God damn, this thread EXPLODED. I've skimmed the last few pages and here's what I've come up with:
I was just pissed at the implication that was floating around that we should be accepting of an unhealthy body state for the sake of people's self-esteem.
That's fair to a certain extent. Some people are overweight simply due to lazy and unhealthy lifestyles. Some, however, do everything right and STILL can't lose weight. And, since you bring evolution into it, no, that's not exactly a gene you want to pass on, but on the other hand the popular media have made an entire industry out of promoting women who are cesspools of genes you don't want to pass on.
When I talk about a healthy range, I mean the one that exists (existed?) for the 99% of our species' lifetime during which we were NOT constantly bombarded by disastrously skewed images.
How'bout the Renaissance? Today's "fat" is the seventeenth century's "Rubenesque".
- In this chicken-and-egg-scenario, what came first? A skewed view that was merely latent among a significant minority (or even majority), or a media barrage that made the views of an extreme minority into a majority viewpoint?
It's a cyclical thing that happens by degrees, IMO.
Insecure people will find anything to be neurotic about, I suppose.
But it disproportionately affects women.
Anecdote: I took a sociology of sex class my last year of college. One day, the prof asked us all to raise our hands to give a letter-grade for our comfort with our bodies. I put my hand up for "A", and the woman next to me put her hand up for "B".
Now, it just so happens that that October, she and I spent a significant amount of time onstage together in our underwear. And I can state without hesitation that she should be more comfortable with her body than I should be with mine.
Now, I don't know exactly what was going through her head. Could be she was just being modest. Could be her "B" is equivalent to my "A" (my thought process being, hey, I know there's room for improvement, but I'm damned comfy in my own skin). But the larger point is, I'm sure each and every one of us can think of an example where a girl complained about her body despite it being a pretty damned great body, and I don't think you get that kind of flawed self-image nearly as often from dudes. Again, that's anecdotal and I'm not citing data here, but...is there anybody who'd disagree?