The modelling industry has pushed a very unrealistic expectation of beauty on women. It continuously states that being beautiful means being of a certain height, weight and body type, that beauty can be judged on an absolute scale. This has pushed women to conform to their unrealistic standards and not be satisfied with their body's. Recently there has been a push back against this and women are now being encouraged to accept how they look and be proud of it. This is great because beauty is relative. What some people find attractive, others might not and that is COMPLETELY FINE. Everyone has their own preferences when it comes to beauty just like everyone has different tastes when it comes to food, sports, movies, music etc. This doesn't mean that if someone does not like Chinese food, that Chinese food is bad. ITS ALL RELATIVE.
Now while beauty is relative and is in the eyes of the beholder, health is not. As a result of the push back against the perpetuated ideal beauty standard, women are now being told that they do not have to be of a certain weight to be beautiful. Yes being too thin is BAD for you and women should not desire to look like the extremely skinny models. I totally support women who do not want to loose weight to the point of becoming anorexic and sacrificing their health just to look a certain way because they think it is attractive. HOWEVER, the opposite is also true. BEING FAT OR OVERWEIGHT IS UNHEALTHY. I would like to point out that this post does not apply to people who have genuine disabilities (just like Nicole Arbour), nor does it apply to people who are actively in the process of loosing weight.
Recently women have been told that being fat is also beautiful. Well I am sure that there are some people out there who find fatness attractive, its all relative. However what is not relative is blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes and every other wight related problem. This is what is pointed out in the video. BEING FAT IS NOT A DISABILITY IF YOU CHOOSE TO BE THAT WAY. People who live a lazy lifestyle and eat poorly and get fat cannot use their weight as a race card like Nicole states. The whole concept of "Plus Size" is stupid, unless you are a women who is really tall and just big ,WHICH IS NOT IN THE SAME CATEGORY AS FAT. The media is pushed the concept that you should be happy with your body no matter what. That is true you should be happy with your color, height and other non controllable body dimensions and properties, BUT NOT YOUR WEIGHT. That is controllable.
We need more people like Nicole to give some tough love to fat people. Yes we should not continuously make fun of fat people (some might actually be in the process of losing it) but it has gotten to the point where society need a kick to get it back on track. It's like drugs. If your friend starts doing them you try to guide them nicely and help them out without any negative comments. But after a certain point you have to remove the gloves and tell them that the drugs will kill them, they will live a pathetic life and possibly die young.
There is no controversy with the video 'Dear fat people". It is exactly what fat people who have become complacent need. Also in tv shows and movies (in some cases) it is shown that men who reject women because of their fatness are in the wrong. That is bull. Like I said before, ITS ALL RELATIVE, if a guys doesn't find fat women attractive, its completely fine, its like calling someone bad because he does not like Italian food. Society has got to the point where it needs to be reminded that being fat is unhealthy, we need more videos like "Dear fat people". It is a perfect response to stuff like "my big fat fabulous life" where women are told to accept their fatness, even though they can loose weight. We need more people like Nicole to do shock therapy on fat people who have gone off the deep end. I would like to end by saying that even though I have talked more about fat women, the same applies to fat me. I just emphasized women because I think the media is specifically targeting women when it comes to accepting their fatness. But the same applies for men, being fat is not healthy/
Now while beauty is relative and is in the eyes of the beholder, health is not. As a result of the push back against the perpetuated ideal beauty standard, women are now being told that they do not have to be of a certain weight to be beautiful. Yes being too thin is BAD for you and women should not desire to look like the extremely skinny models. I totally support women who do not want to loose weight to the point of becoming anorexic and sacrificing their health just to look a certain way because they think it is attractive. HOWEVER, the opposite is also true. BEING FAT OR OVERWEIGHT IS UNHEALTHY. I would like to point out that this post does not apply to people who have genuine disabilities (just like Nicole Arbour), nor does it apply to people who are actively in the process of loosing weight.
Recently women have been told that being fat is also beautiful. Well I am sure that there are some people out there who find fatness attractive, its all relative. However what is not relative is blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes and every other wight related problem. This is what is pointed out in the video. BEING FAT IS NOT A DISABILITY IF YOU CHOOSE TO BE THAT WAY. People who live a lazy lifestyle and eat poorly and get fat cannot use their weight as a race card like Nicole states. The whole concept of "Plus Size" is stupid, unless you are a women who is really tall and just big ,WHICH IS NOT IN THE SAME CATEGORY AS FAT. The media is pushed the concept that you should be happy with your body no matter what. That is true you should be happy with your color, height and other non controllable body dimensions and properties, BUT NOT YOUR WEIGHT. That is controllable.
We need more people like Nicole to give some tough love to fat people. Yes we should not continuously make fun of fat people (some might actually be in the process of losing it) but it has gotten to the point where society need a kick to get it back on track. It's like drugs. If your friend starts doing them you try to guide them nicely and help them out without any negative comments. But after a certain point you have to remove the gloves and tell them that the drugs will kill them, they will live a pathetic life and possibly die young.
There is no controversy with the video 'Dear fat people". It is exactly what fat people who have become complacent need. Also in tv shows and movies (in some cases) it is shown that men who reject women because of their fatness are in the wrong. That is bull. Like I said before, ITS ALL RELATIVE, if a guys doesn't find fat women attractive, its completely fine, its like calling someone bad because he does not like Italian food. Society has got to the point where it needs to be reminded that being fat is unhealthy, we need more videos like "Dear fat people". It is a perfect response to stuff like "my big fat fabulous life" where women are told to accept their fatness, even though they can loose weight. We need more people like Nicole to do shock therapy on fat people who have gone off the deep end. I would like to end by saying that even though I have talked more about fat women, the same applies to fat me. I just emphasized women because I think the media is specifically targeting women when it comes to accepting their fatness. But the same applies for men, being fat is not healthy/
I respect your opinion, however, I strongly disagree. As this is more of a whiny little essay rather than an opinionated, factual blog, I would like to point out that you did't really make a point with this.
