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Fat
Culture |
Who Is Fat? It Depends on
Culture by Natalie Angier
Until
recently, the furthest worry from most human hearts
was too much body to bear. Calories were scarce, physical
labor was hard, and most people were as lean as greyhounds.
"For
the millions of years of our evolution, there wasn't
much food around, so our bodies are designed to keep
from losing weight," said Dr. Fitzgibbon at Northwestern.
"When we start to lose weight, our metabolism
slows and our appetite increases — we burn less
and we want more."
But
the body is not nearly as efficient at shedding excess
weight. Some evolutionary biologists believe that
the difficulty of getting enough calories is one reason
why humans have a preference for rich, fatty foods
— if there's a choice between a marbled hunk
of fawn thigh or a handful of rice, our sinewy ancestors
did well to go for the meat.
That
may be one reason some of the earliest depictions
of human beings are fabulously fat. A number of the
famed Venus figurines, palm-size statuettes carved
between 20,000 and 30,000 years ago, depict women
with corpulent thighs, buttocks, breasts and bellies,
and estimated body mass indexes well over 30.
As
a rule, archaeologists say, only the most important
elements of ancient life and society were immortalized
in stone, suggesting that the obese women who served
as models for the figurines were either royalty, or
were accorded superhuman powers — specifically,
the power never to go hungry.
Among
the ancient Greeks and Romans, attitudes toward body
weight became more complex, said Dr. Barton J. Blinder,
a professor of psychiatry and human behavior at the
University of California at Irvine.
On
the one hand, plumpness, particularly in women, was
seen as desirable, a sign of well-being and fertility,
and the goddesses were often depicted as hefty matrons.
On
the other hand, early physicians like Hippocrates
and Galen recognized that too much fat was unhealthy.
Aristophanes, the comic playwright, wrote in the fifth
century B.C. that obese men were "bloated, gross,
and preseniled fat rogues with big bellies and dropsical
legs, whose toes by the gout are tormented."
The
early Christians also looked scornfully upon the obese,
counting gluttony as one of the seven deadly sins.
In
some medieval paintings, sinners were shown as fat
and Christ's disciples as slender. And whether in
Gothic art or its Victorian recrudescence, the attenuated,
El Grecoesque morphology has often been equated with
holiness, the sign of an ascetic life that eschews
the carnal pleasures of the body in favor of the transcendent,
fat-free pleasures of the soul.
To
the common folk, however, the lure of portliness beckoned.
"On balance, until fairly recently many societies
put considerable value in plumpness," said Dr.
Peter N. Stearns, the provost of George Mason University
in Fairfax, Va., and the author of "Fat History:
Bodies and Beauty in the Modern West."
"To
be a good 20 to 40 pounds above what we would now
consider desirable was seen as a sign of prosperity,"
Dr. Stearns said. "Thin people were regarded
with suspicion, as ugly. To say that Cassius had a
`lean and hungry look' was not a compliment."
The
artist who best captured the sensuality of corpulence
was the Baroque painter Peter Paul Rubens. A Rubens
woman, according to the art historian Sir Kenneth
Clark, is "plump and pearly," while to Richard
Klein, author of "Eat Fat," she is a "luscious
fat girl" who stands for "the whole weight
and wealth of human nature."
Oh,
to be Rubenesque.
Until
the beginning of the 20th century, Dr. Stearns said,
"there were more programs to help people gain
weight than the reverse."
In
non-Western cultures, fatness often was associated
with high status. Polynesian kings were frequently
quite fat, while the girls of Banyankole in East Africa
were fattened in preparation for marriage like so
many Christmas geese. Dr. Watson of Harvard said that
when he began doing field work in Hong Kong in the
1960's, women who were slender would not have been
marriageable. Neither would highly muscular young
men.
"Men
who were heavily muscled were considered the lowest
of laborers," he said. "They were the ones
who had to lift backbreaking loads for a living, and
their prospects were dim."
Read the full report here.
Anthropology
of Fat:
Our
complicated relations with fat: still
revered in parts of the world and gaining acceptance
in places where overweight people have been recently
reviled.
