Diary of a Plus Size Blogger - Living large in a small world
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I was just reading the Good, the bad and the Ugly on Fat Chicks Rule, which lead to an msn health report on obesity in America. A twenty year study was conducted by the Center for Disease control showed a progressive timeline of states where its citizens have an average BMI of 25. Seeing that my home state of Arkansas is one of the high risk areas makes me wonder is the money that is being spent on the health initiative proposed by our Governor Mike Huckabee is working. It also makes me wonder about the CDC results considering how they also reported last year that skinny people die sooner than fat people.
This also brings me back to a conversation that I had a few days ago with a long time friend. I have the utmost respect for her opinion on different topics. We were discussing obesity as a choice. As a plus size woman herself she feels that it’s wrong that people in excess of 400lbs should want the world to change around them when they are not willing to push away from the table and get some exercise to lose weight. The only concession she was willing to give was to those people who are “medically fat” or used to be skinny but now they are fat. These individuals would be given a “fat card” that would allow them certain perks that those that are just plain old fat wouldn’t get.
My response was why anyone would want to be a part of this sub-culture of individuals that are being discriminated against in the first place. They would now not only be harrassed by smaller people but also plus size individuals as well. I just didn’t see the logic in that. In addition, being fat is the problem then why should someone who is fat by a condition any different than some one that is just plain old fat. Back on her side the statement, “Why should the world change to fit your needs when you are not willing to change?” This is a good point that I somewhat conceded to, but stated whether we like it or not the people of the 21st century are just bigger now, period not to mention there are more of us now that ever. With larger people come different needs that can’t be measured by times gone by. It works for somethings but not in the case for example reinforcing a chair.
Buildings, cars, airplanes, etc. where built in some cases over 100 years ago based on a time that Americans and people as a whole around the world where not the size that they are today. AMA statistics showed that in 1962 the 95th percentile woman weighed 199 pounds and had an average hip width of 17.1 inches; her male counterpart weighed 217 pounds and had an average hip width of 15.9 inches. That same group as of 2004 is across the board 27 pounds heavier with a hip span that is 3 inches wider. If the people are bigger it just makes sense to me that the world that they are in would be more accommodating to the change in its people.
I’m not saying trash the entire country and rebuild just to suit us fat folks. I am saying that if you have a person like me that is six foot tall weighing in at two hundred and fifty pounds that feels uncomfortable in many places then someone larger than me would be miserable. I just feel that if a business owner is in the business of making money then he/she won’t care how big I am as long as green is the color of my money. There is record construction going on in America today and making a restaurant seat or airline seat large enough to accommodate someone larger is not going to break a multi-million and sometimes billion dollar company.
In the big scheme of things there are some of us that can stop eating so much or so badly. Regardless to the reason that a person is fat if there is blatant discrimination thrust upon that person by society in certain instances then protesting against the injustice is not a bad thing. If the results call for infrastructure changes then the changes need to be made period.
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