Posted on 10/11/2005 8:25:26 PM PDT by teldon30
This pioneering anti-diet book is widely agreed to have one of the best titles ever; hardly surprising that it quickly became a bestseller, and is now safely established as a classic.
Orbach throws out old-fashioned notions of fat being the price one must pay for a life of greed and sloth. She proposes a vastly more complex thesis: namely, that gender inequality makes women fat. "For many women, compulsive eating and being fat have become one way to avoid being marketed or seen as the ideal woman," she writes. In other words, what your fat says about you, is: "Screw you!" "Fat expresses a rebellion against the powerlessness of the woman," says Orbach.
She postulates that women get fat because it means they will be taken more "seriously in their working lives outside the home". If they lose weight, they "find themselves being treated frivolously by their male colleagues". Others do it to de-sexualise themselves; others to avoid competition with other women; others because of their mother's own bonkers relationship with food.
Orbach argues that while fat women may think that they are desperate to lose weight, they subconsciously harbour the "desire to get fat". Whether they know it or not, they enjoy the topsy-turvy advantages that their layers of fat offer them. But the price they pay is a high one. She gently unpicks the "very, very painful activity" that is compulsive eating. "Above all, the fat woman wants to hide," she says. "Paradoxically, her lot in life is to be perpetually noticed."
Orbach makes her argument with the authority of one who has Been There. She reveals that she suffered "10 years of dieting, bingeing and self-hatred" before signing up for a course on compulsive eating. Six months later, she had a whole new outlook on life; she went on to offer therapy to women with eating disorders (many years later, one of them would be Princess Diana).
This book is essentially a self-help manual for women with serious weight problems, or at least a seriously wonky relationship with food. It will probably be of little interest to the casual, non-binge-eating reader, but - even 27 years on - it may still prove profoundly useful to any woman locked in a destructive cycle of dieting and gorging.
The big question, of course, is: "What about fat men?" Is male fat a feminist issue too? But Orbach is writing in the days before men had issues: she doesn't attempt to go there.
No sane woman wants to be fat and for that matter no man we are an image driven society....
Women have always been judged upon her appearance always have always will...
NO reason to be fat unless you are lazy and eat junk.
Women run the consumer market. Women dictate the market (supply/demand). I suppose some women might find it useful to attribute problems to "gender inequality" in order to lose weight. But there's a problem: Once the woman loses all that weight; hits her weight goal -- what then? She psychologically hits a brick wall. If she's thin, and continues to do the psyche-up of "blaming guys", now what? She's gotta continue to blame-guys in order to maintain her weight, or join the anti-guy brigades of feminism in order to maintain her new low weight?
Or will she begin binging once she realizes it was just the "energy drill" that fueled her to lose weight; not necessarily the mantra of "blaming guys" (oppressive society)? She could have picked "any" mantra.
It's not always laziness, laney.
Some of the busiest women I know are "weighty" and simply because their plates are so overfull with duties and responsibilities that they are eating on the fly; a hunk of huge carb being more immediately satisfying than a bowl of vegetables or salad.
Their weightiness can be "attributed" to "gender inequality" as the author of the book chooses to assert; but it really is WOMEN who are making these choices.
Lastly, I've met women who are simply happier being weightier than the average Hollywood starlet. These are happy women who do not think of themselves as fat.
Hmmmm...Maybe if they didn't act like FRIGGIN' IDIOTS they would have less problems. I'm a petite size 4 and I've done quite well in the working world. Except I can't reach the top drawer of the filing cabinet. But no one has ever held that against me.
Some of the busiest women I know are "weighty" and simply because their plates are so overfull with duties and responsibilities that they are eating on the fly; a hunk of huge carb being more immediately satisfying than a bowl of vegetables or salad.
Sorry - that's still lazy. Healthy eating takes thinking ahead, prioritizing and planning. These mental efforts are no different than physical exercise. Anyone can do them, most chose not to.
VERY astute observations! And most of the women who ascribe to the idea that external, resistant forces are what make them fat are simply following the "I can't be responsible for myself" mantra of the left.
The twaining of these two "pegs" are what I hold responsible for encouraging some women to be acting out in ways which are not in their own best interests.
Therefore, I do not ascribe to feminist theology, as I find it cognizantly discordant.
Healthy eating takes thinking ahead, prioritizing and planning. These mental efforts are no different than physical exercise. Anyone can do them, most chose not to.
Bingo. I summed by writing that women ARE making individual choices; and that this book "attributing female "fatness" to male oppression or somesuch" is idiocy.
The theory is, I guess... that women are "forced" to not plan ahead and because of "gender inequality". Meaning? Women are taking primary care of children. Lots of women, thin women who plan ahead and exercise, also have children. So the author's premise is a "globalization" of a feminist mantra which is borne out by facts not in evidence.
And I totally agree with you. Any theory that fails to properly value the unique contributions of both sexes to each other demeans both. IMO, the left has stolen the term "feminist" and perverted it for dependency and political ends.
Then how does she explain all the fat men. Add to that the fact that men have less fat cells and typically, a higher metabolism, and her philosphy doesn't hold up.
I do think there's something to women getting fat to avoid being sexualized. I think there are also men who prefer their women with a little extra wight so that other men aren't always looking at them.
I agree with you.
No doubt an effective method in most venues..
In other words, what your fat says about you, is: "Screw you!"
sigh
So much for "fat and happy."
"NO reason to be fat unless you are lazy and eat junk."
I perceive by your profile page that you don't live/take care of anyone but yourself. Try walking a year in my sneakers then we can talk about 'lazy and junk food'. Becoming fat, staying fat, fighting fat are not the simple issues thin people think they are.
Well I am sorry if you percieve me in a way of *Only thinking of myself* I just know that for most people that are FAT IT is due to being lazy and eating wrong.
People do not need to eat like in the days of farming and no computers or cars when you got up at the crack of dawn and ate a full breakfast of Bacon, eggs, potatoes, toast etc.. That is when you burned it up by the intense work you did in the fields.
Look at all the fat kids????
Lazy mother's that do not take the time to fix them healthy meals, NO they let them eat Mc DOnalds while playing on the playstation.
Taking care of yourself requires some effort and that does not mean you are being narcisstic.
Alia,
Totally dis-agree with your assumption on this one!
My grandmother raised 6 kids, and worked like a dogette as she had no luxuries of microwaves, warm-up dinners or even a car, she ate wrong but she did burn up what she did eat by hand washing clothes, mowing the grass with a hand mower etc... she had more on her plate than any women of today..
My mother too!
Women today are spoiled! EVEN ME that is why I watch what I eat and excercise because I am not working on a cattle ranch burning up those High Carb foods!
Agree with ya here! It takes consertive effort to eat right excercise and take care of yourself overall.
It takes NO EFFORT to be fat and lazy....
"Gender inequality makes women fat?"Hardly.The author's arguement is tenuous at best.She attempts to provide a politically correct(blame males!)simple anwser to a complex issue.Why do people get fat?1)Some people just enjoy eating.2)Lack of exercise 3)Stress/anxiety/depression.Overeating is often a response to stress.Food="comfort".4)Metabolisms can differ greatly from individual to individual.Some people just tend to metabolize excess calories more readily into fat.5)Low blood sugar levels.We tend to crave sweets when blood sugarlevels drop.
Why would you want a cabinet held against you?
Sorry, couldn't resist. :-)
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