Wednesday, April 21, 2010

#49. The Emaciated Look


We have stated before that Black people do not like to pass on seconds. Well, the Atlantic monthly magazine has provided SBPDL with perhaps the most depressing article imaginable, and it is one that presents a future comprised entirely of bulbous Black women in the image of Precious star Gabourey Sidibe.

Imagine cloning the podgy Gabourey Sidibe not once, but having her image replace every Black woman in America. Upon performing this weighty thought experiment, you are now prepared to view the world 30 years into the future:

Those at the base of the socioeconomic pyramid have been most exposed to these changes and have the fewest resources to resist or counteract them. In fact, obesity has become a marker of sorts for lower socioeconomic status. The lower your educational attainment, the more likely you are to be obese. In the United States and other developed countries, where access to food isn’t usually a problem, poor people tend to be fatter than wealthy people, and Americans living in rural areas tend to be more obese than Americans living in inner cities. (In 2008, the five states with obesity rates of 30 percent or more were Alabama, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Tennessee.) Black children are more at peril of becoming obese than white children; black women are more than 50 percent more likely to be obese than white women. “At the current rate of increase,” epidemiologists noted in a recent article in Obesity, “it will take less than 30 years for all black women to become overweight or obese.” Obesity rates are above average among Mexican American boys, as they are among Hispanics generally. Obesity rates among young American Indians tend to be nearly twice the national average.

In one score and a decade – if trends continued unabated – every Black woman in America will be obese and the chances of landing a role as a female lead in a Hollywood film will be next to impossible.

Even Tyra Banks has been attacked for being fat:

On her hit show America's Next Top Model, Tyra Banks has always stressed the importance of body confidence – but it still hurt when tabloids ran an unflattering photo of her in a bathing suit under headlines that screamed, "America's Next Top Waddle" and "Tyra Porkchop."

Now, for the first time in an exclusive interview with PEOPLE, Banks, 33, is publicly discussing her much-buzzed-about weight gain. "I get so much mail from young girls who say, 'I look up to you, you're not as skinny as everyone else, I think you're beautiful,' " she says. "So when they say that my body is 'ugly' and 'disgusting,' what does that make those girls feel like?"

Indeed, Black women in America have helped ensure that the 365 Black campaign at McDonald’s continues and scornfully cast aside any suggestions by the CDC that they rein in on bad eating and dietary habits. Even Sidibe is being targeted by health nuts bent on getting Black people to shop at Whole Foods, swapping the fried chicken for organic vegetables:

“AcaiSupply.com is reaching out to the Oscar nominated star, noting that obesity is a "major epidemic" in the U.S. and they want to help her fight what they call "this terrible affliction."

The company is offering her a one year supply of the product in return for an endorsement -- provided she loses weight.

The CEO wrote a letter to Sidibe, urging her, "The only way you can reach your goal of someday winning that Oscar is by being active, fit, and most of all, healthy!"

A rep for Sidibe could not be reached for comment.”

We know that Black people don’t like small butts, but this is getting ridiculous when an entire sex of a racial group is destined to pig out on food, casting aside sinew bodies for the luxury of a flabby, bovine existence.

One particularly hilarious discussion about Black women and obesity was recorded on National Public Radio (NPR) in 2007 and it dealt with the fascination of Black men with thick sisters:

MICHEL MARTIN, host:

There's no denying that obesity is a serious health issue in the country, and it's a particularly big problem for African-American women, more than half of whom are considered overweight.

Now, one commentator suggests that one reason black women are overweight is that the brothers like it that way. That is to say that the culture rewards women for a little extra padding.

Author Debra Dickerson wrote an essay about it for Salon.com, the online magazine, and she joins us by phone from Albany, New York, for a behind-closed doors conversation. Thanks for being with us.

Ms. DEBRA DICKINSON (Columnist, Salon.com): Thanks for having me.

MARTIN: Now, you know, a lot of Americans are overweight. It's the first thing a lot of international visitors comment on. But you think the culture rewards black women for being big?