Fat:
The Anthropology of an Obsession, review
by Publishers
Weekly:
"This engaging collection of essays by academic
anthropologists examines fat as a symbol of aesthetics,
social status, economic success and cultural belonging.
Many of the pieces look at foreign societies or marginal
subcultures that, contrary to the fat-phobic Western
norm, view fat as a sign of beauty, health and prosperity.
Rebecca Popenoe studies villages in Niger where women
try to be as fat as possible, while Kulick and Matti
Bunzl explore the world of fat porn. Joan Gross writes
about phat rappers whose girth is taken as evidence
of masculine potency and financial success, and Julia
Harrison writes about the role of Spam in the construction
of Native Hawaiian identity. Mary Weismantel probes
Andean legends of white fat-sucking vampires—metaphors,
she thinks, for the exploitation of Indian communities
by the elite.
Articles
on mainstream Western attitudes toward fat uncover
even more strangeness. Fanny Ambjörnsson details
the byzantine ways Swedish high school girls talk
about fat; Kulick and Thaïs Machado-Borges expose
the odd Brazilian enthusiasm for intestinal leakage
as proof that fat-dissolving pills are working; and
Margaret Wilson asks why Starbucks patrons order their
coffee with skim milk—only to dump whipped cream
on top."
Rebecca
Poponoe in Fat: the anthropology of an obsession
reports on the complex connection between fat, social
status, prosperity and health in Niger. The following
BBC report investigates the fattening of girls to
enhance their marital chances in Mauritania.
Mauritania's
'wife-fattening' farm by
Pascale Harter BBC, Mauritania
"Obesity is so revered among Mauritania's white
Moor Arab population that the young girls are sometimes
force-fed to obtain a weight the government has described
as "life-threatening".
A
generation ago, over a third of women in the country
were force-fed as children - Mauritania is one of
the few African countries where, on average, girls
receive more food than boys."
Fat
Acceptance Movement
The
National Association
to Advance Fat Acceptance (NAAFA) believes that
a preference for a fat partner is as valid as any
other preference based on physical characteristics,
such as a particular height, eye color, or hair color.
Here
is the beginning of their report.
"At
different times throughout history, the fat figure
was looked upon as the ideal, desirable figure. For
example, at the turn of the century, Lillian Russell
-- at a weight of over 200 pounds -- was a reigning
sex symbol. Today, the American cultural aesthetic
of beauty ranges from the thin supermodel whose figure's
proportions are unrepresentative of the naturally
occurring shape of the human female, to an emaciated,
sunken-eyed look termed "heroin chic."
Historically,
men have gained credibility from their accumulated
wealth and power, and at different times throughout
history, fatness was seen as an indicator of wealth
and abundance, and thus viewed as desirable.
These
cultural standards of attractiveness are fueled, in
large part, by a multi-billion-dollar commercial weight
loss industry that sells people on dissatisfaction
with their bodies, by ultra-chic actors and actresses
portraying love interests in television and movies,
and by manufacturers selling products by linking the
concept of conventional beauty and the consumer's
self-worth. "
Some
Q & A from NAAFA website:
WHY
SHOULD I SUPPORT NAAFA?
An estimated 38 million Americans are significantly
heavier than average, and face societal and institutional
bias because of their size. Fat people are discriminated
against in employment, education, access to public
accommodations, and access to adequate medical care.
In addition, fat people are stigmatized, and are the
victims of tasteless jokes and assaults on their dignity.
Despite evidence that 95-98% of diets fail over three
years, our thin-obsessed society continues to believe
that fat people are at fault for their size.
NAAFA
is the only national membership organization fighting
to end size discrimination, educating the public,
and working to empower fat people. People all sizes
of large should support NAAFA's work in combating
size discrimination. People of average size who believe
that size discrimination is wrong should ally themselves
with the size acceptance movement.
BUT ISN'T IT UNHEALTHY TO BE FAT?
Just being fat does not signify poor health. In fact,
research shows that the health risks once associated
with weight may instead by attributable to yo-yo dieting.
Because fatness is most often caused by heredity and
dieting history, and because 95-98% of all diets fail
over three years, it is becoming apparent that remaining
at a high, but stable weight and concentrating on
personal fitness rather than thinness may be the healthiest
way to deal with the propensity to be fat.
