I saw this a couple years ago. I forgot about it (and where I saw it unfortunately), but one of my myspace friends posted it in her blog recently. I think it's great and the message behind support one big reason for my preference: I think Hollywood and Society's views of beauty have a lot to be desired.
Here we go:
What if fat was healthy because fat people had some cushioning and
> some reserve food stores to live on, and skinny people were said to
> be putting themselves at risk, and stigmatized for making this
stupid
> health decision?
> What if people went up to skinny girls in the street and said "Oh,
> you'd be beautiful if you'd just gain weight!"
> Or "You're thin, but you're beautiful on the inside!" Or looked at
me
> like I was in some way sick and disgusting?
> What if all clothes below size 10 came in girly pastels, with the
> reasoning that small women are underdeveloped and childish?
> What if they were called `minus sizes'?
> What if thin people had to go to special stores to buy clothes,
> because none of the regular stores wanted to stock clothes for
them,
> saying that they're disgusting and their patrons wouldn't want to
> look at them?
> What if all models were a size 16 or above, but every once in a
while
> you'd see a "minus size" model in a size 8 cut to make her look
> larger?
> What if "too fat" wasn't the greatest thing, because it was
> acknowledged to not be terribly healthy, but the models who
were "too
> fat" still got all the modeling jobs, and they were told that they
> might want to lose a little weight but nobody took it seriously?
And
> meantime "too fat" was infinitely better than "too skinny"?
> What if thin people were depicted in the media as obsessed with
> exercise and starving themselves, and thus not sexually interested?
> And fat people were depicted as able to enjoy their food, and their
> lovers, with relish?
> What if a TV character as popular as Friends' Monica was depicted
as
> once having been thin, not even unhealthily so, and she was the
butt
> of jokes for that?
> What if X percent of the American population was
> labeled "underweight" ?
> What if food commercials focused not on low-fat, but high in
> nutrients to gain weight?
> What if people said "I don't understand what's wrong with skinny
> people. All they have to do is eat! It's not that difficult. They
> must be pretty stupid not to figure that out."?
> What if there were no labels saying "Low Fat" but instead they
> said "High Fat"?
> What if magazines ran stories on "How to Maximize the Glory of your
> Curves"?
> What if 7-year-old girls, copying their moms, asked their
> friends "Does this make me look too skinny?"
> What if magazines ran bogus ads for weight gain powder? And the ads
> said "Mary gained 25 pounds in 8 weeks combining a high-nutrient
> diet, exercise to gain muscle mass, and Product X"? And they showed
a
> picture of Mary wearing baggy clothes to make her look skinny and
> waifish, while in the "After" picture she was trim and tan? And
women
> looked at Mary, who didn't need to gain weight to begin with, and
> say "If she's skinny, I must be a stick" and started gorging
> themselves?
> What if thin people had to pay more for clothes and underwear and
> almost no pretty bras came in anything under a size 40?
> What if there was an operation to enlarge the size of one's stomach
> or inject fat under the skin?
> What if middle-aged women were admired because they had put on some
> weight after age 30 and young women were simply `too thin'?
> What if kids made jokes like "Your mama's so thin, she blew away
when
> I flapped my arms"?
> What if people talked to thin people slowly on the assumption that
> they were like children?
> What if thin people had to learn to be witty, because else they
would
> be utterly ignored by the opposite sex?
> What if studies showed that thin could also be healthy, not just
fat,
> but the mass media only paid lip service to them?
> This would be ridiculous.
> Then why is the reverse still OK?
>
Here we go:
What if fat was healthy because fat people had some cushioning and
> some reserve food stores to live on, and skinny people were said to
> be putting themselves at risk, and stigmatized for making this
stupid
> health decision?
> What if people went up to skinny girls in the street and said "Oh,
> you'd be beautiful if you'd just gain weight!"
> Or "You're thin, but you're beautiful on the inside!" Or looked at
me
> like I was in some way sick and disgusting?
> What if all clothes below size 10 came in girly pastels, with the
> reasoning that small women are underdeveloped and childish?
> What if they were called `minus sizes'?
> What if thin people had to go to special stores to buy clothes,
> because none of the regular stores wanted to stock clothes for
them,
> saying that they're disgusting and their patrons wouldn't want to
> look at them?
> What if all models were a size 16 or above, but every once in a
while
> you'd see a "minus size" model in a size 8 cut to make her look
> larger?
> What if "too fat" wasn't the greatest thing, because it was
> acknowledged to not be terribly healthy, but the models who
were "too
> fat" still got all the modeling jobs, and they were told that they
> might want to lose a little weight but nobody took it seriously?
And
> meantime "too fat" was infinitely better than "too skinny"?
> What if thin people were depicted in the media as obsessed with
> exercise and starving themselves, and thus not sexually interested?
> And fat people were depicted as able to enjoy their food, and their
> lovers, with relish?
> What if a TV character as popular as Friends' Monica was depicted
as
> once having been thin, not even unhealthily so, and she was the
butt
> of jokes for that?
> What if X percent of the American population was
> labeled "underweight" ?
> What if food commercials focused not on low-fat, but high in
> nutrients to gain weight?
> What if people said "I don't understand what's wrong with skinny
> people. All they have to do is eat! It's not that difficult. They
> must be pretty stupid not to figure that out."?
> What if there were no labels saying "Low Fat" but instead they
> said "High Fat"?
> What if magazines ran stories on "How to Maximize the Glory of your
> Curves"?
> What if 7-year-old girls, copying their moms, asked their
> friends "Does this make me look too skinny?"
> What if magazines ran bogus ads for weight gain powder? And the ads
> said "Mary gained 25 pounds in 8 weeks combining a high-nutrient
> diet, exercise to gain muscle mass, and Product X"? And they showed
a
> picture of Mary wearing baggy clothes to make her look skinny and
> waifish, while in the "After" picture she was trim and tan? And
women
> looked at Mary, who didn't need to gain weight to begin with, and
> say "If she's skinny, I must be a stick" and started gorging
> themselves?
> What if thin people had to pay more for clothes and underwear and
> almost no pretty bras came in anything under a size 40?
> What if there was an operation to enlarge the size of one's stomach
> or inject fat under the skin?
> What if middle-aged women were admired because they had put on some
> weight after age 30 and young women were simply `too thin'?
> What if kids made jokes like "Your mama's so thin, she blew away
when
> I flapped my arms"?
> What if people talked to thin people slowly on the assumption that
> they were like children?
> What if thin people had to learn to be witty, because else they
would
> be utterly ignored by the opposite sex?
> What if studies showed that thin could also be healthy, not just
fat,
> but the mass media only paid lip service to them?
> This would be ridiculous.
> Then why is the reverse still OK?
>