Ms. DICKERSON: Yes, I think it does. You're always going to have pockets, and I think there's probably some class issues there. But I've heard since I was a little kid, nobody wants a bone but a dog, you know, and that sort of thing. And it was like only entertainers who could really get away with being obese, like Aretha Franklin and people like that.

Yes, there is definitely some - a market preference for women who have junk in the trunk, or however you want to put it.

MARTIN: But junk in the trunk is different from being obese, and I guess I'm thinking about movies like that Eddie Murphy movie that came out early…

Ms. DICKERSON: Which - yes.

MARTIN: …this year, "Norbit," where black women are, you know, fat women or big women are held up as objects of ridicule. And I look at the magazines, I look at, you know, the universal cultural marker, music videos, right?

Ms. DICKERSON: Right.

MARTIN: And I don't see a lot of big women in them. At least not held up as beauty objects.

Ms. DICKERSON: I think we're talking - again, we're on dangerous territory here, but I think we're talking about sexual fetishes. I'm not so sure we're talking about beauty objects.

Interestingly, it is unknown if a correlation exists between the high rates of unwed Black women and the excessive rates of obesity they maintain.

The Office of Minority Health has warned Black women about the long-term health risks of lugging around excess baggage near the belly, but with the recent passage of universal health care those costs have been transferred to the gullible tax payer and the redistribution of wealth entailed in that legislation will prolong the bad eating habits of an entire gender, engendering unknown burdens on the tax payer and costs in the process:

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said Wednesday that she is developing a national plan of action that would focus for the first time on reducing health care disparities between minority and white populations.

HHS has been writing reports for 25 years documenting the gap in health care services between white and minority communities, but there never has been an action plan to address the gap, she said in an address to the National Action Network convention.

"I'm here to say that's going to end this year," Sebelius said.

She said 1 in 3 U.S. Hispanics and 1 in 5 African-Americans do not have health insurance, adding that the National Institutes of Health also is looking into the issue.

The HHS also would be focusing on disseminating health care information through social networking and addressing childhood obesity, the secretary said.

Some of the changes the public can expect to see immediately under the new health care law is coverage for children up to age 26 and an end to insurance companies dropping patients in mid-treatment because they have reached their spending cap.

The convention began Wednesday and runs through Saturday.

Prominent leaders in civil rights, religion, politics and education are scheduled to discuss issues affecting communities of color. Besides health care, topics include the black achievement gap and the state of the black church.

Among other featured speaker were Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele and the presidents of the NAACP and National Urban League.

Perhaps the most prominent female in America is Oprah Winfrey, a media-mogul and reasonably talented interviewer (though Tom Cruise did upstage her), can be fingered as the culprit for the obesity epidemic in Black America. Is she to blame for removing the stigma associated with being obese, since society once shunned the overweight as tawdry reminders of ones inability to assume self-control?:

Winfrey's intimate confessions about her weight (which peaked at 108 kg (238 lb)) also paved the way for other plus sized women in media such as Roseanne Barr, Rosie O'Donnell and Star Jones. The November 1988 Ms. magazine observed that "in a society where fat is taboo, she made it in a medium that worships thin and celebrates a bland, white-bread prettiness of body and personality...But Winfrey made fat sexy, elegant — damned near gorgeous — with her drop-dead wardrobe, easy body language, and cheerful sensuality."

Tim McGraw, that ebullient country singer, has a song entitled My Next 30 Years. Black women– if trends continue – have only one thing to look forward to in the next 30 years: their cholesterol being up.

Stuff Black People Don’t Like includes the emaciated look, as Black women have collectively agreed to brush aside any pretense of dieting for a daily caloric intake that would sink Michael Phelps. The food pyramid and nutritional guidelines are a form of cultural imperialism imposed by white people (white women in general) who feel a need to universalize the accepted form of beauty. Fat, pleasantly plump, overweight, obese, turgid, chubby and portly appear to be the preferred descriptive term for Black women and their weight.

So no thanks, Black women say, to imperialistic norms of weight for females as decreed by white people. Fat Oprah is in to stay, and Gabourey Sidibe (and every Black woman, if trends continue) will be there to help her finish off those seconds, or thirds.

