Michael – RE: But but but --- Isn't it weird that being poorer hits women fatwise harder than it does men?

Not at all. The obesity "crisis" is another myth that afflicts us in these modern times where life is so good (aside from terrorist threats) that we have to invent problems to worry about.

Obesity is a "problem" and yet life expectancy is high and getting better. I challenge anyone to show any link or study anywhere that shows any demonstrable link between obesity and serious health problems (aside from morbid obesity).

Look at photographs of rich women taken between 1880 and 1950 and you consistently find beefy matrons. I recall seeing past studies indicating that people have generally got taller over the past several generations, but no one writes about a "height-ism crisis” because nobody has a problem with it. People are getting fatter, but fat is supposedly bad, so we have to jump through hoops to analyze it.

A key sentence from the article you linked demonstrates how arbitrary any association of wealth and thinness really is: "Our research finds that in Russia, obesity is concentrated among the rich, rather than the poor."

Rich men in the US and other Western countries prefer thin women and will toss aside their beefy babes to get a new model if they are crass enough. This creates a huge incentive for wealthier women to stay thin, aside from the fact that social norms have changed to make thin "in."

As an aside, here in California, I have noted a number of rich and powerful men who have a decided preference for thin Asian women, finding white women to be fat cows by comparison. These men also believe (or hope) that Asian women will stay thinner longer. Asian women in this regard have an advantage over Russian and Eastern European women, who are perceived to be very beautiful when young, but who are also perceived to have a short half life with respect to their beauty and will bulk up in middle age or after having kids.

In short, a preference for thinness has become twisted into what is natural and healthy, and a great deal of pseudo-science is expended to "prove" that rich thin women have some advantage over poor women. This nonsense has been used, for example, to get salads and bean sprouts and other organic and vegetable crap into schools and lower-income nutrition programs under the dubious assumption that the food fads of rich people represent some kind of universal wisdom, and that poor people are at a disadvantage because they don't have access to subsidized sushi.

Some poorer men don't have as much of a preference for ultra-thin women, nor do they have as much of an ability to toss aside an old fat babe for a new thin one.

Congress has recently passed a stupid law aimed at restricting Internet gambling. If they passed a law banning gyms, liposuction, and stomach stapling I would bet that the number of fat rich women would increase again. For example, the free hip periodical, “The LA Weekly,” which has a high distribution on the wealthy, trendy parts of L.A. always prominently features ads for cosmetic surgery. Let’s run through a sample of the offers:

Botox - $10 per unit; Lip augmentation - $299; Breast Augmentation - $3950; Vaginal Rejuvenation - $2500. Prices are not supplied for other procedures such as breast reduction, tumescent liposuction, tummy tuck, male breast reduction or skin reduction after weight loss surgery.

Also of course, since many health care plans don’t cover elective cosmetic surgery, and neither cosmetic surgery nor gym memberships are tax deductible, poorer women are just not going to go into this thing in great numbers – until the price comes down. Lasik eye surgery is becoming more widespread, and, oddly enough, some bariatric weight loss surgery is also becoming more economically accessible for non-wealthy income groups (although there is some caution about the quality of some of these low-cost providers).

So again, in short, rich people have the time and the money to indulge themselves in whatever society decides beauty should be.

Posted by: Alec on October 4, 2006 3:02 PM

As a final observation, most poorly paying jobs are not very grueling anymore. Outside of construction, many are service jobs, such as tending a cash register.

For instance, this morning while I was buying a bottle of milk and some mixed nuts at the drug store (healthy snacks), the three women working the registers were all overweight, two by a whole lot. Since I buy stuff there all the time, I know at least two of the three have kids, and none is married. I know this because instead of talking to the customers, they just carry on a constant conversation amongst themselves. All of them were also youngish. I am positive that they move around a lot more at their job than I do, as I have desk job. Yet they are all 50-100 pounds overweight. Gee, I wonder why?

Its pretty simple. We all like tasty fats, sugar, and salt. Some of us structure our whole diets about that and suffer the consequences. Some eat those things in moderation, and few none at all. Some try to get exercise and many give into laziness. Hard to move up in the world when you are lazy, isn't it? I don't think there is much of argument or excuse-making that's convincing for eating poorly and not taking care of yourself. Worse yet, these parents pass that lifestyle on to their kids.

My observation is that the VAST majority of poor people are responsible for their own misfortunes due to poor choices and a lack of self-discipline. We can all invent excuses, but in the end, all that really matters is results.

Posted by: s on October 4, 2006 3:18 PM






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