Posted on 08/12/2004 7:27:38 AM PDT by SJackson
Don't expect to see much of Elizabeth Edwards on the campaign trail this fall. Oh, she'll be campaigning alongside her husband, all right. But the TV cameras just might decide to miss her.
After introducing her husband at the Democratic convention in Boston, she has all but disappeared, which is curious given that she is arguably the best thing the Democratic ticket has going for it. An intelligent and accomplished professional woman who exudes genuine, down-to-earth homeliness and warmth, Elizabeth Edwards also earned the respect of traditional-minded Americans by courageously deciding to have two young children in mid-life after losing her eldest child in a car crash. A woman of quiet dignity, refinement, and grace, she is the perfect antidote to the arrogant condescension of the "opinionated" Theresa Heinz Kerry.
So why won't you see a lot of her on TV? Because America doesn't like heavy women. It hides them away where they won't be offensive. They are seen as unattractive and are endlessly analyzed by armchair psychologists as to why they would have allowed themselves to become repellant. Worse, they are treated as if they have committed some sin.
This is especially true of women who, like Elizabeth Edwards, were once thin. The women who were always heavy elicit the public's sympathy. "Maybe it's genetic," they think inwardly. But women who were once thin and attractive, like Elizabeth Edwards, but who dare to put on weight – even after suffering horrific personal tragedy like the loss of a child – are treated as if they have violated some sacred commandment: Thou shalt always look pleasing for thy menfolk. And by menfolk, we mean here not only Elizabeth Edwards's husband but all American men who have a right to look at a young candidate's wife and see something that pleases the eye, like Jackie Kennedy.
By now you have no doubt heard the endless political commentary about how handsome and vibrant John Edwards is and how he nicely complements the long-faced taciturnity of John Kerry. Even Kerry himself praised his good-looking vice-presidential candidate for having "great hair." But those same commentators are utterly silent on the looks of Elizabeth Edwards because to them, as to the rest of America, the fact that she is overweight – itself a pejorative implying extremism – means that she is unsightly.
For the longest time, America has been waging a holy war against women that dare to be fat. The American tabloids have for months shown us pictures of the "obese" actress Kirstie Alley. The pictures of her at 300 pounds are invariably contrasted with photos of how she looked when she was thin and pretty on TV's Cheers. She is a legitimate object of ridicule, depicted as a circus elephant, replete in tent-like clothes. The implication also is that she is possessed of some grave mental illness to have allowed herself to mushroom to such proportions.
Now, I do not deny that shedding extra pounds can make us healthier, improve the quality of our lives, and enhance the self-esteem of both men and women. But do we really want our daughters to be numskulls like Paris Hilton and Britney Spears, who have perfect bodies but rotting brains?
Just think about the message that American girls get when large women are unjustly treated as repulsive. They learn that personality, education, virtue, and motherhood – pregnancy often causes women to put on and retain weight – counts for nothing in the eyes of men. Spending all your time in a gym burning off fat, rather than being idle in a library and reading a book, is the only way to get noticed.
EVEN THE American TV networks these days seem to hire only thin, beautiful women to read the news, and highly intelligent women like Greta Van Susteren feel pressured to undergo plastic surgery in order to get ratings on their TV shows. Indeed, you are more likely to see a space alien on your rooftop than a heavy-set woman on your TV screen.
This is also part of an ugly double standard. Weight is not an impediment to power and success among men. Just look at Michael Moore and Harvey Weinstein. But the only women who are allowed to be heavy in America are funny women, like Starr Jones.
Thinness may have become synonymous with beauty in America, but it is decimating the erotic life of marriage. In multiple sexual surveys, one of the biggest complaints that husbands voice about their wives is that they rarely initiate sex and are far too reserved in the bedroom. But can we really expect the American wife to be sexually adventurous when she is permanently self-conscious about her weight? It makes sense that women who feel unattractive will choose to hide under the covers.
Indeed, Dr. James Watson, the Nobel prize-winning geneticist who was jointly responsible for discovering the structure of DNA, maintained that plumper women were more likely to enjoy a better sex life than their thin counterparts. He told an audience at University College London that extra pounds had the biological effect of making a woman well rounded in character and better in bed. "Thinness is never associated with sexuality."
