Article: Why Black Women are Fat - Page 8

On May 14 2012 23:00 xwoGworwaTsx wrote:

Randall cites literature and songs that adore voluptuousness. A 1987 poem “Homage to My Hips” begins with the boast, “These hips are big hips.” She establishes big black hips as something a woman would want to have and a man would desire.

There is also politics in it, other than the aesthetic reason. The fat black woman’s body “functions as a site of resistance to both gendered and racialized oppression.” By contextualizing fatness within the African diaspora, she invites us to notice that the fat black woman can be a rounded opposite of the fit black slave, that the fatness of black women has often functioned as both explicit political statement and active political resistance.

From this fresh perspective, Randall claims that it is easy to aproach the obesity problem. She acknowledges that the money spent on anti-diabetes and anti-obesity program is better spent on education and technology. That is why in her small way, she is helping other women in the community to "keep it below 200 pounds", in various exercise, diet, and yoga programs. She is hopeful that while she may never be as fit as she wants, at least it will be hard for her daughter and future generation to get fat.

On May 15 2012 01:46 Kasu wrote:

Actually 2006, it says it right on the graphic. And yes, its a limited sample, but its unlikely to be that poor an indicator of overall dental health - 12 year olds use the same infrastructure as everyone else, are spread across the same demographics etc.

On May 14 2012 23:10 Saline wrote:
This article is completely littered with standard human cognitive biases. Almost all of her evidence is anecdotal--"I wanted to be fat, so it's probably something most people feel" or "I remember hearing women say they wanted to be fat, so most of them must feel that way." Confirmation bias: humans remember that which conforms to their presuppositions, and ignore that which does not.

What I think is more likely is that black women, being a racially oppressed minority, garner more social support from each other than do white women. As a result, their bodies are generally praised, regardless of what they look like. Being proud of your body is something that is almost necessary when the entire issue of racial discrimination is centered around what you look like (i.e. your skin color). In other words, black communities are less self-critical of their members' looks, because being critical of how they look is exactly the issue that they're fighting AGAINST.

The result is that fat black people are not selectively targeted for humiliation, as are commonly white people, and less pressure is on them to change the way they look. The unfortunate result is an increased prevalence of weight-related problems, such as diabetes and cardiovascular problems. Compound this with the fact that blacks generally fall into lower income brackets, and those in lower income brackets eat less healthy in general, and we have a weight issue that is a combination of culture and socioeconomic status.

The issue is not as simple as the article leads us to believe, and I actually dislike the message. Black people don't want to be fat. They know it's not healthy, and saying that they want to be fat seems almost racist to me.

On May 15 2012 00:28 liberal wrote:

I actually laughed out loud at the absurdity of this. People put a little too much thought and theory into pretty simple and obvious phenomenon.

On May 15 2012 01:50 Elitios wrote:


Where does that comes from? Never heard that one before ^^

Also I don't see the point you are trying to make legendstormcrow. What difference does it make if you add hispanic? I don't see how it makes this reasoning less dangerous.

On May 15 2012 02:00 sirachman wrote:
Black women are fat for the same reason everyone else is fat. They have a poor diet both from a nutritional and volume standpoint, and get too little excercise. Bringing race into this issue or any other is simply ridiculous.

On May 15 2012 00:11 Kasu wrote:

Actually

http://www.economist.com/node/15060097?subjectid=7933596&story_id=15060097

Britain has the best teeth in the world (health-wise) according to this study. We just don't have the same association between perfect white teeth and beauty that makes teeth a bigger deal in the US.

On May 15 2012 01:53 legendstormcrow wrote:

A check on children does not prove the value of their dentists, just their teeth. All in all it proves what I already knew, the british don't have hillbilly teeth as a norm. And now to do something hateful, that is just the nobility. Hillbillies in a castle. Sorry, i had to troll as I've been flamed. Though this may be why americans think the brits have bad teeth.

On May 15 2012 00:15 KazeHydra wrote:
It means that the genetics differ more within the same race (say, Chinese) than if you compared 2 races. The idea is that overall, races' genetics will average out to be more or less the same whereas genetics within the same race can be quite diverse. Don't be deceived by how different people of races can look as this is a very poor indicator of genetic similarity.

On May 15 2012 02:03 TheDraken wrote:


bad study sample first of all,

and secondly, the association isn't between perfect white teeth and beauty, it's between perfect white teeth and health. if you come to america and you have ugly teeth, it's assumed they're rotting out of your face.

On May 15 2012 02:05 Kasu wrote:

Hmm well I wasn't flaming. I was merely disagreeing with (Tippencanoe's) implication that the data was insufficient for the conclusion - as it happens, 12y/o is one of the WHO's indicator ages for dental damage.

(Also if you're genuinely implying that the state of people's teeth is no indicator whatsoever of their dental hygiene (not just dentists) then I'm a bit confused).

On May 15 2012 02:03 TheDraken wrote:


bad study sample first of all,

and secondly, the association isn't between perfect white teeth and beauty, it's between perfect white teeth and health. if you come to america and you have ugly teeth, it's assumed they're rotting out of your face.