I spent the majority of a day last week at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and as my marital unit was taking tons of pictures, I was allowed some free time to people watch.
My observations (and let me preface this by saying that I'm not some sicko reporting BBW sightings at K Mart, ok?
).
1: Concerning the "fat epidemic" that the media is constantly reporting: I have to agree (not with the negative connotations associated with it, but the fact that there seem to be many more overweight people). Living in rural Nevada I seldom find myself in areas where the population at large (vacationeers especially) hangs out. While I didn't see many SSBBW's I did notice that most of the people there could stand to lose a few (again, this is in the conventional wisdom, not my own preference).
2: the so called "epidemic" doesn't seem to manifest itself as much in the young (ages 6-12). There is an area at the aquarium designed for kids. I wandered there by mistake, but while there noticed that 75% of the kids were in the "normal" range; while the other 25 seemed split between "chubby" and "obese".
3: Most of the overweight people have seemed to come to some form of accecptance - many were wearing the current fashions; the skin tight, stretchy tops that hug you like a second skin so all your back rolls are on display!, and the low rise jeans that caused many a jelly belly to surge outward.
4: Belly rubbing. I always thought that this was just something written about in weight gain stories; a kind of fantasy where the gainer acknowledges their belly by rubbing it, oft-times almost passionately. But surprise, surprise, I noticed three different women idly rubbing their tummies while watching the fishies. One of the little chubbies, with a nice protruding belly, noticed me glancing her way (it was my second glance, just wanting to make sure she was still rubbing) and smiled. I smiled back and watched as she continued to absently rub her midsection. Perhaps it was my imagination, but I thought she had a rather blissful look on her face.
So, my observations, for what it's worth.
My observations (and let me preface this by saying that I'm not some sicko reporting BBW sightings at K Mart, ok?
).1: Concerning the "fat epidemic" that the media is constantly reporting: I have to agree (not with the negative connotations associated with it, but the fact that there seem to be many more overweight people). Living in rural Nevada I seldom find myself in areas where the population at large (vacationeers especially) hangs out. While I didn't see many SSBBW's I did notice that most of the people there could stand to lose a few (again, this is in the conventional wisdom, not my own preference).
2: the so called "epidemic" doesn't seem to manifest itself as much in the young (ages 6-12). There is an area at the aquarium designed for kids. I wandered there by mistake, but while there noticed that 75% of the kids were in the "normal" range; while the other 25 seemed split between "chubby" and "obese".
3: Most of the overweight people have seemed to come to some form of accecptance - many were wearing the current fashions; the skin tight, stretchy tops that hug you like a second skin so all your back rolls are on display!, and the low rise jeans that caused many a jelly belly to surge outward.
4: Belly rubbing. I always thought that this was just something written about in weight gain stories; a kind of fantasy where the gainer acknowledges their belly by rubbing it, oft-times almost passionately. But surprise, surprise, I noticed three different women idly rubbing their tummies while watching the fishies. One of the little chubbies, with a nice protruding belly, noticed me glancing her way (it was my second glance, just wanting to make sure she was still rubbing) and smiled. I smiled back and watched as she continued to absently rub her midsection. Perhaps it was my imagination, but I thought she had a rather blissful look on her face.
So, my observations, for what it's worth.
