Refresh Princess Of Venice Beach
I've been a little lax about updating my columns on my Web site...there's a new one up now -- Thighs Matters -- the column that generated a fat mail bag of complaint letters from the "fat-acceptance" girls. (If you can't see it, click "refresh" on your browser.)
Amy, what is it with you and the academics? Has it occured to you that "anthropologist Donald Symons" might be a dickless, tweedy weasel who's never actually swung an erection of his own?
You know that a short century or two ago, big girls ruled, so the actual beauty is there. What we're talking about is fashion... Which is famously divergent from decency and utility.
This I believe: There are some spiritual consequences from being overweight, particularly for women. Paglia (and others) speculate that since the girly hormones reside in fat, it's the big girls who live in the condition of overwrought emotion that's more about words than deeds (see Winfrey, O.).
On the other hand, it sometimes feels pretty good when you're comin' at 'em from behind.
One of the best parts of having a girlfriend who's too fat (or too skinny) is that it's politically incorrect in the most vicious possible terms. Amy, there are people on this planet who have feelings which are not dictated by what the Homecoming Queen and her court deem appropriate. You should hang out with them.
Crid at March 26, 2004 12:23 PM
Donald Symons didn't talk to the homecoming queen -- he analyzed mountains of data. Even fat people don't think fat people are attractive. What's preferred in a culture (in terms of amount of body fat) corresponds pretty directly to the amount of food available. In cultures where food is plentiful, like America, thin is in. In cultures where food is scarce, they like the hefty girls. People in our country are violently obese. I just got back from France, where fat people are, at best, plump. I connected through Los Angeles through Dulles -- an obesity horror show, filled with (really) MANY women who looked to be about 300 pounds.
Amy Alkon at March 26, 2004 1:31 PM
You're so lovely, so wise
You could make Venus crawl
But love between the ugly
Is the most beautiful love of all
Todd Rundgren
Lena at March 26, 2004 2:30 PM
The bigger the cushion
The sweeter the pushin'
That's what I said
The looser the waistband
The deeper the quicksand
Or so I have read
My baby fits me like a flesh tuxedo
I like to sink her with my pink torpedo
"Big Bottom" - Spinal Tap
Jeep Crew at March 26, 2004 3:56 PM
The fat folks keep on comin'! They must be getting laid somehow, that's all I'm sayin.'
Lena! You dig Todd! How cool is that?
Crid at March 26, 2004 5:15 PM
I found it sort of a typical comment on male behavior that, in the original reader letter, the guy went to bed with the big woman, then blew her off. He apparently was too disgusted to date her, but not disgusted enough to get his rocks off for one night.
Venus de Nylon at March 27, 2004 8:50 PM
I totally dig Todd. He's a wizard. A true star.
Lena at March 28, 2004 4:49 PM
Venus, that's life. Fat girls can get used, but it's harder for them to get boyfriends. Hence, my answer.
Amy Alkon at March 28, 2004 6:37 PM
Save the satin undies, don't pluck out your eyebrows...
Crid at March 28, 2004 10:32 PM
you don't have to camp around!
Lena at March 29, 2004 11:10 AM
:)
Crid at March 30, 2004 12:37 AM