-- thekit

If you're happy and healthy-great. I just think back to my youth, when almost all women were slender and attractive. At least that's the way I remember it. Probably hormonal. The New York Times just had a series about the onslaught of Type 2 Diabetes in the city. The societal costs of that (utterly preventable) epidemic are immense. One in eight New Yorkers has it. One in three in poorer neighborhoods. I don't believe that I or my children should be taxed to pay the enormous costs of what is essentially a life style disease. But we will be be. Intelligence is just not the ability to express oneself verbally, or write well. Intelligence evolved (or created, take your pick) to increase survival potential for yourself and your offspring. Those who write these letters appear to have verbal ability, but if they make lifestyle choices that reduce their overall fitness, it indicates a lack of some other type of intelligence. A small waist is attractive to most men; true intelligence in a woman should lead her to choices that increase her sexual selection possibilities. Highly verbal fat women seem to lack that type of intelligence. The most important thing we can do in this world (for both men and women) is to select a mate who has the best genes available. Of course with sperm banks, it might be possible to "mate" with a person you could never attract. As a male I say that there is nothing more attractive than a naked woman who has a flat belly and well shaped boobs and butt, especially when a vigorous encounter is imminent. As for the Pimas and the Pueblos, I think that a strong healthy life of 50 or so years beats the living death of advanced type 2 diabetes.

Getting a little plump in times of plenty is a good and necessary survival tactic that is built into our genes. But to be healthy the time of famine has to come. If it doesn't come naturally, we have to do it by personal behavior. That takes knowledge and intelligence. My wife, who got a little plump in her 60's, found out she had borderline glucose intolerance. Within two months she had it back to "normal". A lot of her (far plumper) friends told her just take glucophage and eat whatever she wanted. Our attitude is that all pharmaceuticals are poisons that might have some therapeutic effect. We always weigh the upside and downside of pharmaceuticals before we even consider taking one. In almost all cases there is a more "natural" solution, that has minimal or no side effects, except maybe giving up something that we enjoy. That is where intelligence kicks in. Knowledge of the damage that a certain behavior will make us less healthy is a strong deterrent to continuing that behavior. We would never rely on the advice of a doctor to make that decision. His (or her) input would be factored in, but never be the deciding factor. We are responsible for our own health. Those, who through stupidity or laziness, do not take on that responsibility will suffer for it. The trouble is that the evil effects of obesity and type 2 diabetes don't kick in until we have reproduced, so natural selection might not work. As the oil runs out the costs of food and medical care will rise to the point that society will not be able to subsidize them. Then "the Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return". (Rudyard Kipling).

I have always found smart women to be sexy, but only if they have a good body to go along with their good brain. Forty or so years ago I got an apartment near Harvard so I could date female Harvard grad students. I wanted one for a wife. After all, the kids genes come from both parents. If I had lived in CA it would have been near Berkeley. But I think that men and women are hardwired differently. Men want worldy success so they have access to more and better pussy. Being a man I have no idea why women want worldly success. But I don't have a problem with it. Many more men than women have the "male syndrome" related to autism that allows them to enjoy concentrating on mechanical details. I go to sleep at night sometimes solving equations in my head. My wife, who has the slightly autistic abilities of a composer, finds this astonishing. But she has no problem solving composition problems while falling asleep. I suspect that although many women are taking hard science courses, the majority of women in college are takeing the soft female courses that non-gay men would have no interest in. There is a serious reduction in the number of men (or women) who can fix things. If this is a result of the feminization of society, it is not good. We have two daughters, one is moving up the career ladder and is divorced, the other is very happy that she has a high earning husband which allows her to be a stay-at-home mother. My own belief is that women should stay home with children and then have a career, if they want it. I also believe that one should be in this society but not of it. It's values suck.