20%
over "insurance chart" weight, and relatively fit, and I've had men, 
from my brother to co-workers to members of my social group make 
comments to me about my weight and eating habits.  Whereas the only
woman who's commented has been my mother (and she's allowed to,
because she's my mother, not that I listen...).  Other women
complement me on my healthy look and body.

You might be interested in the following quotes on female beauty, past
and present.  These quotes came from the May '85 issue of "Ms.
Magazine," from the article titled, "We'll Always Be Fat, But Fat Can
Be Fit." The author of the article uses these quotes to show how the
image of beauty has changed through the years.

From "The Arabian Nights," 10th Century AD:

  "Praised be to Allah who made me stout and stuffed cushions in my
  every nook and corner; neither did He neglect to lard my skin with
  fat that is fragrant as the spicebush...Listen, skinny one, to
  what the poet says of the woman, fat like myself: 'Look, as she
  rises, how she leaves a souvenir of heriself on the place she has
  quitted, the imprint of her buttocks.  Look at her hips as she
  walks.  They are unbearably lacivious.  They are like two otters
  playing seesaw.'"

From Victorian pornography, 1880:

  "Hers was one of those oval majestic figures, such as poets and
  mythologists attribute to Juno...Her hips were very large and
  wide, whilst her buttocks swelling out behind into two hillocks of
  snowy-white flesh, firm and springy to the touch, gave token of
  the vivacity and livelyness with which their owner would enter
  into the delicious combats of love.  Her thighs were of a
  largeness and fleshy plumpness seldom seen in a female...She was,
  in fact, the very beau ideal of female beauty."

Cloris Leachman, 1975:

  "I can't bear fat bodies.  I think that there should be fat
  catchers, like dog catchers, to go around and put big nets over
  fat people and take them someplace and get them slimmed
  down...Because what they're doing is advertising their
  unhappiness or their anger or frustration for everyone to see, and
  I don't want to see it."

[editorial comment: This from a woman who looks like the Wicked
Witch of the West!]

From "The Woman Doctor's Diet for Women," 1977

  "Heavy women are a drag on the dating market, and they know it.
  What they don't realize is the incredible difference losing weight
  makes in their attractiveness to men.  It doesn't matter a bit how
  pretty your face is, what a terrific personality you have, what a
  good person you are -- everything in this world, for women, boils
  down to body size."

[Grrrrrrr! Not for me, it don't!]

Weight issues, both under- and over-, are sometimes as much political as
personal.  When was the last time you asked a woman out who was more
than 20% "over"weight? How come all the personal ads say "slender"
or "no fatties"?

Sorry, women lose weight because it's supposed to attract men. They
know they're competing with all those images that men see on TV and
in the Playboys.  Women aren't trying to look like fashion models,
but like Playboy centerfolds.  And they do it because having a man
is still seen as more important than anything else for a woman in 
this society. (Just because you don't think this is way doesn't
mean it isn't true of society in general.  Ask your basic woman 
on the street. After all, you didn't receive these messages when
growing up, she did.).

Ariel Shattan

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