We
must also consider that in our society, it is very
difficult for fat people to stay healthy and become
fit. Due to prejudicial medical treatment and harassment
by health care professionals, many fat people do not
receive adequate preventative health care, and procrastinate
seeking treatment when there is a medical problem.
In addition, many fat people do not feel comfortable
participating in activities that would lead to a greater
level of fitness due to social stigma.
People
of all sizes can strive for fitness by making sensible
food choices, following an exercise program, and getting
regular check-ups.
WHY
DO WE USE THE WORD "FAT" SO FREELY?
"Fat" is not a four-letter word. It is an
adjective, like short, tall, thin, or blonde. While
society has given it a derogatory meaning, we find
that identifying ourselves as "fat" is an
important step in casting off the shame we have been
taught to feel about our bodies.
NAAFA
Convention 2005
Healthy
Habits For Heavier Americans
(CBS 5) More than five hundred large people from around
the nation flocked to San Mateo this week.
The National Association to Advance
Fat Acceptance sponsored the event designed to celebrate
larger individuals.
“I love the F word, love it,”
says attendee Marilyn Wann.
But even for people happy to be heavy,
health experts say it is important to stay fit. So
no matter your weight, there are still some steps
you can take to improve your overall health.
"I was huffing and puffing,
and I thought I was going to have a heart attack before
I hit 40,” Sandy Shaffer says.
Shaffer saw a weight loss specialist,
who recommended exercise.
"My cholesterol level dropped
40 points when I started exercising,” Shaffer.
“My blood pressure went down when I started
exercising. These were results I never got all those
years of dieting."
Cinematic
Fat
Shallow
Hal a 2001 film starring Gwyneth Paltrow (below)
and Jack Black. The film explores the subject of beauty
and fat acceptance.
The
Shallow Hal website reports:
Paltrow
was game for the arduous, four hours make-up process
involved in donning a fat suit required for sequences
where her character is seen in her actual 300 pound
form.
The
film makers wanted to make sure that Paltrow was identified
in the multiple size suit, made with layers of foam
latex and a wig. Above all, it was essential that
she look like a real person and not someone they were
joking about.
During
the initial make up test, Paltrow decided to give
the suit a trial run in a NY hotel. It was an eye-opening
experience that provided critical insight into her
character. "I wanted to see how well the suit
worked, so I wore in in the hotel bar. I realized
immediately that no one was making eye contact with
me, or would even look in my direction. No one wanted
to connect with me. It was a powerful, very sad and
startling experience."
Read
117 reviews of this "fat-themed" film at
RottenTomatoes.com
Time
Magazine's report "Politics of Fat"
"These
are fat times in politics. Literally. Nearly 400 obesity-related
bills were introduced in state legislatures across
the country last year--more than double the number
in 2003. A quarter of them were passed into law, up
from only 12% two years before. In Washington the
word obesity appears in 56 bills introduced during
the current Congress; this, the Wall Street Journal
points out, is fast catching up with the number containing
the word gun.
Surgeon
General Richard Carmona says obesity is a greater
threat than terrorism. Some public-health advocates
have begun urging the government to put a warning
label on soft drinks; others are calling for a "fat
tax" on fast food.
When
voters and the possibility of big public spending
are involved, you can be sure the politicians will
discover a problem. The stats are depressingly familiar:
more than 60% of us are overweight, and the percentage
of us who are considered obese has nearly doubled
since 1980. Health-care spending attributable to obesity
reached $75 billion in 2003, by some estimates, with
taxpayers shelling out more than half of that through
Medicare and Medicaid programs.
Last
month Medicare increased its financial obligation
to the problem by announcing it would cover bariatric
surgery, a procedure aimed at weight loss that generally
costs $25,000 for a simple case. Government researchers
estimate that obesity is associated with anywhere
from 100,000 to 300,000 deaths a year.
Most
alarming of all, the rates of obesity among children
and teens have tripled in the past 25 years. Health-care
providers say they are seeing something of an epidemic
of potentially lethal Type 2 diabetes, once known
as the adult-onset version of the disease, among children
as young as 10 and 11." Read the rest of the
article here.