The titanic look is totally in like Flynn.












18 comments:

CWN said...

Obviously these women need to go on, what I like to call the African death diet.

It consists of catching malaria or aids. And barely surviving the ordeal. This will give you that healthy skeletal look that runway models are so fond of.

Your food will consist of muddy water, and or Zebra piss. Accidentally swallowed flies. Biological microbes in the dirty water, making you evacuate your bowels alot. Bacteria from the flies. Cow menstural matter. Cow or goat dung. Ofcourse you must save some dung and piss to bathe in. Sometimes one another.

This has been another epsidose of African lifestyles of the diseased and almost dead. With your host, CWN.


http://shabo.posterous.com/african-tribal-men-eat-cows-menstrual-matter

http://incogman.files.wordpress.com/2008/02/african-sickness-2.jpg

http://www.thesahara.info/starving/starving_baby.jpg

http://www.safewatersource.org/images/africa_2_mcw4.jpg

Anonymous said...

It's typical Black broads would blame Black men for their own obesity. Blacks are always blaming others for their own radical insufficiencies. Did it ever occur to them that Black men like "a little extra padding" because that's what they're accustomed to?

Anonymous said...

Dear SBPDL :

Great site.

However, PLEASE PROOFREAD YOUR WORK BEFORE POSTING.

Sincerely,

- Arthur de Gobineau

Anonymous said...

Holy crap!

I'm a white chick and I started Weight Watchers recently and have a gym membership that I don't use as often as I should. I just watched these videos and I'm lacing up my sneakers as a result. No excuses! I don't want to look like these women! THEY don't want to look like that either! They must physically feel so tired and sticky and uncomfortable... and imagine the shame of having to sue because you burst your seams!

Men of all races like women who look healthy (and therefore fertile), with curves where they belong. If all black women become fat, then in order for most black men to find a mate they'd have to put up with fat black women. That doesn't mean they WANT that!

There's a world of difference between curves and flab. I just learned of a term to describe when a woman's belly flab hangs below her crotch: "Pannus". That's the medical term. Here's what it's called colloquially: "Gunt". No garment or shaper can prevent one of those from busting loose, and no man wants to have to try to push one of those aside in order to get some play!

I'm printing out a screen shot of the women in the Judge Joe Brown episode. I'm nowhere near that fat, but those women show the natural consequences of greed for rich food and the laziness of sitting on your ass watching TV. What makes me think that if I live like they do that I won't wind up the way they are? Consider them a dis-incentive. Some folks put up "positive affirmations" on their mirrors or refrigerators. I'm putting up photos of the grotesque fat women.

Later, folks! The gym awaits!

Stuff Black People Don't Like said...

Monsieur Gobineau,

I put this up late last night. Thanks for the praise and also the words of advice.

If you ever see grammatical, syntax or structural errors, please email them to me at stuffblackpeople@gmail.com

I will change them immediately. Perhaps it is time to find an editor!

Thanks for visiting!

Anonymous said...

Female Anonymous,

Women shouldn't have "curves." Well, they should, but barely.

Anonymous said...

Anyone else notice how the "talking heads" like to promote physical fitness and also promote big is beautiful at the same time?

Speaking of Weight Watchers, have you seen the wide variety of "diet food" available at the supermarket. From the observations I've made, I would be led to believe you must buy "diet food" in order to lose weight. I wonder what our ancestors did before "diet food" came along. They must have all been fat back in the day.

Anywho, I gotta get back in front of the TV and listen to the "talking heads" tell me who I'm supposed to be mad at now. The "Two Minutes of Hate" is due to air any minute now.

Dave

Porter said...

The photo of that breathtakingly repulsive pachyderm should be mandatory for all neophyte monks to have framed above their bedsides. This in order to shunt all carnal thoughts of females for eternity.

I pray for the sake of my marriage that it hasn't already worked its malign effects on me.

Anonymous said...

I agree with Howard Stern; Gabby is *huge* and I want her to at least drop to 200, DAMN, since she has a great personality (as per her interviews).

All said, this post is just plain rude.