ReplyDeleteIf this video is highlighting how people are actually killing themselves by being "obese" or "fat" or "Plus Sized" (which are not the same things, look it up), then she needs to be a little more factual, and a lot less general. For example, Arbour states that she doesn't aim this video at people with specific health conditions. She then goes and makes fun of a group who can't stand up anymore in an airport since their knees hurt. How does she know they all don't have health conditions? How does she know that, that group is actually really upset with themselves? How does she know that they aren't getting on the plane to a center that assists these people with their weight/ appearance? She is generalizing "fat people" and assuming that it is their choices to be like this. THIS IS WHY THERE IS CONTROVERSY. There is controversy. YouTube took her page down, she got fired from a job. I am not uptight when it comes to comedy. If this video was done the right way, I would laugh. But not only was this video insensitive and contradictory, it was not funny at all. She needs to learn how to be funny while sending a crucial message, without looking stupid.
Like Arbour, you should also try backing up your opinions without generalizing your "facts," if you don't want to end up being perceived as "the internet troll."
For example, you state:
"Recently there has been a push back against this and women are now being encouraged to accept how they look and be proud of it."
Says who??? Were are you getting this fact? Also, just women are being encouraged to accept how they look? How about men? You are generalizing without back up. Warning: danger.
So, I saw this video a few weeks ago because there was so much controversy about it. And after I watched it, my reaction was like "so what's the big deal?" People have been saying this shit for years. Why is this video so important?
ReplyDeleteI read this post with the intention of arguing with Ammar, because that is my life’s passion; however, I noticed there was already a comment and decided to read that as well. Truth is, I agree with both Carla and Ammar on different points. Carla is right that you can't judge someone's health just by looking at them, and it was wrong of Nicole to assume that they were healthy otherwise. But she also said they smelled like sausages. And I don't know about you, but I don't want to sit next to someone who smells like sausages. Regardless of their weight, I wouldn't want to be around someone who smells bad. On that note, if you are fatter, there is a higher chance that you'll get smelly from being sweaty because you have way more folds and crevices for sweat to get stuck in. It's also more likely that you're going to get sweaty because you have so much extra mass surrounding you. It's like me if I were to wear a big ass winter coat everywhere. I'd get sweaty! Fat people are on average sweatier individuals. And there's no source or anything for this; this is just my own experience.
Now on Ammar's side, he mentions a lot about the health aspect. I watched a lot of response videos about how fat people already know the health risks that go along with being overweight and that shaming them for it isn't going to help. It only makes them feel worse and think "oh, well I'm already this far down the river, there's no going back now." And I get that, but at the same time, if you think that way then you have some other issues going on in your brain. Because if I was doing something bad for me, and I didn't know, and someone came up to me and told me how badly I was hurting myself, that wouldn't make me want to keep doing it because "I've already gone this far, there's no turning back now." No, I would do my best to change myself for the better. This goes for any bad habit. I personally have the opposite problem. I don't eat enough of the right kinds of food. And when people tell me "you should eat more," or "you better go to Pierce today and eat a healthy meal or you're going to get sick again" that doesn't make me feel like shit, it motivates me to do the right thing. And that's what Nicole was trying to do. She was trying to get the people who need that extra push to motivate them to make healthier choices. And yes, she did offend a lot of people, and I don't agree with everything she said. She should have apologized for hurting people's feelings at least. But at the same time I don't think people should be reacting as much as they are. It's just a video from someone you don't even know. Brush it off, move on. Be healthier for you, not because some chick on the internet thinks you're gross.
And that's another thing. I saw in a lot of response videos about how some people think fat is sexy, so it’s okay to be fat. Yeah, sure. There was this one girl, slightly overweight, but still very athletic looking, and huge boobs. She comes out and is all “I’m body positive. I’m okay with the way I am because I still get to be in music videos and extras on tv shows that are meant to be sexy. I do sexy photoshoots,” and blah, blah, blah. First of all, that video wasn’t even aimed at you. It was aimed at fat people who are actually gross. Not just fat people who are “gross” solely because they’re fat. I have plenty of fat friends who I like being around because they otherwise know how to take care of themselves. They shower regularly and wear presentable clothes that fit them properly. I’m pretty sure that that video was not directed at those kinds of fat people. This video was directed at the people who actually do gross things such as smell like sausages, have greasy skin and hair, have body odor, have food and sweat stains all over them, wear clothes that are too big or too large for them, etc. Those are the kinds of people who have a problem. The fat people who should be body positive are those who treat their bodies right and still happen to be overweight. Not the people who sit on their ass all day not giving a shit about what they do to their health.
ReplyDeleteI’m not the kind of person who will discriminate or make fun of someone based on their weight alone. But if they have all types of poor decision making going on in their lives, that’s the point where I start to judge. It’s one thing to be slightly overweight and still be otherwise pretty healthy. It’s another to consistently make poor decisions with no intent on changing your habits. Everyone should always strive to be the best they can be, whether that means eating healthier and exercising because you’re fat, or eating healthier and exercising because you don’t eat at all. Or maybe you want to quit smoking, or stop procrastinating, or whatever you want to be better at. Everyone should be trying to better themselves at every opportunity they can find.