Governor
Mike Huckabee has committed his state of Arkansas
to a healthy diet and lifestyle. Learn
about his own efforts to lose weight here.
Literary Fat
"The Food Artist" by Kristen McDermott
Fat? No, not fat. Not totally obese. She'd
known obese people, back before the Great Reduction.
She had never been really fat, not an "obee,"
and they were by now either slimmed down or dead.
Most of them were dead. She was not fat. But she
was clever. It took a special kind of mind to make
something fattening out of a week's exchanges, and
she had that kind of mind: creative, subtle. Hungry.
Helen was a food artist.
She was well paid for her talent. Housewives
would trade a week's allowance of tofu for a small
bowl of Helen's marshmallow creme. Where do you
get sugar! they would moan. Where do you get butter!
And then would flee to avoid knowing. She wouldn't
have told. If they knew how many apples or cherries
it took to make a pint of simple syrup...how many
fish she rendered, how many skinless chickens, to
get precious oil...how many godforsaken hours it
took to churn skimmed milk! No one could begin to
pay that kind of price. Helen made no profit at
all - and so her crime was worse than Aggravated
Gluttony, far worse than Passing Contraband. It
was, in fact, nearly Treason. Helen loved food.
With a passion.
It was enough for her just to create felonious
dishes. She didn't have to eat them - though, of
course, sometimes she did. Helen was plump, perhaps
- a bit pudgy, you might say - but in no way obese.
And in her Spandies, those constrictive, totally
illegal undergarments, she escaped detection.One
day the madness would end, must end. TV stars would
allow their cheeks to fill out, ever so slightly.
Breasts would again become fashionable, not to say
functional. Small children, watching their grandparents
pause in mid-toe-touch to reminisce about ice cream,
would demand to hear the beloved summer truck bell
once more! Something would happen, someday, and
she would have to be there to teach the new generation
about cream, about cocoa, about fried clams. About
the very word "fry," which had been stricken
from every American dictionary.
When the National Diet was finally broken,
Helen would be there, ready to cook. But it had
been twenty-three years already and even Helen was
beginning to forget what prosciutto tasted like.
There had been people who were born and who died
without ever knowing a Dove Bar. She had no heirs.
She carried on alone.
Until at last a guilt-crazed customer led the Fat
Police to the odor of vanilla wafting from Helen's
kitchen vent. They were not gentle.
Continue
reading here.
What
Are You Looking At? The First Fat Fiction Anthology
by Donna Jarrell, Ira Sukrungruang
This
anthology of thirty works by some of our best contemporary
American writers looks at our perennial American
obsession: fat. It's everywhere, all around you,
and maybe even on you. Now, America's consuming
passion at last has its own anthology. From Andre
Dubus's delicious story of a young woman more comfortable
in her fat body than her thin one ("The Fat
Girl"), to Tobias Wolff's tale of bonding over
pancakes ("Hunters in the Snow"), Dorothy
Allison's poem about food and love ("Dumpling
Child"), Peter Carey's surreal tale of a fat-man
revolution ("The Fat Man in History"),
Wesley McNair's poetic celebration "Fat Heaven",
and George Saunders's "The 400-pound CEO,"
this bountiful feast of fiction and poetry will
ensure no reader ever looks at fat quite the same
way again.
Musical
Fat
Listen
to Louis Prima's "The Bigger the Figure"
by clicking here
and scrolling down to the samples.
Some
of the songs with fat themes from Dimensions
website. View all the titles and lyrics
here.
Blues Masters
Big Fat Woman
Big Legged Woman
Built For Comfort
Little Bitty Man
Three Hundred Pounds of Joy
Rock & Pop
Another Fat Song
Big Fat Blonde
Dare To Be Fat
Davy the Fat Boy
Fat
Fat Bottomed Girls
Fat Boys (A Love Song)
Fat, Fat, Fat
Fat Gal
Fatso
Fatty Patty
Happy Being Fat
Hotdog In A Hallway
I Need A Miracle
Ro-ly Po-ly
Skin and Bone
Spit
Thunder Thighs
Tubby Tillie
Unskinny Bop
Whole Lotta Rosie
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