BluberryPoptart said:
I'm not saying it's about looks, but I am saying the idea or attitude that thinking someone is 'obese' at 10-20lb over 'ideal' weight is based on our unreal image of beauty and looks for the average person. I think you'd have to be 50 pounds or more over to be called obese, 100 lb over to be morbidly obese, and that's when the health risks multiply. That's what I'm saying half the population is not actually 'obese' to a dangerous extent, that idea is misleading.
I definitely agree that society has some screwed up ideas about beauty and weight. It pisses me off to see fifteen-year-old girls going on diets because they think unless they look like whatever actress is on the front pages of the tabloids this week then they're fat. I just want to scream at them that none of that is real, nobody really looks like that all the time. It's like that whole episode a few years back when all the tabloids were printing pictures of various actresses looking as though they'd lost 20lbs, and now it turns out that half the time they were manipulating the photos to look like that. I guess that's the wonderful responsible world of tabloid "journalism" though.
Anyway, I did actually have a serious point to make at the end of this, I wasn't really just looking for an excuse to rant, lol. So, while I hate the media for perpetrating the idea that thin = beautiful, I have to acknowledge that actually it isn't that which determines what counts as being overweight or obese. I know that in this country at least, doctors normally use someone's BMI (body mass index) to determine whether they're overweight or not. That takes into account their height and weight and comes out with a result which says they're too thin, just right, overweight, obese, etc. Also, you don't have to be 100lbs overweight to be putting your health at risk.
I also think the people who suggested it's acceptable to smoke and drink but not to be overweight are, well, wrong. Sorry! Look at how many anti-smoking campaigns there are, look at the HUGE warnings cigarette companies have to put on cigarette packets. Besides, it's seen as acceptable to lecture someone who smokes on how unhealthy smoking is, but how often do you hear someone telling a fat person about the damage being overweight is doing to their health?