Yes, *hell yes*, there are some beastly sisters out there but there are some fat ass white sows as well (visit a trailer park, DMV, Wal-Mart, mall, anywhere for mighty nice caucazoid specimens). Now, not all black women are fat; I see black girls all the time with good figures or those that seriously need a sandwich. No one-I repeat NO ONE-wants to look like Oprah Winfrey; that is so fucking stupid it's unbelievable. Oprah is *fug*...

Whites just don't get it when it comes to PoC beauty...smh. Curves don't equal fatness; fat is fat and it shouldn't be treated arbitrarily with regards to having a booty, hips, etc.

No, I *don't* think women should be overweight but I also don't think they should be rails; a woman should have flesh to cover up her backbone and ribs (because seeing that is gross).

Most importantly, why the hell are men always trying to tell women that they need to lose weight/look a certain way? No wonder so many of those fair and beautiful white women have eating disorders! No wonder so many women are headcases when it comes to their body image! It needs to stop because women are dying to look like some computer-generated, voiceless fantasy. None of you would like it if women held up a physical standard for men; hell no, you'd all cry foul *trust me* because none of you would...ahem...'measure up'.

Fail post.

Woohoo!--LONG LIVE THE *PATRIARCHY* (and the whole *black-people-are-the-fugliest-things-on-earth-so-let's-destroy-them-cuz-they-ain't-worth-shit* thing)!

Stuff Black People Don't Like said...

Desiree,

I read a lot. When I picked up the latest issue of "Atlantic" and read the quote about how in 30 years, all Black women will be obese (if trends continue) EVEN I WAS STUNNED.

There are incredibly huge white people, sure. But nearly 70 percent of Black women are currently classified as huge and in 30 years, we will be able to call them all fat.

In the words of Derek Zoolander, 'EWWWW'!

Go to the gym, don't eat fast food, run and exercise. Slow down on alcohol consumption and you'll be fine.

Phalluster said...

I've made this point here before. Black women are simply different creatures than our white women, like a basset hound is different than a German shepherd.

Blacks are an r-selecting race; whites are K-selecting. Black women's obesity is a sign of longevity, relative to their natural desert environments. This is why black men are ingrained with the desire to mate with women who resemble the grand resource-gathering herbivores of sub-Saharan Africa.

Namely, black men like their women in the mold of the elephant, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, and cape buffalo. It is useful for these women to bear semblance in size, shape, color, and texture (it is important to not forget texture).

This is a purely a survival strategy. Yes, it is ironic that white inventions of medicine and diet have actually conquered these bestial tendencies.

Incidentally, black man's famous "pimp game" in cultured society is modeled after its ancestor "mahout game", the tending of an elephant herd. Hyper-masculine by necessity, as it were.

Phalluster said...

women are not "killing themselves" to display the optimal 0.7 waist-hip ratio, indicating a healthy fertility.

porkers like desiree would blame "the patriarchy", aka nature, for anything that would stifle their ability to do whatever they want, all the time, and still be beautiful.

it is sailer's first law of female journalism.

but even blind men prefer the 0.7 WHR! can't blame patriarchy there, fatso.

CWN said...

Desiree,

"Woohoo!--LONG LIVE THE *PATRIARCHY* (and the whole *black-people-are-the-fugliest-things-on-earth-so-let's-destroy-them-cuz-they-ain't-worth-shit* thing)!"

There ya go boo. Now you are starting to catch on. You are one smart negro. "pats her head"

Anonymous said...

Hi, I'm the Weight Watchers & gym girl again.

Shrimp & cocktail sauce = low-calorie, good protein, and eating this doesn't make me feel like a peasant. Also, it's springtime so fresh strawberries are cheap, abundant, and not grown in a third-world toilet country, but here in the U.S.A. I lost four pounds in the past week and a half due to eating like a normal human being and taking a walk for an hour a day. Turns out that the fatter you are the faster you lose weight when you finally give up hippopotamus eating habits. I have SBPDL partially to thank for inspiring me with those HORRENDOUS video clips.