He explained that extra fat had the effect of boosting endorphins, the natural mood-enhancing chemical that is also linked to sexual desire. "Kate Moss is probably the most famous thin person in the world, and she's looking particularly sad. Who has ever heard of a happy supermodel?" Watson asked.
He also argued that leptin, which is produced in fat tissue, boosts the chemical MSH, which enhances sexual desire. "Your mood is controlled by endorphins, and you make more of these when you are fat; hence, nobody has ever drawn Santa Claus thin. Thin people are discontented."
And the obsessive American war on fat is also decimating the American family because women are afraid to "disfigure" their bodies with pregnancies and post-partum pounds.
Elizabeth Edwards didn't worry about all that, and she has two young beautiful children who treasure her, even if the superficial American media does not.
Thanks for saying what I've been saying a long time. The fashion industry pretty much mimics the designers.
I prefer to want to look like Mae West or Josephine Baker, or someone such like that. Girls who are naturally thin are a different case but most girls in America are starving themselves. If anyone wants to get an idea about how weight obsessed girls are, just hang out at a really a preppy high school or be in a dorm with preppy girls,etc. There are good books like Reviving Ophelia,Prozac Nation,etc. about this.
The world that had integrity true beauty and class does not exsist anymore pretty sad...
OMG!!!!!!! She is kicking his a$$ *LOL* We should hire her for the RNC convention street advance team.
Sorry, all the lipstick in the world doesn't change the fact she's a pig. A nice pig, probably, but a pig none the less.
Not in the liberal infested dominant media, that's for sure. I think it exists among individual Americans which to me is important. It likes to perpetuate a certain type of female that most women can't ever duplicate.
I'm 46, and run 5 miles / day. Guess I've got 4 years left...
Although my Mom walked 3 miles daily until she broke her ankle at 80.
I started barefoot running. Running is good for people, but not people with a congenital disease. I am 30 and know the creeping effects of decreased hormones on us girls. Running is one of the most liberating sports there is.
You people that like to preach Grammar Police are the most "Boring" people on FR...Your like the people nobody notices at a party....Go Buy yourself a pair of Knee High Boots purse, pants and hat to match....Someone will notice you....
LOL I say remove the spell checker too. It does nothing for me :O)
What a difference culture makes. I've seen your pics, Cyborg, and you are hardly fat. I think you're a beautiful young woman.
But then, I come from a background (black) where a few curves and a few pounds are appreciated.
And since life can never run smooth, I've been cursed w/having the hots for white guys, who tend to think that skinny blond chicks are attractive. oy.
Funny you should mention Extreme Makeover. I went to be evaluated for plastic surgery. I'd say I would not get any now and mostly because I can't afford it. Look at how the industry has gone through the roof though with shows like Dr.90210.
:-)
We make it fun around here.....
Hey! Watch your massist language!
Culture does have a lot to do with it. And back when I was in school and had a lot of friends from different backgrounds, the American girls who were white would always be talking about weight,etc. and the black girls would talk about nails and hair. Back in my parents' countries, I'd not be fat at all. I live in a predominantly black area and how a certain shape is looked at is different but that's another thread entirely *LOL* Going out into the dating scene I can see why girls OBSESS over weight and the way they look.
That is so not true. Recent studies in hormonal balance shows that there is more going on with weight than using laws of physics and a calorie of heat on humans.
I've known people who strugge to keep their weight at a desire weight, yes- both men and women. It requires incredible amounts of exercise, low calories every day of their life to maintain a number on the scale.
I've known others who have eat an entire pie for dessert and never gain an ounce.
Now tell me that there isn't something going on with the metabolisms of these two people.
Obesity has never been a subject of study while doctors and researchers continue to think that it's simply a matter of an overactive elbow, or that a calorie equals a calorie to everyone. It simply does not.
You can continue to think it's a choice but I think it's simply the difference in metabolisms and there's more to the chemicals involved than anyone has ever bothered to study.
My mother has a very bad thyroid, in fact she has none almost. She used to be very slender like Rosario Dawson almost. After her operation, she gained weight. My father didn't care while he was alive, but now she talks about how fat she is. She's healthier than a lot of people i know and to have no health problems at her age is a blessing.
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