The Steampunk World
Singular commented yesterday that she dreads going to the gym because it reminds her of how out-of-shape she is. I empathize completely, but feeling that way is a slippery slope, because avoiding the gym is what leads to being out-of-shape. To me, the gym is the one place I don't feel self-conscious about being shlubby, because when I'm there, at least I'm doing something about it. Of course, if you know me, you know that my balance of feeling in control versus the depths of despair has to do not with where I am but with which direction I'm headed in. I don't feel bad about myself right now, even though I'm the second-fattest that I've ever been, after the time that my parents gave me their deep-fat-fryer and I ballooned up until I got rid of it. I weigh 215 pounds.
In our society, fat people are the last group that it's "okay" to make fun of. People who would be aghast at a racial joke, a joke about the disabled, a queer joke, will chuckle heartily at fat jokes. Look at "Shallow Hal"... a whole movie dedicated to fat jokes slathered with a thin veil of "we shouldn't laugh at all these fat jokes". You've seen the trailer- fat girl jumps in pool, makes big splash. HARDY HAR HAR! Fat girl sits in chair, breaks it. BWAAA HAAA HAAA. Fat girl has giant underwear. OH STOP I'M DYIN HERE. Note that Jack Black himself is a big fat slob, but since he's a guy, he gets to be the hero, without any computer animation to make him look less chunky. However, even the thought of a FAT GUY being attracted to a fat girl is so outrageous that they based an entire movie around it. Not that other movies are all that- I can't tell you how many times in the last couple of months I've gone to the theater, looked at the marquee, and walked out- it's just an example of how its acceptable to make fat jokes when just about every other form of generalized, blanket prejudice is a major faux pas.
Perhaps the cause has to do with the issue of control. The perception is that fat people have made a choice, through action or inaction, to be the way they are. I'm kind of torn on this issue. On one hand, there are people who by metabolism or glands cannot control their weight. They number just about the same as those people who can eat all the junk they want and still be in great shape. The middle 80% are people whose bodies are affected by their patterns of diet and exercise. Seriously, how many people do you know who are morbidly overweight, who exercise regularly and eat light? It happens. Not often. More often, people like Singular's 400-lb former employer moan about their thyroid while cramming two mayo-laden tuna footlong subs into their gullet for lunch each day. We are the fattest country in the world, probably because of fast food.
Bear in mind that I'm not talking about "husky". I'm talking about obesity. Everybody's body comes in a frame size. What are the kids sizes? "Slim" and "Husky". This is something you cannot control. Samoans, as an example, are genetically husky. But Melrose Place came to Samoa, and all of the sudden, we've got anorexic and bulimic Samoan teenage girls trying to be something they simply cannot be. A healthy, husky person has a beautiful body. Our society has unhealthy ideas about body image. It's nice (not really) to hear that we've exported this sickness to other countries.
If it sounds like I'm condemning the obese, you've got me all wrong. I believe that each individual has an obligation to themselves, and noone else, to keep themselves healthy. I've failed in that obligation. My metabolism kept me in shape until I turned 23 or so, and it started to slow, and I didn't change my lifestyle, in fact I stopped taking martial arts, and now I've got a "dunlap", but not a "dickiedoo" (A dunlap is when your belly done lapped over your belt, a dickiedoo is when your belly sticks out farther than your dickie do). I'm trying to get in shape while I'm young, I've been going to the gym for a few months now, and I feel noticeably better cardiovascular-wise but I'm not any thinner because I didn't change my diet until recently, and as a southern boy I'm addicted to grease. I would rather have chicken-fried-chicken and home fries than all the ice cream and cake in the world.
My gym has several locations in the city, and we used to go to this one in a trendy neighborhood, but everybody there looked like a supermodel, and it made us uncomfortable. Of course, the reason they do is because they go to the gym. So we started going to this other location downtown where there's a mix of people of all shapes and sizes who are trying to improve themselves. If I go to the club, and everybody's got huge pecs and tight clothes, I definitely feel like people are looking at me and thinking, "What a shlub." I don't feel that in the gym, because what are people gonna think? "What a shlub, he should go to the gym"?!?! Being at the gym signifies my acceptance of my shlubbiness and my desire to do something about it. The people there who look like supermodels look that way because they've dedicated themselves to looking that way. It's hard work. It's hard, especially if you've had a kid, to get yourself in shape. It requires behavior patterns that have to be maintained for a long time before they pay off. It requires sacrificing the pleasures of eating, one of our most basic needs and therefore one of the strongest stimulants of the pleasure centers of the brain. There's also always the lingering knowledge that you shouldn't listen to society's pressure to be thin, that people who care about your looks are shallow and not worth concerning yourself about, maybe even that the lifestyle required to be in shape is no way to live.
Can you see how I'm torn? I don't think people should judge based on appearance but I think people should take care of themselves. Some people can't control their weight but most people can. The ones who could but don't reflect poorly on the ones who can't. The cure for shlubbiness is almost as bad as the disease. And overall, people's shallowness is generally in inverse proportion to their weight. I guess it's like religion- people start following a god and all the sudden think they can judge others. Come to think of it, it's a lot like a religion: A pursuit of an ideal that can never be attained, requiring constant commitment to guard against regress, with the rewards coming after a long time but being so good that you want to encourage others to join you. Like religion, it's the journey and not the finish line that is important. It's more about lifestyle and self-respect than it is about how others percieve you. This fact is often overlooked with both religion and physical condition. The pursuit of the ideal in both cases can be harmful. If done right, though, they can both make you feel better regardless of whether you ever reach that burning beacon on the distant horizon.