After reading the rest of the comments I got curious and I measured myself last night with a tape measure. My waist-to-hip ratio is 0.73. I was amazed. I mention this because NO it is not an overwhelming challenge to get that 0.7 proportion. I'm very overweight and I still manage to have a waist. Ladies, let's get it together. Winding up in a scooter in the Wal*Mart because you're too fat to walk around is not the way to spend your life. Seeing those women was another motivation for me to diet; I don't want to become that particular breed of white woman!

Don't harsh on Desiree and call her a "porker". We have no reason to necessarily believe that she's fat. She may well be one of the black women who aren't. After all, if Michelle Obama and now Jennifer Hudson can avoid being lardasses, so can everyone else.

Fried chicken is fattening.
Watermelon isn't.

Anonymous said...

Thank you, Weight Watchers girl (I'll disregard the fried chicken/watermelon comment, by the way); I wish you luck on your weight loss and I have to agree: seeing large people is a great motivator. No one with a brain wants to look like that!! There is nothing like the feeling of lifting weights ( <3 ) and that awesome nap after working out. Hard to get rid of the chubby cheeks, though; had them since getting on some meds *4 years ago* BUT I guess it keeps me looking 16 so there you go...I'll live with it.
Okay, *only* idiots like Phalluster would *assume* that anyone telling people to mind their own damn business when it comes to a woman's weight are 'fatsos'. It's almost laughable in it's predictability. I'm guessing that Phalluster is the typical (white) male who downs his own women if they aren't 'perfect'. Well, okay then! Can you at least *try* not to be childish?
And I guess I was a little naive to throw out 'the patriarchy' bomb here (even if it's relevant), especially since most of the people who comment are men, believing that someone would get what I'm saying (privilege clouds all insight!). Are there any people on here with the common sense to *get* that the male sex controls every fucking thing that women do? *sighs* Where are the equivalents of men having to live up to ridiculous standards (i'm sorry, "nature" smh)? It's fucking mind control; it'll be 'Stepford Wives' all over again! I've had friends of ALL COLORS who were heavy with low self-esteem, even if they had attractive faces. Yes, they may be unhealthy but I'm not in the business of ruining people's spirits, ESPECIALLY women's.

To CWN:
Please. That was sarcasm, sweetie. Don't get it twisted: Black is, and always will be, fucking BEAUTIFUL, no matter what your dumbass thinks...

To SBPDL,
Naw, I don't eat Mickey D's or fast food in general. I'm completely vegetarian; that stuff is fucking poison! The same goes with the alcohol. I had a Patron margarita on my 21st B-day and I have not been back sense. All of that shit, especially McDonald's, is being used to kill black people. I plan to live and fight... Also, for 'old time's sake': in the words of Derek Zoolander 'EWWWW' to small dicks and the misogynistic bastards they belong to...

See ya!

Phalluster said...

to weight watchers girl:

the "porker" label will be assigned to both fatsos and friends of fatsos, those who would disavow evolutionary preferences for "feminism" and the opposition of "patriarchy".

i'm no spring chicken myself, and critical self-assessment has driven me to start jogging again. however, it is less important for a man to be skinny, as women are sexually attracted to 'manifest status', as opposed to their own 'manifest fertility'.

CWN said...

Desiree,

"To CWN:
Please. That was sarcasm, sweetie. Don't get it twisted: Black is, and always will be, fucking BEAUTIFUL, no matter what your dumbass thinks..."

Simmer down now. Don't go getting all militant on me. I don't want you to start a riot or anything.

Anonymous said...

I want to disagree with the premise of the OP, but the only people saying "be proud of your body, no matter its size" are black women.

So really, it is not a black thing, it is a black woman thing.

Being fat is unhealthy...duh? Also, the social part of our brain rejects fat people...after a while, that part of the brain will figure out a way to get away from fat people.

So black women are trying to rationalize that it is okay to be fat, when it's not. I agree with the concept intention: that fat people shouldn't *hate themselves* for being fat. However, it is wrong to try to get them to just accept being fat. Instead of hating oneself or accepting one's fatness, just lose the weight for health, sex, and financial reasons.