In our society, fat people are the last group that it's "okay" to make fun of. People who would be aghast at a racial joke, a joke about the disabled, a queer joke, will chuckle heartily at fat jokes. Look at "Shallow Hal"... a whole movie dedicated to fat jokes slathered with a thin veil of "we shouldn't laugh at all these fat jokes". You've seen the trailer- fat girl jumps in pool, makes big splash. HARDY HAR HAR! Fat girl sits in chair, breaks it. BWAAA HAAA HAAA. Fat girl has giant underwear. OH STOP I'M DYIN HERE. Note that Jack Black himself is a big fat slob, but since he's a guy, he gets to be the hero, without any computer animation to make him look less chunky. However, even the thought of a FAT GUY being attracted to a fat girl is so outrageous that they based an entire movie around it. Not that other movies are all that- I can't tell you how many times in the last couple of months I've gone to the theater, looked at the marquee, and walked out- it's just an example of how its acceptable to make fat jokes when just about every other form of generalized, blanket prejudice is a major faux pas.
Perhaps the cause has to do with the issue of control. The perception is that fat people have made a choice, through action or inaction, to be the way they are. I'm kind of torn on this issue. On one hand, there are people who by metabolism or glands cannot control their weight. They number just about the same as those people who can eat all the junk they want and still be in great shape. The middle 80% are people whose bodies are affected by their patterns of diet and exercise. Seriously, how many people do you know who are morbidly overweight, who exercise regularly and eat light? It happens. Not often. More often, people like Singular's 400-lb former employer moan about their thyroid while cramming two mayo-laden tuna footlong subs into their gullet for lunch each day. We are the fattest country in the world, probably because of fast food.
Bear in mind that I'm not talking about "husky". I'm talking about obesity. Everybody's body comes in a frame size. What are the kids sizes? "Slim" and "Husky". This is something you cannot control. Samoans, as an example, are genetically husky. But Melrose Place came to Samoa, and all of the sudden, we've got anorexic and bulimic Samoan teenage girls trying to be something they simply cannot be. A healthy, husky person has a beautiful body. Our society has unhealthy ideas about body image. It's nice (not really) to hear that we've exported this sickness to other countries.
If it sounds like I'm condemning the obese, you've got me all wrong. I believe that each individual has an obligation to themselves, and noone else, to keep themselves healthy. I've failed in that obligation. My metabolism kept me in shape until I turned 23 or so, and it started to slow, and I didn't change my lifestyle, in fact I stopped taking martial arts, and now I've got a "dunlap", but not a "dickiedoo" (A dunlap is when your belly done lapped over your belt, a dickiedoo is when your belly sticks out farther than your dickie do). I'm trying to get in shape while I'm young, I've been going to the gym for a few months now, and I feel noticeably better cardiovascular-wise but I'm not any thinner because I didn't change my diet until recently, and as a southern boy I'm addicted to grease. I would rather have chicken-fried-chicken and home fries than all the ice cream and cake in the world.
My gym has several locations in the city, and we used to go to this one in a trendy neighborhood, but everybody there looked like a supermodel, and it made us uncomfortable. Of course, the reason they do is because they go to the gym. So we started going to this other location downtown where there's a mix of people of all shapes and sizes who are trying to improve themselves. If I go to the club, and everybody's got huge pecs and tight clothes, I definitely feel like people are looking at me and thinking, "What a shlub." I don't feel that in the gym, because what are people gonna think? "What a shlub, he should go to the gym"?!?! Being at the gym signifies my acceptance of my shlubbiness and my desire to do something about it. The people there who look like supermodels look that way because they've dedicated themselves to looking that way. It's hard work. It's hard, especially if you've had a kid, to get yourself in shape. It requires behavior patterns that have to be maintained for a long time before they pay off. It requires sacrificing the pleasures of eating, one of our most basic needs and therefore one of the strongest stimulants of the pleasure centers of the brain. There's also always the lingering knowledge that you shouldn't listen to society's pressure to be thin, that people who care about your looks are shallow and not worth concerning yourself about, maybe even that the lifestyle required to be in shape is no way to live.
Can you see how I'm torn? I don't think people should judge based on appearance but I think people should take care of themselves. Some people can't control their weight but most people can. The ones who could but don't reflect poorly on the ones who can't. The cure for shlubbiness is almost as bad as the disease. And overall, people's shallowness is generally in inverse proportion to their weight. I guess it's like religion- people start following a god and all the sudden think they can judge others. Come to think of it, it's a lot like a religion: A pursuit of an ideal that can never be attained, requiring constant commitment to guard against regress, with the rewards coming after a long time but being so good that you want to encourage others to join you. Like religion, it's the journey and not the finish line that is important. It's more about lifestyle and self-respect than it is about how others percieve you. This fact is often overlooked with both religion and physical condition. The pursuit of the ideal in both cases can be harmful. If done right, though, they can both make you feel better regardless of whether you ever reach that burning beacon on the distant horizon.
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